Overview
The ‘At least one installment other than prepayment should be with an agreed payment date X days before the end of the current main period where X is’ setting (Setting ID: At_least_one_installment_other_than_prepayment_should_be_with_an_agreed_payment_date_X_days_before_the_end_of_the_current_main_period_where_X_is) is located in Financial Settings > General Settings > Arrangements Parameters, in the Arrangement Constraints & Controls sub-group.
What This Setting Does
This setting requires that, within a financial arrangement, at least one installment other than the prepayment/deposit has an agreed payment date that falls a specified number of days before the end of the current main academic period. It helps ensure that a portion of a _Student_’s payment obligations is scheduled to be settled well before the academic period concludes, rather than all remaining installments being pushed to the very end or beyond.
Where It Is Used
This setting is not tied to a dedicated visible field in the Portal; it is checked automatically in the background when an arrangement is saved. It affects the following area:
- Main Menu > Students > Students List > (open a _Student_) > Financial Data tab > New/Edit Arrangement > Arrangement Installments section – the check runs on the installments entered here when the arrangement is saved.
Business Logic / Behavior
- This setting defines a number of days (X) before the end of the current main academic period.
- Classter checks whether at least one installment, other than the prepayment/deposit, has an agreed payment date that is at least X days before the main period ends.
- If no such installment exists in the arrangement, Classter prevents the arrangement from being saved or displays a validation message, prompting staff to adjust installment dates.
- This rule works together with the other date-based constraint settings to ensure balanced, well-distributed installment schedules across the main period rather than payments clustering only near or after its end.
Example(s)
Alpha Institute sets this value to 30 days. The current main academic period ends on June 30, 2027, so at least one installment (other than the prepayment) must have an agreed payment date of June 1, 2027 or earlier to satisfy the 30-day requirement.
When staff member Mr. Carter builds an arrangement for Student Ms. Johnson where the remaining installments are scheduled for June 15 and June 25, 2027, Classter blocks the save because neither date is at least 30 days before June 30. Mr. Carter must reschedule at least one of those installments to June 1, 2027, or earlier to satisfy the rule.
When to Use
Use this setting when your institution wants to guarantee that a meaningful share of tuition or fee payments is collected well ahead of the end of the academic period, reducing the risk of payments being delayed until it is too late to act on overdue accounts. Configure a larger number of days for stricter early-collection requirements, or a smaller number for more flexibility.
Notes
- Prerequisites: this setting is enforced only when Enable arrangement constraints/Enable_Arrangement_Constrains is turned on.
- Related settings: Do not allow any installment with an agreed payment date being X months after the start month of the signed academic period (Do_not_allow_any_installment_with_an_agreed_payment_date_being_X_months_after_the_start_month_of_the_signed_academic_period in Financial Settings > General Settings > Arrangements Parameters > Arrangement Constraints & Controls), Maximum number of allowed installments is (Max_number_of_allowed_installments_is in Financial Settings > General Settings > Arrangements Parameters > Arrangement Constraints & Controls), Enable arrangement constraints (Enable_Arrangement_Constrains in Financial Settings > General Settings > Arrangements Parameters > Arrangement Constraints & Controls).
This setting behaves the same regardless of whether Higher Education Mode (Enable Configuration for Higher Education/Xrisi_parametropoihshs_kolegiou) is enabled or disabled.
