School: tariffs, absences and charges
In the School section money follows the register: a teacher marks the lesson and the school charges the family according to the student’s tariff. There is nothing to recalculate in a spreadsheet at month end — changing a mark later is recalculated too, as a correction rather than a rewritten history.
Three rules always apply:
- A lesson cancelled by the school is never charged — not per lesson, not from a pack, not in a monthly fee.
- The price is fixed in the first posting: editing a tariff does not rewrite what has already been charged.
- Amounts are whole minor units (cents): the interface and the server round the same way.
Tariff models#
| Model | How it is charged | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Per lesson | each lesson held, by mark and absence policy | a drop-in for 35, a private lesson for 60 |
| Pack of N lessons | the pack is sold when the enrolment starts; each lesson uses a unit from the earliest valid pack; when it runs out, the next pack is sold; validity counts from the sale | 8 lessons for 200, valid 45 days |
| Monthly | a fixed monthly fee; variants are “full month”, “pro rata to lessons within the enrolment”, “by lessons held” (after the month ends) | kids 160 a month |
| Course | one charge at the start; a lesson cancelled by the school refunds its share | IELTS, 12 weeks — 720 |
| Instalments | parts on their own dates (offset in days from the start); parts add up to the price; a student who leaves does not pay later parts | 3 × 250 at 0, 30 and 60 days |
A tariff can have a scope — the courses or groups it applies to — and its own absence rules on top of the school’s. A group has a list of allowed tariffs; an empty list means all suitable tariffs.
A tariff cannot be deleted, only archived, and its model cannot change after creation. If you need a different model, create a new tariff and move students to it (the “Change terms” action on the enrolment).
Absences and marks#
Register marks: Present, Late, Excused (absence for a valid reason), Absent (unexcused).
| Mark | Charged? |
|---|---|
| Present, Late | yes |
| Unexcused absence | by policy: “charge” (default) or “don’t charge” |
| Excused absence | by policy: “don’t charge” (default), “charge” or “move to a make-up lesson” |
The notice window (default 12 hours): if an illness was reported later than this before the lesson starts, the absence counts as unexcused. Example for a pack of 8 lessons:
- reported a day ahead — excused, the lesson is kept;
- reported 3 hours before — too late, the lesson is deducted as an absence;
- came in late — the lesson is deducted.
Make-up lessons: with the “move to a make-up lesson” policy an excused absence is not charged and the student may attend another lesson.
Marking mode#
| Mode | An unmarked student after the lesson ends |
|---|---|
| Mark who came (default) | counts as an unexcused absence |
| Auto | counts as present — you mark only absences and late arrivals |
A lesson becomes “held” by itself after it ends (checked every 5 minutes) or with the “Lesson held” button in the lesson window.
Discounts and custom prices#
- A custom student price — at enrolment (“Custom price”) or later with “Change terms”.
- An enrolment discount — by percent or amount, with a reason (sibling, manual, promo).
- The school’s sibling discount — a percentage for the second (or N-th) studying child of a family, turned on in the school settings. An explicit enrolment discount or a custom price replaces it.
Freezes, pauses, cancelled lessons#
- Freeze (holidays, illness) — lessons in the interval are not charged and the seat is kept.
- Pause — the seat is released; “Resume” brings the student back if a seat is free.
- Cancellation by the school — in the lesson window on the Schedule tab: charges for the lesson are reversed automatically, and families get an email if the “Lesson cancelled” event is on. Before you confirm, the window shows who is affected and which months will be recalculated.
- A trial lesson is not charged in a monthly fee; the trial price is a school setting (free, paid, off).
The family account#
A family has one account for all its children: balance = payments − charges. A negative balance is a debt, a positive one is an advance. The family card (on the Students tab) shows the year’s postings, the balance, totals per student and remaining pack units.
With the Finance permission the family card offers:
- “Take payment” — cash or bank transfer;
- a manual entry — charge, discount, correction, refund (a refund cannot exceed the advance), a full reversal of a mistaken posting;
- a transfer of an amount between siblings (the family balance does not change).
Pressing a button twice or retrying after a network error does not double the posting. Besides the instant recalculation after marking, the school reconciles charges every night at 03:00 local time.
The credit limit is the debt up to which a family is “in good standing” (its own or the school-wide one, default 0). Depending on the settings, a debt above the limit blocks joining online lessons and enrolling in new groups.
Invoices and payment#
- The monthly run — on the run day (default the 25th) each family with uninvoiced charges receives an invoice: for the next month (fees in advance, the default) or for the current one. The number follows the school template (
Ш-{YYYY}-{N}, reset every year), payment is due in 5 days. The run does not issue a second invoice for the same month. - Statuses “issued → partly paid → paid” follow the money: a payment settles the named invoice, the rest goes from older invoices to newer ones.
- Online: the family pays by the link in the email or the “Pay” button in the portal, through the location’s payment provider. Without a connected provider there is no online payment.
- POS: “Tuition payment” in the POS menu of a school location — find the family by invoice number, pay by cash, card or both; the POS prints an advance receipt. Refunds are on the “Refund” tab of the same window (Finance permission).
Troubleshooting#
| What you see | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| A lesson was not charged | excused within the window, a freeze, the lesson was cancelled or not yet held | check the mark and the lesson status in the register |
| An excused absence was charged | it was reported after the window | correct the mark and the notice time if it was reported in time |
| A pack “ran out” early | unexcused absences use up units | check the remaining units and postings in the family card |
| A tariff cannot be deleted | tariffs are never deleted | archive it |
| “Refund exceeds the advance” | refunds are limited by the positive balance | reverse the mistaken charge first |
FAQ#
Can I change the tariff mid-month? Yes, with “Change terms” on the enrolment; earlier charges stay as they are.
What about lessons before the enrolment? They are not charged: the enrolment applies from its start date.
How do I see all family debts? Reports → Money: debts by age (0–30, 31–60, 61–90, over 90 days), advances and payments not yet posted.