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Knowledge Base / Enrollment

Waitlists

Updated October 5, 2026

When a class or program fills up, families don't have to walk away — they can join its waitlist. As soon as a seat opens, TeachHero automatically offers it to the next family in line and gives them 24 hours to claim it. Waitlists are off by default: you turn them on for each class and program that should have one.

Turn on a waitlist

  1. Open the class or program and click Edit class (or Edit program).
  2. In Enrollment Settings (classes) or Enrollment (programs), check Enable waitlist — "Let families join a waitlist once this class is full."
  3. Save.

Until you do, families see no waitlist option on that class or program, even when it's full.

How families join

When a class or program with Enable waitlist checked is Full (but not Closed), its page on your school's website shows a Join Waitlist button instead of the enroll button. A signed-in parent picks which student to add, then clicks Join Waitlist to confirm. Each student can only hold one active spot per class or program.

How seats are offered

  1. A seat opens — for example, a student drops or you raise the seat count.
  2. The first family in line automatically gets an email: "A spot has opened up in …" with a Claim this spot button and a deadline 24 hours away. While the offer is out, the seat is held for them.
  3. Clicking the link takes the parent to checkout to complete the enrollment — fees, forms, and payment included.
  4. If they don't claim it in time, the offer expires, they're notified, and the seat is offered to the next family automatically.

No admin action is needed at any point, but you can step in — see below.

Manage a waitlist

Open the class or program, click its Students tab, then Waitlist. Each entry shows the student, the parent who added them, their state, when they joined, and any offer deadline:

  • Waiting — in line, in the order shown. Drag rows to change the order.
  • Offered — currently holds a seat offer (deadline in the Offer expires column).
  • Expired — let an offer lapse. They keep their history but are out of line until they rejoin.
  • Cancelled — removed, with the reason shown.

Actions:

  • Add student — put a student on the waitlist yourself. When a seat is offered, the email goes to a parent in their family.
  • Offer next — send an offer to the first waiting family right away, without waiting for an automatic trigger. Available when someone is waiting and no offer is already out.
  • Remove — take a waiting student off the list; the family is notified by email.
  • Cancel offer — withdraw an outstanding offer. The student comes off the waitlist, the family is notified by email, and the seat becomes available to the next family.

Note: Prefer to skip the wait? You can always enroll a waitlisted student directly — see Enrolling a Student.

Ending a waitlist

Setting the class or program's enrollment status to Closed ends enrollment entirely and cancels all waiting entries and outstanding offers. A Closed class won't reopen automatically when seats free up — unlike Full, which is managed for you based on seats.