TeachHero has four different ways to lower what a family pays, and each fits a different situation. Pick from this table, then jump to the matching section — mixing them up is the most common billing support question we see.
| You want to… | Use | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Give every qualifying family a lower price automatically (siblings, returning students, early birds) | Automatic discount | Applies itself at enrollment — no codes, no manual work |
| Give a discount only to people you choose to tell | Coupon code | Only applies when the family enters the code at checkout |
| Reduce one family's price after they've already enrolled | One-off discount | A discount added straight to a charge on their bill |
| Award tuition assistance or a scholarship against a balance | Credit | Forgives part of what's owed, and shows up in reporting as assistance given |
Automatic discounts: siblings, returning families, early birds
Automatic discounts live on a fee — you discount the tuition fee, the registration fee, and so on.
- Open the term, class, or program, find Fees & Discounts, and click the pencil icon on the fee.
- Under Discounts, click Add discount.
- Pick or create the discount type (a reusable label like "Sibling Discount" that keeps reporting tidy), choose Flat amount or Percentage, and set the value.
- Set Applied when:
- Leave blank — everyone gets it.
- Student is → Sibling, New, or Returning.
- Student enrolls before → a date, for early-bird pricing.
Qualifying students get the discount automatically at enrollment; it shows on their bills. Changes affect future enrollments only.
Deep dive: Managing Discounts
Coupon codes: promotions you hand out
- Go to Billing → Coupons and click New coupon.
- Pick the discount type it reports under, click Random for a code, set the value, and optionally an expiration date.
- Choose usage: default (once per family), Single use (first redeemer uses it up), or Reusable.
Families enter the code at checkout — and it works on application fees too, where a 100% coupon lets selected families apply free.
Deep dive: Coupon codes
One-off discounts: after they've enrolled
Enrollment already happened, so fee-level discounts won't reach this family. Instead, open the bill the fee is on (Billing → Invoices, or the Billing tab on the student's page), open the ... menu on the fee's row in the Charges table, and choose Add discount — pick the discount type and the dollar amount.
Deep dive: Invoices
Scholarships and tuition assistance: credits
Credits reduce what a family owes without money moving — and unlike editing a charge, they leave a clean paper trail with a reason attached.
- Open the student under Enrollment → Families, go to the Credits tab, and click Issue credit with a reason like "2026–27 Scholarship".
- Apply it: open the bill you want it to count against — from Billing → Invoices, or the Invoices panel on the student's Contact tab — and click Apply credit on the bill's Applied credits tab. If the scholarship should only cover certain charges, tick Apply to specific items and set the amount per charge.
The credit counts like a payment — the bill and what the family owes both update, so there's nothing to adjust by hand.
Deep dive: Credits
See what it's all costing you
Discount types are what make reporting work — every sibling discount, coupon, and early-bird rate rolls up under its type. Check the Refunds & Credits report for assistance given, and the Revenue report (grouped by fee type) for what you actually collected. See Reports.