Billing Plans
Billing plans define how families are charged for lessons and classes. Each course in Conductly can have one or more billing plans, giving you flexibility to offer different payment options to your customers.
The Four Billing Plan Types
Conductly offers four billing plan types to cover the most common pricing models used by music schools:
| Plan Type | How It Works | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Pay in Full | One upfront payment for the entire duration | Semester or year-long commitments with a single payment |
| Payment Plan | Total cost split into equal installments | Families who want to spread out a large payment |
| Per Lesson | Pay per lesson attended | Drop-in classes, makeup lessons, or flexible schedules |
| Subscription | Flat recurring fee regardless of how many lessons occur | Schools that prefer predictable billing |
Pay in Full
With the Pay in Full plan, the student pays the total cost of the enrollment in a single payment. This is typically used for semester-based or annual programs where the school wants full payment upfront.
Example: A fall semester guitar program costs $600. The family pays $600 in one invoice at the start of the semester.
When to use it:
- Semester or year-long programs
- Workshops and camps
- When you want to secure payment before lessons begin
Pair the Pay in Full plan with early registration discounts to encourage families to commit early.
Payment Plan
The Payment Plan takes the total cost and splits it into equal installments over a set period. This makes expensive programs more accessible by spreading the cost across multiple payments.
Example: A full-year violin program costs $1,200. With a Payment Plan set to 12 installments, the family pays $100/month.
When to use it:
- Year-long programs where the total cost is high
- When families prefer monthly payments
- Programs where you want a commitment but with payment flexibility
How installments work:
- Conductly divides the total evenly across the number of installments
- An invoice is generated for each installment on the billing cycle schedule
- Each installment invoice has its own due date
If the total doesn't divide evenly, Conductly adjusts the final installment to account for any rounding difference. For example, a $1,000 program split into 3 installments would be $333.33, $333.33, and $333.34.
Per Lesson
The Per Lesson plan charges families based on how many lessons the student attends. Each lesson has a per-meeting rate, and invoices reflect the actual number of meetings in the billing period.
Example: Piano lessons are $50 per lesson. In a month with 4 lessons, the invoice is $200. In a month with 5 lessons (due to scheduling), the invoice is $250.
When to use it:
- Studios with flexible or drop-in scheduling
- When lesson counts vary from month to month
- Makeup lessons billed separately
- Trial periods where commitment is uncertain
How meeting counts are determined:
- Conductly counts the scheduled sessions in each billing period
- Only sessions within the billing cycle date range are included
- Cancelled sessions can be excluded based on your settings
Subscription
The Subscription plan charges a flat recurring fee regardless of how many lessons occur in that period. This is the simplest billing model and provides predictable revenue for your school and predictable costs for families.
Example: Monthly piano tuition is $150, whether the month has 4 or 5 lesson weeks.
When to use it:
- Schools that want consistent monthly revenue
- When you want billing to be simple and predictable
- Programs where lesson count variations are absorbed by the school
Subscription is the most popular plan type for schools that bill monthly. It eliminates confusion about varying monthly amounts and makes budgeting easier for both you and your families.
Subscription Configuration
When you pick Subscription, three additional fields appear in the course setup drawer:
Tuition Frequency
Choose how often the subscription is billed:
- Monthly — Total tuition is divided into monthly invoices across the course duration. This is the most common choice.
- Semester — Total tuition is divided into per-semester invoices. Useful for schools organized around academic semesters.
- Yearly — Total tuition is billed as a single yearly invoice per academic year. Useful for traditional conservatory-style pricing.
Academic Year Start Month
:::note This field only appears when Tuition Frequency is Yearly. :::
Pick the month when your academic year begins (January through December). This determines when the yearly billing cycle resets.
Example: A school whose academic year runs September through August sets this to September, so the first yearly invoice is dated September 1 and the cycle resets each year on that date.
Getting this wrong will produce billing cycles that don't match your school's fiscal calendar — double-check this value when configuring yearly tuition.
Pro Rate by Days Remaining
Choose whether a student enrolling mid-cycle gets charged a partial first invoice or the full cycle amount:
- Yes — The first invoice is pro-rated based on the number of days remaining in the current billing period. A student enrolling halfway through the month is charged roughly half of the monthly amount.
- No (default) — The student is charged the full cycle amount regardless of their enrollment date. Use this when you want a consistent per-cycle charge and don't want to discount mid-cycle enrollments.
How Billing Plans Connect to Courses
Billing plans are set up at the course level:
- Go to Courses and select a course
- Navigate to the billing or pricing section
- Add one or more billing plans
When a student enrolls in a session under that course, the billing plan determines how invoices are calculated.
Multiple Plans on One Course
You can offer multiple billing plan options on a single course. For example, a piano course might offer:
- Pay in Full — Pay $600 for the whole semester (with a small discount)
- Payment Plan — Pay $110/month for 6 months ($660 total)
This gives families a choice while still fitting your school's pricing strategy.
Rate Tiers
Rate tiers allow you to set different prices based on lesson duration, student level, or other criteria. For example:
| Lesson Duration | Rate |
|---|---|
| 30 minutes | $35/lesson |
| 45 minutes | $50/lesson |
| 60 minutes | $65/lesson |
Rate tiers work with any billing plan type. When an invoice is generated, Conductly uses the rate tier that matches the student's enrollment to calculate the correct amount.
Set up rate tiers when you first create your courses. This ensures that invoices are generated with the correct amounts from the start, and you won't need to manually adjust pricing for different lesson lengths.