Charge categories are used to describe the charges that you can add to a family account. Before creating any charges for a family,  setup the charge categories (Tuition, Registration Fee, ProShop, etc). Charge categories affect a few different things. Anytime you create a charge, it is assigned a charge category that you select at the time of creating a charge. The charge category will appear in the title of the charge on the family’s ledger, on your customer’s statements, and also when a customer views their ledger from the parent portal. Therefore, you will want to use charge category titles that are clear to both you and your customers.

Another important aspect to consider when creating charge categories is financial reports. Most of the financial reports can sort payments/charges data by charge category.

Lastly, charge categories are used to detect duplicate tuition charges. For instance, if someone already has a charge for ‘December 2010 Tuition’, when you run your global billing for the charge category ‘December 2010 Tuition’, that student will not be charged. In order to
make sure the system detects these duplicate charges, when creating a charge on the family page, you have to be sure to select the same charge category you would use at the time you do global billing, select the class you are charging for, and select the student.

To configure the charge categories, click the settings link at the top-right, click the setup section on the left-side of the page, and click the down arrow for "General Settings." There, you will see a place to edit charge categories.