Rates and Tuition
The Rates and Tuition settings control how much students are charged for their lessons. The page has two sections: Lesson rates (per-duration lesson pricing) and Tuition (flat amounts for Subscription billing). You can set organization-wide defaults, then create more specific overrides for individual students, groups, courses, sessions, or locations.
To access these settings, go to Settings > Rates and Tuition.
How Rates Work
Rates in Conductly are defined per lesson duration. You set a dollar amount for each duration your school offers, such as:
| Duration | Rate |
|---|---|
| 30 minutes | $30.00 |
| 45 minutes | $42.50 |
| 60 minutes | $55.00 |
When Conductly generates an invoice, it looks up the appropriate rate based on the lesson duration and applies it to each occurrence.
Each rate can be priced one of two ways:
- Per meeting (flat) -- one set price per meeting, regardless of its exact length. This is the traditional rate model shown in the table above.
- Per hour (pro-rated) -- a single hourly rate that automatically scales with the length of each lesson. A $60/hour rate bills a 30-minute lesson at $30 and a 45-minute lesson at $45. See Per-Hour (Pro-Rated) Rates below.
Setting Default Rates
Default rates apply to all students across your entire school unless a more specific override exists.
- Go to Settings > Rates and Tuition.
- Click New rate in the Lesson rates section (or edit an existing default rate).
- Choose a rate type -- Per meeting (flat) or Per hour (pro-rated).
- Enter the rate amount(s): a price for each lesson duration (per-meeting) or a single hourly rate (per-hour).
- Set an Effective Date -- this is the date the rate takes effect.
- Optionally set an Expiration Date if the rate is temporary.
- Click Save.
You can have multiple default rate versions with different effective dates. This lets you plan rate increases ahead of time. For example, you could set new rates to take effect at the start of the next semester.
Rate Overrides
Sometimes you need to charge different rates for specific situations. Conductly supports overrides at multiple levels:
Location Override
Set a custom rate for a specific building or room, using the Location Override dropdown (choose from All Locations by default, or a specific building or room). This is useful for multi-location schools where one building costs more to run than another -- for example, charging $50 at an Uptown studio and $40 at a Downtown studio, regardless of which student, group, or session it is.
A location rate outranks every other override, including a Student + Session override -- it's the school stating what a building or room costs, so it wins any conflict. If you price a building, that price covers every room inside it; if you also price a specific room in that building, the room's price wins for lessons held in that room.
Location overrides are standalone, like course overrides -- they can't be combined with a course, session, student, or group scope. Conductly rejects the combination when you try to save it.
A lesson only matches a location override if it actually has a location (room or building) assigned. A course or class whose sessions span multiple buildings, or that has no assigned location, falls through to the rest of the hierarchy unchanged.
Student Override
Set a custom rate for an individual student. This is useful for scholarships, family discounts, or special pricing agreements.
Group Override
Set a custom rate for all students in a specific group. Great for group discounts or bundled pricing.
Course Override
Set a custom rate for an entire course. This applies to every session within that course, which is useful when all sessions of a course share the same pricing regardless of instructor or schedule. A course override takes priority over a session override, so course-level pricing wins even when a session also has its own rate.
Course overrides are standalone -- unlike session overrides, they can't be combined with student or group scopes. (Like a location override, which is also standalone and outranks a course override.)
Session Override
Set a custom rate for a particular session (class or lesson type). Useful when certain sessions have different pricing.
Combined Overrides
You can also create overrides that combine scopes:
- Student + Session -- A specific rate for a specific student in a specific session.
- Group + Session -- A specific rate for a group within a specific session.
The Rate Hierarchy
When Conductly needs to determine the rate for a lesson, it checks for rates in the following order, from most specific to least specific:
| Priority | Rate Level | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (Highest) | Location (building or room) | The Uptown location charges $45, no matter which student or session |
| 2 | Student + Session | Emma pays $25 for her Tuesday piano session |
| 3 | Student only | Emma pays $28 for all lessons |
| 4 | Group + Session | The "Smith Family" group pays $30 for the Tuesday piano session |
| 5 | Group only | The "Smith Family" group pays $32 for all lessons |
| 6 | Course only | The "Piano Lessons" course charges $34 for any of its sessions |
| 7 | Session only | Everyone in the Tuesday piano session pays $35 |
| 8 (Lowest) | Organization default | Everyone pays $40 |
Conductly uses the most specific rate it can find. A location override wins outright if the lesson's location has one; otherwise Conductly falls back to student, then group, then course, then session, and finally the organization default.
You do not need to create overrides at every level. Most schools only need organization defaults plus occasional student or group overrides for special situations. Location overrides are for the less common case of a school with per-building pricing.
Scope vs. Duration Precedence
Within each of the scope levels above, Conductly also distinguishes between rates that specify a matching lesson duration and duration-less default rates at the same level. A rate that matches the lesson duration takes priority over a duration-less default at the same scope.
However, scope specificity always wins over duration match: a more specific scope (e.g. Student + Session) beats a less specific scope (e.g. Organization), even if the more specific rate has no matching duration and the less specific rate does.
Example: A school sets a Student + Session default rate of $60 (no duration specified) and an Organization 30-minute specific rate of $20. A 30-minute lesson for that student in that session will charge $60, not $20 — the Student + Session scope wins even though the Organization rate has the matching duration.
Full precedence table (all 18 levels)
Each scope level is effectively two levels — one for rates that match the lesson's duration, and one for the scope's default rate. A location override splits further into the lesson's own room (if any) and the building that room sits in, room first. The complete precedence order Conductly walks is:
| Priority | Scope | Duration Match |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Location: Room | Specific |
| 2 | Location: Room | Default |
| 3 | Location: Building | Specific |
| 4 | Location: Building | Default |
| 5 | Student + Session | Specific |
| 6 | Student + Session | Default |
| 7 | Student | Specific |
| 8 | Student | Default |
| 9 | Group + Session | Specific |
| 10 | Group + Session | Default |
| 11 | Group | Specific |
| 12 | Group | Default |
| 13 | Course | Specific |
| 14 | Course | Default |
| 15 | Session | Specific |
| 16 | Session | Default |
| 17 | Organization | Specific |
| 18 | Organization | Default |
A lesson held directly at a building (not assigned to one of its rooms) only ever matches the Building rows -- there's no narrower room to check.
Most schools never need to think about this level of detail — just know that more specific scopes always win, and within a scope, a duration-specific rate beats a duration-less default.
Rate Versioning and Effective Dates
Every rate in Conductly has an effective date and an optional expiration date. This lets you:
- Schedule rate increases ahead of time without disrupting current billing.
- Run promotional rates that automatically expire.
- Keep a history of past rates for reference.
When multiple rate versions exist at the same level, Conductly always uses the most recent version whose effective date has passed and that has not expired.
Example:
| Rate Version | Effective Date | Expires | 60-min Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Version 1 | Jan 1, 2025 | -- | $50 |
| Version 2 | Sep 1, 2025 | -- | $55 |
After September 1, 2025, the $55 rate is automatically used. Before that date, the $50 rate applies.
Duration-Specific Pricing
Within each rate version, you can set prices for individual durations. If a lesson duration does not have a specific rate defined, Conductly falls back through the rate version in this order:
- An exact duration match (e.g. a rate set specifically for 45 minutes).
- A per-hour rate, if the version is priced per hour -- the hourly amount is scaled to the lesson length.
- The flat default rate within that rate version (if one is set).
For example, a rate version might define:
- 30-min: $30
- 60-min: $55
- Default: $40
A 45-minute lesson would use the default rate of $40 since no specific 45-minute rate is defined.
An explicit per-duration rate always wins over a per-hour rate at the same scope. If you set both a 30-minute rate and a per-hour rate, the 30-minute lesson uses the explicit 30-minute price.
Per-Hour (Pro-Rated) Rates
Instead of pricing each duration individually, you can set a single per-hour rate and let Conductly pro-rate it to the exact length of every lesson. This is ideal when your pricing is a clean hourly figure and you offer many lesson lengths.
When you choose Per hour (pro-rated) while adding a rate, you enter one hourly rate ($/hour). Conductly bills each lesson for its exact length, rounded to the cent:
lesson price = hourly rate × (minutes ÷ 60)
For example, a $60/hour rate produces:
| Lesson Length | Charge |
|---|---|
| 15 minutes | $15.00 |
| 30 minutes | $30.00 |
| 45 minutes | $45.00 |
| 60 minutes | $60.00 |
| 90 minutes | $90.00 |
The New rate form shows a live preview of these pro-rated prices as you type, so you can confirm the amounts before saving.
Per-hour rates work everywhere flat rates do -- you can set a per-hour default rate and per-hour overrides at the student, group, course, or session level. The rate hierarchy still determines which rate applies; the per-hour setting only changes how that rate's amount is calculated.
How Rates Connect to Invoicing
When an invoice is generated, Conductly:
- Looks at each scheduled lesson occurrence on the invoice.
- Determines the lesson duration and where it's held.
- Finds the most specific applicable rate using the hierarchy above.
- Applies that rate to the line item.
This means your rates are always applied consistently, and any changes to rates (via new effective dates) are automatically reflected in future invoices.
Per-meeting billing checks the location of each individual occurrence, so a series that moves between rooms or buildings can bill each lesson at its own location's rate. Billing that prices a whole period at once (fixed tuition, invoice previews) uses the session's location only when every lesson in that session shares one -- a session split across buildings falls through to the rest of the hierarchy instead of guessing.
Tuition
Below the Lesson rates section, the page has a Tuition section. While rates price individual lessons, a tuition is a flat amount charged per billing period -- it powers courses with the Subscription billing type. See Billing Plans for how subscriptions bill.
Click New tuition to create one. The form includes:
- Name -- A descriptive label (e.g., "Fall 2025 Tuition").
- Amount ($) -- The amount charged per billing period.
- Effective Date -- When the tuition takes effect; like rates, tuitions are versioned.
- Tuition Overrides -- Scope the tuition to a specific Course, Session, Student, or Group, plus a Semester Override to charge a different amount during a specific semester.
- Location Override -- Scope the tuition to a specific building or room instead, using the same rules as lesson rate location overrides: it outranks every other scope, and it's standalone (can't be combined with Course/Session/Student/Group). Unlike those, a Location Override can be combined with a Semester Override -- the two apply independently.
- Apply to existing unpaid invoices -- When checked, the tuition is retroactively applied to unpaid invoices that match its criteria. When unchecked, it only applies to future invoices generated after the effective date.
Tuition Proration for Mid-Cycle Enrollment
The rates above price individual lessons. Subscription tuition -- a flat recurring fee for a course -- works differently when a student enrolls partway through a billing period. Conductly can charge that student a proportional first invoice instead of a full month.
These settings live on a course's Subscription billing plan (in the course setup drawer and the Billing Information panel), and can also be set per student via a billing plan override. They appear only for the Subscription billing type.
Billing Cycle
The Billing cycle setting controls how a subscription's periods are anchored:
| Option | How periods work | Proration |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly from signup date (default) | Each period is a full month measured from the student's signup/enrollment date. | None -- every cycle is already a full period, so there is nothing to prorate. |
| Calendar month (renew on the 1st) | Periods align to the calendar month and renew on the 1st. A student who joins mid-month gets a partial first period. | The partial first period can be pro-rated (see below). |
Prorate First Period
When the billing cycle is set to Calendar month, a Prorate first period option appears with four choices:
| Option | What the first invoice covers |
|---|---|
| No proration (default) | The full month -- a mid-cycle joiner is charged the same as everyone else. |
| By scheduled lessons | The share of the month's lessons the student will actually attend -- remaining scheduled lessons ÷ the lessons a full month would have. |
| By week | The share of the month's weeks remaining, counted on the enrollment weekday (naturally 4 or 5 weeks). |
| By exact days | The share of the month's calendar days remaining -- the first invoice is split by exact days. |
Only the first partial period is ever pro-rated. Every cycle after that is billed as a full month.
Example -- By scheduled lessons: A $100/month Tuesday lesson in a month with five Tuesdays. A student who enrolls with only two Tuesdays left is charged $40 (2 ÷ 5) on the first invoice, then $100/month afterward.
Example -- By week: A $150/month subscription where three of the month's four weeks remain at enrollment. The first invoice is $112.50 (3 ÷ 4), then $150/month afterward.
By scheduled lessons needs a lesson schedule to count against. For a storefront subscription bought without scheduled lessons, it automatically falls back to By week, so a weekly subscription pro-rates the same whether or not lessons are on the calendar.
Best Practices
- Start with organization defaults. Set your standard rates first, then add overrides only where needed.
- Use effective dates for rate changes. Instead of editing an existing rate, create a new version with a future effective date. This preserves your rate history.
- Review rates each semester. The start of a new semester is a natural time to review and adjust your pricing.