# How to Send School Fee Reminders by SMS and WhatsApp in Kenya

> To send school fee reminders, export each student's balance from your fees system, match it to the parent's phone number, and send a personalised SMS with the balance, deadline, Paybill number and account to use. Send about two weeks and three days before the deadline, then a thank-you when payment arrives. Use WhatsApp for parents who have it, so they can ask questions in reply.

Source: https://chat.or.ke/blog/how-to-send-school-fee-reminders
Published: 2026-10-20 | Updated: 2026-10-20 | Publisher: chat.or.ke

Every bursar knows the mid-term scramble: a list of balances, a phone that will not stop ringing and a principal asking why collections are behind. Sending each parent a clear, polite reminder with their own balance is one of the few things that reliably helps.

This guide walks a school office through the whole process, from exporting balances to handling the replies. It works for primary and secondary schools, colleges and training institutes of any size.

## Key takeaways

- Personalised reminders work better than a generic "please clear fees": include the student's name, the exact balance and the deadline.
- Always give the Paybill number and exactly what to enter as the account, usually the admission number.
- Fee reminders are transactional messages, so one transactional sender ID in the school's name is enough.
- Send SMS to every parent and use WhatsApp for parents who prefer it, so questions come back to a shared inbox.
- Never list fee defaulters in a class WhatsApp group; send each parent their own message.

## Before you start

You need:

- **A registered sender ID** in the school's name, such as GREENHILL, so parents trust the message. Registration is a one-off KES 7,500 with chat.or.ke; see [sender ID registration](https://chat.or.ke/bulk-sms/sender-id) for documents and approval times.
- **An export of balances** from your fees software or spreadsheet, with admission number, student name and balance.
- **Parents' phone numbers**, ideally collected on the admission form with a line explaining that the school sends fee, academic and emergency messages by SMS.
- **SMS credit.** Each SMS part costs KES 0.55, paid from a prepaid M-Pesa wallet with no monthly fee.

## Step 1: Export balances and match them to parents

Export a spreadsheet with one row per student: admission number, student name, class, parent's name, parent's phone and balance. If a student has two parents or guardians on record, give each their own row with the same balance so both receive the reminder.

Remove students with a zero or credit balance before you send. Nothing irritates a parent more than a reminder for fees already paid. Save the file as CSV.

## Step 2: Clean the contact list

Check that every phone number is complete and Kenyan. chat.or.ke accepts formats such as 0712345678, 0112345678 and +254712345678, converts them to one international format and removes duplicates. A parent with two children appears twice with the same number, so combine the balances into one row and one message; the parent gets a single clear reminder and you pay for one SMS.

Tag contacts by class, form, stream or campus. Tags let you send a Form 4 reminder only to Form 4 parents, and they make later follow-ups easier. Our guide on [importing and segmenting contacts](https://chat.or.ke/blog/how-to-import-and-segment-contacts) covers this in more depth.

## Step 3: Write a clear, polite reminder

A fee reminder should include five things: the parent's name, the student's name, the exact balance, the deadline and how to pay. Sign off with the school's name.

> Dear Mary, Term 3 fee balance for Brian is KES 12,500. Pay via Paybill 123456, acc: admission no., by 30 Sept. GREENHILL SCH

Keep it under 160 characters, so it costs one SMS. Type the message rather than pasting from Word, because curly quotes and emoji cut the limit to 70 characters. Keep the tone respectful: a reminder is not a demand letter, and parents in difficulty are more likely to call the bursar if the message is kind. More wording ideas are in our [bulk SMS templates](https://chat.or.ke/blog/bulk-sms-templates-kenya).

### A WhatsApp version

For parents on WhatsApp, a payment reminder is a utility template. It can be slightly longer and include a fee statement as a PDF:

> Dear Mary, this is a reminder that Brian's Term 3 fee balance is KES 12,500, due by 30 September. Pay via M-Pesa Paybill 123456, account: admission number. Reply here if you have any questions.

## Step 4: Personalise and send

Import the CSV into chat.or.ke and insert variables for the parent's name, student's name and balance, so each parent sees their own figures. Preview a few messages, then send to the right tags with [bulk SMS](https://chat.or.ke/features/bulk-sms). Send the WhatsApp version as a [broadcast](https://chat.or.ke/features/broadcasts) to parents who opted in to WhatsApp, and SMS to everyone else.

Check the character count shown before sending. A long student name can push a message into a second SMS, which doubles the cost.

## Step 5: Time your reminders

Two reminders before the deadline usually do the job, plus a thank-you afterwards.

| When | Message |
|---|---|
| About two weeks before the deadline | Full reminder with balance, deadline and Paybill |
| Three days before the deadline | Short reminder with the balance and deadline |
| When payment is received | Thank-you with the amount received |
| A week after the deadline | Personal phone call, not another bulk SMS |

Send in the morning or early evening, when parents check their phones, and avoid late nights. Too many reminders train parents to ignore them, so keep the bulk messages to this schedule.

## Step 6: Handle replies and follow up

Parents cannot reply to an SMS sender ID, so include the school's WhatsApp number when you expect questions: "Questions? WhatsApp 07XX XXX XXX." Replies then land in a shared [WhatsApp inbox](https://chat.or.ke/features/whatsapp-inbox), where the bursar and accounts clerks can answer, add notes and see each parent's history.

Common replies include requests for a fee statement, payment plans and "I paid but used the wrong account". Answer them in the chat, update the student record and tag parents who agreed a payment plan, so the next reminder does not go to them. Arrears and disputes are best handled by a phone call, not another message.

## How do you keep fee reminders lawful and respectful?

Fee reminders to parents about their own child's account are transactional, so they do not need the marketing consent that promotions do. A few rules still apply:

- Send each reminder only to that student's parent or guardian. Balances are personal data under the Data Protection Act, 2019.
- Never post a list of students with balances in a class WhatsApp group or on a notice board that other parents can see.
- Keep numbers up to date each term, so balances do not reach former parents.
- Do not mix in promotions, such as holiday camp offers. That turns the reminder into a marketing message, which on Safaricom needs a separate promotional sender ID and an opt-out.

For the wider rules, see [bulk SMS rules in Kenya](https://chat.or.ke/bulk-sms/regulations). Schools using WhatsApp, SMS and email together can see how it fits in [chat.or.ke for schools and colleges](https://chat.or.ke/solutions/schools-colleges).

## Frequently asked questions

### When should a school send fee reminders?

About two weeks before the deadline, again three days before, and a thank-you when payment arrives. Send in the morning or early evening. After the deadline, a personal phone call usually works better than more bulk messages.

### Can each parent see their own child's fee balance in the SMS?

Yes. Import a spreadsheet with each parent's phone number, the student's name and the balance, then use variables in the message so every parent receives their own figure.

### Do schools need a promotional or transactional sender ID?

Fee reminders, closing dates, results notices and emergencies are transactional, so most schools need only one transactional sender ID in the school's name. A separate promotional sender ID is only needed if the school also markets things such as holiday programmes.

### Can parents reply to a school fee SMS?

Not to the sender ID, which is one-way. Include the school's WhatsApp number in the reminder so parents can ask questions or request a fee statement, and answer them from a shared inbox.

### Is it legal to send fee balances by SMS in Kenya?

Sending a parent their own child's fee balance is a normal part of the school relationship. Make sure each message reaches only that parent, keep phone numbers up to date and never share balances in group chats where other parents can see them.