Refund work will increase due to the free high school. What are the effective options to reduce manual man-hours and mistakes?

The information on the contents of the system from FY2026 (FY8) onwards described in this article is prepared by the GMO Payment Gateway (hereinafter referred to as "GMO-PG") based on the purpose of the enacted amended law and public materials.

In particular, regarding the expansion of the system, including the abolition of income restrictions, it is information that will be implemented with the enactment of the relevant budget in the future, and please be sure to check the official websites of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and each prefecture for the final details and operation of the system, as well as the latest and accurate information. Please check with each school or municipalities to determine whether or not you will receive the final school attendance support fund.

In FY2026 (Reiwa 8), Japan's education support system is about to reach a major turning point. Until now, the government has expanded free university and high school for multi-child households under the "Acceleration Plan" and has been moving to remove income restrictions in each municipalities. In response to this trend, the government's 2026 amendment bill to make high schools virtually free (tuition support) will be passed by the Diet, and the target audience will include not only conventional public high schools but also private high schools.

However, behind the expansion of this system, it is expected that a huge workload will be placed on the office sites of educational corporations and municipalities. That is the "increase in tuition refund (settlement) affairs" due to the expansion of the target population.

In this article, we will summarize the background of traditional manual tasks (online banking and CSV transfers) reaching their limits and introduce a safe and efficient way to transfer money for those who are facing refund tasks with thousands of people.

The fate of "refund" caused by the structure of the system*

*The application timing and procedures for the high school attendance support system vary depending on each prefecture and the school installer (public, private, etc.). Be sure to follow the latest guidance from the school you attend.

In the first place, why does "remittance (refund)" occur even though it is "free"? Behind this is the practical flow unique to the subsidy system.

2026: "Dramatic increase in denominator" brought about by the abolition of income restrictions

The national "High School Enrollment Support System" is a system in which the government payment funds to schools to use for tuition fees, and the school offsets them with tuition fees. However, in practice, "cash refunds" to parents are inevitable for the following reasons.

1. Time lag in determination (application/certification cycle): It takes more than a few months from the start of the school year for the government to be certified for eligibility for the subsidy and for the funds to actually be transferred from the government to the school.
2. "Pay once" and "settle after the fact": Many private schools require full or partial payment of tuition fees in order to maintain cash flow until the amount of support is determined. After that, you will need to wait for the payment of the support money to be confirmed, and then you will need to "refund" the paid tuition fee to the parents or "appropriate" it for future payments.
3. Maximizing the "denominator" of eligible people in FY2026: From FY2026, large-scale system expansion, including the relaxation and abolition of income restrictions, will begin in earnest. As a result, households that were previously excluded will also be subject to the administrative process, and the number of refunds is expected to increase several times compared to the past.

Increasing complexity of "settlement work" that hits office sites

In addition, in addition to moving in and out of school in the middle of the school year, the "settlement amount" for each student is not necessarily uniform, such as the application of "support for sudden changes in household budgets" due to changes in household annual income. The last mile of accurately "remitting" this complex settlement result without mistakes is a major burden on the field and is considered an issue that needs to be solved.

The invisible cost of "refund affairs" hitting the site

For administrative personnel, sending money to thousands of people is not just a task. In the depths of practice, there are risks and costs that can shake the trust of the organization.

Limitations of "Excel Management and Net Banking"

In many sites, account information collected from parents is managed in Excel, etc., and manually entered into online banking or exported to a CSV file for bulk transfer (general transfer). This flow has the following pitfalls:

• "Revert" loop due to typo: "Revert" occurs due to a misreading of the account information entered by the parent or a typo during entry. The time and effort to confirm a mistake, contact the parent again, and perform the transfer procedure again takes dozens of times more man-hours than a normal transfer.
• Risk of personal information retention: A large amount of account information poses a risk of undermining an organization's trust if compromised. Strict management costs money, and the psychological burden on the person in charge cannot be ignored.

Why is the existing operation and "a little ingenuity" not enough?

Here, one question may arise. "Even if you don't introduce a system, can you get through it with just a little ingenuity in your existing operation?" Let's examine the "actual situation" from a practical perspective on the three questions that tend to arise in the field.

Question (1): "Isn't the total cost lower for net banking alone, which has low transfer fees?"

• Reality: Bank transfer fees may seem cheap just by looking at them. However, if you add the "recall fee" of several hundred yen at a time and the "labor cost of checking for errors and recontacting" that takes more than 30 minutes to 1 hour per case, the actual total cost jumps several times. In addition, when transferring to other banks to various accounts held by parents, the cost tends to be higher.

Question (2): "Once you collect your account information, it should be easier next year and beyond."

• Reality: In the real world, the opposite happens. Account cancellations and name changes occur at a certain rate every year, so continuing to use old information is the biggest factor in a large number of recombinations. "Continuing to retain information" itself leads to a decrease in the safety and accuracy of administrative work.

Question (3): "If we respond by appropriating tuition fees (offsetting future amounts), wouldn't the hassle of cash refunds be reduced?"

• Reality: Yes, some offsets are possible. However, there is no "future tuition" that offsets students in their graduating year and transfer students. Since a certain number of cash refunds are always generated, some manual work remains, which in turn complicates the administrative flow and causes errors.

Send money safely and securely. Strengths of "GMO-PG Remittance Service"

Solving these challenges and safely automating remittance operations is the "GMO-PG Remittance Service" provided by GMO-PG.

Bank transfer is not the only one. Flexible "multi-channel pickup"

We provide a system that allows recipients (parents) to choose the receiving method according to their own convenience.

• Bank account pickup (completed online): In the email sent to your smartphone, you will enter your current and accurate account information. Since the school does not need to keep the information, it will lead to a reduction in "reassembly" due to lack of freshness of information.
• Seven Bank ATM cash receipt service (no account required): We can also respond to needs such as "I don't want to give account information to the school". Simply enter the issued number into an Seven Bank ATM and in principle, you can receive your refund in cash 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Reduce man-hours through automation through API integration

By utilizing GMO-PG's "GMO-PG Remittance Service", refund data output from the student status management system can be seamlessly connected to remittance instructions. Digitizing analog work contributes to reducing the risk of human error.

Automatically optimize interbank transfers to minimize transfer costs

By linking with various bank accounts that "GMO-PG Remittance Service" is connected to, it automatically realizes the transfer of money between banks as much as possible, minimizing the cost burden on the school.

Summary: Eliminate the burden of refund affairs and return to the original education and administrative services

The historic expansion of the system to eliminate income restrictions in 2026 must not be stalled by exhaustion on the ground. The key to solving the problem of the rapid increase in refund work lies in the digitization (automation) of processes, not the traditional "strengthening of manual work".

「By implementing GMO-PG Remittance Service​", you can relieve the person in charge of psychological pressure and provide modern convenience to parents. Employees who have been freed from the burden of refund affairs will regain time to face each student, which is their original mission. As a first step, consider the Remittance Service of GMO-PG.

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