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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2025-03-14
Create Payment Precedence Rules

Create Payment Precedence Rules

Security:
Set Up: Student Payments
 domain in the Student Financials functional area.
Precedence groups enable you to control how Workday applies payments to charges. The precedence group associated with an award, payment, waiver, or student sponsor contract identifies:
  • Which charges the payment precedence can cover, by charge type, specific student charge items, or a combination.
  • The application timeframe for selecting eligible charges, such as current or any academic period.
  • The unapplication timeframe that the payment can unapply.
  • The order for paying charges, such as the oldest charge or oldest academic period first.
  • Any excluded charge items.
You can prioritize the payments of 1 precedence group over others by ranking them.
Example: Both refundable and nonrefundable payments can pay for tuition. Workday recommends applying the nonrefundable payments first, so that you can refund the student for any excess tuition payments. You can create 2 precedence groups where each include tuition charges and associate the higher-ranked precedence group to the nonrefundable payment item.
Workday can also swap a previously applied payment based on precedence groups.
Example: Workday applies a refundable payment to a student's tuition. A few weeks later, you receive a nonrefundable payment that can also cover tuition. Based on the precedence group ranking or as long as the nonrefundable payment precedence group has a higher priority or ranking, Workday:
  • Applies the new nonrefundable payment.
  • Unapplies the prior refundable payment.
As you create more groups and more complex rules, payment precedence groups can be harder to manage. Before creating precedence groups, determine which groups you need and if there are any dependencies.
  1. Access the
    Maintain Student Payment Precedence Groups
     task.
  2. Select the
    Institution
    .
    All academic units and academic levels share the same precedence group rules.
  3. As you complete the
    Payment Unapplication Configuration
     section, consider:
    Option Description
    Limit Payment Unapplication by Award Years (All Precedence Groups)
    Select to limit payment unapplications to the specified most recent financial aid award years.
    Clear to unapply all payments from charges and reapply them again when reassessing charges for a student.
    Payment applications from past award years seldom change, causing unapplications from previous award years to increase processing volume unnecessarily. To improve performance, Workday recommends limiting payment unapplications to 1 year.
    Number of Award Years
    Specify how far into the past Workday unapplies payments.
    Example: Enter
    2
     to limit payment unapplications to the current and prior award years.
  4. As you complete the
    Payment Application Precedence Groups Configuration
     section, consider:
    Option Description
    Order
    Define the order for payment swapping. Workday recommends ordering precedence groups from:
    • Most to least restrictive. Example: Tuition before Tuition and Fees.
    • Nonrefundable to refundable. Example: Nonrefundable payments before refundable cash payments.
    Example: On August 15th, a parent pays all Fall charges for their student with a refundable cash-equivalent payment. On September 15th, the student receives a nonrefundable tuition-only scholarship. Because the precedence group for the scholarship has a higher order than the precedence group for the payment, Workday swaps the payments. The scholarship now pays the tuition charges and the payment has a partial unapplied on-account balance.
    Precedence Group
    Enter a name for your precedence group.
    Description
    (Optional) You can enter a description, add an external link to your own documentation, or both.
    Application Timeframe
    Specify which charges a payment can cover, based on the academic period or Current Award Year that the charges apply to.
    • Any
      : Workday pays charges from any Academic Period.
    • Current Academic Period
      : Workday pays charges matching the academic period of the payment.
      Example: Payments in Fall 2023 can only cover charges in that period.
    • Current and Future Academic Periods
      : Workday pays charges in the academic period of the payment and future periods.
      Example: Payments made during Fall 2023 can satisfy charges for that period and Spring 2024.
    • Current and Future Academic Periods within Award Year
      : Workday pays charges in the academic period of the payment and future periods within the same award year.
      Example: For award year 2023-2024, payments made during Fall 2023 can satisfy charges for that period and Spring 2024.
    • Current and Prior Academic Periods
      : Workday pays charges with no restrictions of award year.
      Example: Payments in Fall 2023 can cover charges in Spring or Fall 2023.
    • Current and Prior Academic Periods within Award Year
      : Workday pays charges in the academic period of the payment and any prior periods within the same award year.
      Example: For award year 2023-2024, payments made during Spring 2024 can satisfy charges for Fall 2023.
    • Current Award Year
      : Workday pays charges for any academic period that's in the same award year as the payment.
      Example: For award year 2023-2024, payments made during Spring 2024 can satisfy charges for Fall 2023.
    Unapplication Timeframe
    (Optional) You can add additional criteria to each precedence group to specify the timeframe that the payment can unapply. This field works with the
    Payment Unapplication Configuration
     section criteria at the Institutional level and applies when both are valid.
    • Academic Period
      : Workday can only unapply before the end of the academic period of the payment.
    • Award Year
      : Workday can only unapply before the end of the award year of the payment.
    • Do Not Unapply
      : When the payment has any applications, Workday won't unapply the payment. This status allows Workday to apply any remaining on-account amount to charges. You can still manually unapply the payment.
    Sort Order
    Prioritize the eligible charges when a payment won't cover all of them. With the last 3 options, if more than 1 charge has the same priority, Workday follows the order in the
    Charge Type
     column.
    • Charge Order
      : Workday pays charges according to the order of the
      Charge Type
       column. When there are multiple charges of the same type, Workday prioritizes the charge created first.
    • Current Academic Period First
      : Workday prioritizes charges in the current academic period (AP) first, then by the oldest AP, applying charge type ordering within each AP.
    • Oldest Academic Period First
      : Workday prioritizes charges in the oldest academic period (AP) first, applying charge type ordering within each AP.
    • Oldest Charge Due Date
      : Workday pays the charge with the oldest due date first. When more than 1 charge has the same due date, Workday prioritizes according to charge order.
    Title IV Eligible Charges Only
    Select this check box to restrict payments to only charge items with a Title IV classification that meet the
    Charge Type
     and
    Timeframe Criteria
     fields.
    You can apply student aid to noninstitutional charges before generating refunds, when:
    • You clear this check box.
    • Students authorize the Federal Student Aid Authorization.
    • Or both.
    For Title IV financial aid program institutions, your precedence group must:
    1. Classify the charge item for refund recovery as Title IV.
    2. Select the
      Title IV Eligible Charges
       check box.
    3. Include the
      Refund Recovery
       charge type.
    Example: You can apply student aid to library fines when you include the
    Library Fines
     charge type in the precedence group, and either:
    • You don't select the
      Title IV Eligible Charges
       check box.
    • Students authorize the Federal Student Aid Authorization.
    Charge Type
    (Optional) You can specify the charge types that a payment can satisfy. List the charge types by importance when you select the
    Charge Order
     option for the
    Sort Order
    .
    To disburse your financial aid and sponsor contracts, attach the
    Refund Recovery
     charge type to at least 1 precedence group per institution. The payment item must have the
    Refund Recovery
     charge type configured on the precedence group to pay the refund recovery charge. Workday recommends adding the charge type for refund recovery to all relevant payment precedence groups except:
    • As a charge type for specialty groups like those for health insurance or late fees.
    • In precedence groups that are nonrefundable.
    For Title IV financial aid program institutions, your precedence group must:
    1. Classify the charge item for refund recovery as Title IV.
    2. Select the
      Title IV Eligible Charges Only
       check box.
    3. Include the
      Refund Recovery
       charge type.
    Charge Item Exclusion
    (Optional) You can specify the charge items related to the selected charge type that a payment should exclude when applying. Workday only applies excluded items for that specific
    Charge Type
     row.
    Charge Item Inclusion
    (Optional) You can specify charge items to include in a specific precedence row for payment.