Accept Payments through Stripe
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Once your Stripe account is connected, you can start accepting payments from families through your enrollment applications. This guide explains how payment processing works in Lazarus, what fees are involved, and how to configure your payment settings.
How Payments Work
Lazarus integrates directly with Stripe so your school can accept credit cards, debit cards, ACH bank transfers, and digital wallet payments. When a family submits a paid application, the payment is processed through Stripe and deposited into your connected bank account according to Stripe's standard payout schedule.
Lazarus does not add any markup to Stripe's standard processing rates. You only pay what Stripe charges.
Processing Fees
Every payment processed through Stripe incurs a processing fee. The fee depends on the payment method the family uses:
- Credit or debit card — 2.9% + $0.30 per successful transaction.
- Apple Pay / Google Pay — 2.9% + $0.30 per successful charge (same as card rates).
- ACH bank transfer — 0.8% per transaction, capped at $5.00.
- $1.50 security validation fee each initial payment connection
- $15.00 for disputed payments; $4.00 for failed payments
For example, on a $100 application fee paid by credit card, the processing fee would be $3.20 (2.9% + $0.30), and your school would receive $96.80. The same payment via ACH would cost just $0.80 in fees.
Note: Stripe normally charges an additional 0.7% billing fee on "subscription" transactions that includes line-item invoices, client emails, and dunning. However, the benefit of Lazarus is that we built our own subscription mechanism running in the backend of the Lazarus platform to avoid the additional Stripe billing fees.
Who Pays the Fees?
You have two choices for how processing fees are handled. These settings are found in the Applications section under the Settings tab:
- Charge users Stripe processing fees — When this toggle is on, families pay the Stripe processing fee on top of your application fee. Your school receives the full amount you set. When it's off, the fee comes out of what you receive.
- Applicants pay the $25 platform application fee — When this toggle is on, families pay the Lazarus platform fee. When it's off, your organization absorbs it.
Important: Both of these settings apply to all of your applications globally, not just individual ones. Consider the impact on your families when deciding who absorbs the costs.
Accepted Payment Methods
You can choose which payment methods families are allowed to use. In the Applications Settings tab, you'll find checkboxes for each option:
- ACH Bank Transfer — Families pay directly from their bank account. Lowest fees (0.8%, up to $5.00 per transaction). Good for larger payments.
- Credit Card — Standard card payments (2.9% + $0.30 per transaction). The most familiar option for most families.
- ApplePay / GooglePay — Digital wallet payments (2.9% + $0.30 per transaction). Convenient for families on mobile devices.
- Cash / Check / Other — An offline option where families pay you directly. No Stripe fees apply since the payment happens outside the platform. Use this if you want to give families the option to pay in person.
You must have at least one payment method enabled. We recommend enabling Credit Card at a minimum, since it's the most universally used. Adding ACH Bank Transfer gives families a lower-cost option for larger payments.
Free Applications
If you don't want to charge an application fee, you can set your application price to $0 (or leave pricing unconfigured) when creating an application. Families will be able to submit without entering any payment information. See the Application Pricing guide in the Enrollment Applications section for details.
Viewing Your Payments
Once payments start coming in, you can track them in Account > Accounting. The financial dashboard shows your current Stripe balance and a list of recent transactions. For more detailed reporting, you can also log into your Stripe dashboard directly at dashboard.stripe.com.