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Knowledge Base / Admissions

Application Fees

Updated October 5, 2026

You can charge families a one-time fee as part of the student application. The fee is paid online during the application, before it can be submitted.

Note: Application fees are collected online through Stripe, so connect your school's Stripe account first. See Setting Up Online Payments.

Add an application fee

  1. Go to Enrollment → Applications.
  2. Click Application settings.
  3. Scroll to the Application Submission section and click Add application fee.
  4. In the Fee dropdown, pick one of your fee types — or create a new one right there (the Create Fee modal asks for a name and a Default amount).
  5. Enter the Fee amount. This is what families are charged before the application can be submitted; it can differ from the fee type's default amount.
  6. Under Accepted payment methods, choose which methods families can pay with: Credit/Debit Card, ACH Direct Debit, or both.
  7. Click Save changes.

An application can have one fee. The amount must be at least $1 — to run free applications, remove the fee instead (see below). The Parents pay processing fees setting doesn't add a surcharge to application fees; families pay the Fee amount you set.

How families pay the fee

The fee (with its fee type name) is shown to families on the application start page, and again on the final review step:

  • If they select a saved payment method, clicking Pay [amount] & submit application charges it and submits the application in one step.
  • Otherwise, Continue to payment takes them to a secure Stripe checkout page where they enter card or bank details and click Pay [amount].

Families can also click Use coupon on the review step to apply a discount code — see Coupon Codes. A coupon that covers the full fee lets them submit without paying anything.

When the payment succeeds, the family gets an emailed receipt and sees it on the confirmation page. On your side, the payment shows up in Billing → Payments (the Payments Received list), and the fee, receipt, and any related invoice appear on the applicant's page under Enrollment → Applications.

Note: Bank (ACH) payments can take a few days to clear. The application is submitted right away and the confirmation page shows a "Payment Processing" notice; if a family pays with a bank account that hasn't finished verification, the application is still submitted and TeachHero creates an invoice for the fee instead.

Make applications free

Don't want to charge anything? Just don't add a fee — or remove an existing one:

  1. Open Student Application Settings (steps above).
  2. In the Application Submission section, delete the application fee row.
  3. Click Save changes.

With no fee, families skip payment entirely: the review step ends with a single Submit application button, and the Accepted payment methods setting disappears since there's nothing to pay.