Tuition Payment

Hello,

First off, this isn't really a drupal question but I know a lot of you might have answers to my question. If this is not appropriate, please feel free to delete.

I work for a small college who is wanted to accept credit cards as a method for tuition fees, library fines, etc. How does the educational facility you work at handle this? Are emails sent out manually with invoices that can get paid, is the invoice generated for you by your student management software? How automated is the process?

Thanks for any direction you can give me.