Online Lunch Balance Instructions
General Information
St. Vincent de Paul School provides 24/7 online access to student lunch balances and transactions through PowerSchool; PowerSchool access will also allow parents to review classroom performance for students in grades 3-8.
Parent access to PowerSchool is active at the conclusion of annual Curriculum Night sessions through the end of the school year. Access is disabled over the summer months to allow for end-of-year processing and new year setup. All parents have existing parent PowerSchool accounts as those were required to complete registration for the 2022-2023 school year. If parents need assistance accessing their parent PowerSchool account, contact Ray Bentzen (bentzenr@svdpomaha.org).
Additionally, SVdP works with eFunds for Schools to provide a simple and secure online payment system for parents wishing to make online deposits to student lunch accounts. eFunds for School accounts will also allow parents to check current lunch balance information for all children.
Instructions for creating Power School and eFunds for Schools accounts can be found below.
Creating an eFunds for Schools Online Payment Account
1. Click on the eFunds Online Payment Portal link found under Quick Links for Parents on our homepage. You will see a listing of items for which SVdP accepts online payments. "Fund Lunch" will always be the first item listed; other items available will vary over the course of the year.
2. NOTE: The redesigned and mobile friendly eFunds payment portal website now allows for payment of fees as a guest (i.e. parent accounts do not need to be created). Parents who will be using eFunds to make lunch deposits or other payments need to follow the steps provided below to create an account to ensure that funds are credited properly.
3. Click on the Create an Account link in the left column.
4. Enter information as requested; starred items are required. Once again, your username and password information can be whatever you prefer and will remember.
5. Click on the Create Account button.
6. Once your account has been created and you are logged in, you can add students to that account, setup automatic low balance payments, identify the payment method to be used for your account, and request low balance notifications.
7. To add students to your account for lunch deposit purposes, click on the Manage Account link and then select Manage Students. Enter your child's last name and his/her PowerSchool Student ID in the Student Number window and click the Add Student(s) button (f you do not have the necessary PowerSchool Student ID information or have other questions about eFunds for Schools, email Ray Bentzen [bentzenr@svdpomaha.org]). Repeat as necessary for all your children. Once all children have been linked to your account, you will be able to make deposits to individual lunch accounts.
8. To create an automatic low balance payment option, click on Payment Settings and then Low Meal Balance Settings. The students you have linked to your account will be listed; select each student in turn to make automatic low balance payment settings as desired.
9. In order to make online payments via eFunds for Schools, you will need to identify a payment method. To do that, click on Payment Settings and then Payment Methods. You can then choose to use either a credit card or direct checking account debit for your payments. Credit card payments incur a convenience fee charge of $2.95 for each $100 in transaction amounts ($2.95 for transactions of $1.00-$100.00; $5.90 for transactions of $101.00-$200.00, etc.). Direct debit transactions incur a convenience fee charge of $1.50 per transaction regardless of amount. SVdP doesn't receive any share of convenience fees; eFunds uses those fees in lieu of charging SVdP for the service.
10. To request an email notice when lunch accounts for one or more children run low on funds, click on Manage Account and then Notification Settings. Selecting the Payments option in this section will provide you with an email receipt for each online payment made; selecting the Low Meal Balance option will provide you with an email notice when student account balances run low.
11. Deposits to lunch accounts for multiple children and payment for multiple sports fees can be made as part of the same transactions, thereby limiting convenience fee charges. Just add items to your Cart until everything is accounted for and then process the payment.
12. eFunds for Schools does have a maximum transaction amount of $750.00 for direct debit payments and of $1000.00 for credit card payments. In most cases, those limits should prove adequate.
13. Use the username and password you specified in Step 4 above for future logins to the payment portal.
Use of an online payment account is completely optional (but convenient); parents may continue to send checks or cash to school for deposit on lunch accounts.
After creating an account, click here to access the secure payment website. A link to this website will be available for future use on the Quick Links for Parents webpage..
eFunds for Schools Payment Options and Fees
Once your payment account with eFunds for Schools has been created and students have been added to that account, you will be able to see current PowerSchool lunch account balances in both eFunds for Schools and PowerSchool. Deposits made in eFunds for School will be displayed in PowerSchool shortly after the transaction is completed; those deposits will have an EFS designation in PowerSchool.
Should a payment to eFunds for Schools be declined for reason of insufficient funds, eFunds for Schools will attempt to put the payment through two more times. If a payment attempt remains NSF after three tries at processing, a $15.00 NSF fee will be assessed by eFunds for Schools to the individual attempting to make the payment. That $15.00 fee will be in addition to whatever fees that individual's bank may charge. Additionally, SVdP will incur an uncollected payment charge of $2.50. PowerSchool lunch transaction records will be adjusted in the event NSF issues arise.
Questions?
If you experience any issues with creating an online payment account or have questions about the process, do not hesitate to contact Ray Bentzen (bentzenr@svdpomaha.org).