Applying a discount to a student
Attaching a promotion or a custom rate to one enrollment, and how it reaches a subscription that is already running.
Discounts are defined once in settings and then attached to individual students from the enrollments list. This article is the second half: how to put one on a particular student, and what happens if that student is already being billed monthly.
If you haven't set the discount up yet, start with Setting your prices.
The tuition editor
Students then Enrollments → click the figure in the Tuition column of the student's row. A small editor opens in place with a dropdown offering three modes:
| Mode | What it does |
|---|---|
| Program rate | Clears both a custom price and any attached promotion. The enrollment falls back to the program's rate — or a sibling tier, if one applies. |
| Custom price | An absolute monthly amount for this one enrollment, plus an optional note. Outranks everything else. |
| Promotion | Attach one of the promotions you have defined in settings. |
Pick a mode, fill in what it asks for, and press the tick. The cross cancels.
For Promotion, the dropdown lists the promotions that are currently applicable — a promotion whose date window has passed isn't offered. Each entry shows its value, e.g. Summer 2026 (20%).
For Custom price, use the note field. It shows as a tooltip on the tuition figure, and it is the only place the reason for a one-off price ever gets recorded.
What changes immediately
The moment you save:
- the Tuition column shows the new figure with a badge naming the source — Custom rate, Promo: Summer 2026, or Sibling discount (15%);
- the tuition report counts the new figure;
- any monthly billing started from now on uses it;
- any one-off charge you take by typing an amount is unaffected, because you type the amount.
What does not change
A discount never reaches a running subscription on its own
If the student is already on monthly billing, they carry on being charged the old amount. The subscription keeps the rate it was created with until somebody decides to change it.
The editor says so in small print as you save it:
Used the next time this student is charged. Already on monthly billing? Use "Sync to current rate" on their Billing row.
The same warning is printed on the Discount Promotions and Sibling Discounts cards in settings, under the heading Applies to new charges.
Getting it onto a running subscription
The Billing column on the same row will now show an amber Rate changed badge and a Sync to current rate button. Press it, read the confirmation, confirm.
The new amount applies from the family's next renewal. Nothing is charged today and the month they have already paid for is not adjusted. Full detail in When you change tuition.
So the complete sequence for discounting a family who is already being billed is:
Apply the discount on the enrollment
Tuition column → Promotion or Custom price → save.
Check the Billing column on the same row
A Rate changed badge should appear. If it doesn't, either the student isn't on monthly billing, or the new figure is the same as what is already being collected.
Sync
Press Sync to current rate, check the two figures and the date in the confirmation, confirm.
Tell the family when it takes effect
The date is in the dialog. Saying "from your next payment on 3 September" rather than "straight away" is the difference between a happy parent and one checking their statement.
Sibling discounts arrive the same way
A second child enrolling changes the first child's position in the family and therefore, potentially, their rate. That recalculation is instant on the enrollments page and in your reports — and just as invisible to a running subscription as any other price change.
So when a sibling joins or leaves, glance down the Billing column for the family's other children. A Rate changed badge on a sibling's row is exactly this.
A student on a custom rate or a promotion never stacks
If somebody already has a custom price or a promotion, the sibling tier does not apply on top — the higher-precedence rule wins outright. They do still count when positioning their siblings, so a discounted child affects what the others pay even though their own rate is set another way.
Discounts and the family's own Pay button
A family paying a month manually from their own payments page is charged the program's monthly rate, not their discounted rate. Discounts reach monthly billing and your reporting; they do not reach that button.
For a discounted family who wants to pay a month by hand, either put them on monthly billing, or take the payment yourself with Charging a card, where you type the exact amount.
Removing a discount
Set the tuition editor back to Program rate. That clears a custom price and detaches any promotion in one go — and if a sibling policy applies to this student, it takes over from there.
If they are on monthly billing, the Rate changed badge appears again, pointing the other way. Sync it to put them back to full price at their next renewal.
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