Two ways to take money off a bill
CloudNotte has two tools for this, and choosing the right one at the start saves a great deal of repetition later.
| Individual discount | Student tag | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | One child — a scholarship, a hardship arrangement | A group — boarders, staff children, sibling discounts |
| Where | The student's profile → Add discount | Settings → Accounting → Student Tags |
| Can also add fees? | No, only takes money off | Yes — a tag can carry extra fees as well as discounts |
| When it applies | Immediately, to fees that already exist | When you run accounting |
| So the order is | Run accounting → then add the discount | Set the tag up → then run accounting |
The last two rows are the opposite way round, and that catches almost everybody out.
Tag discounts go first, individual discounts go last. An individual discount created before the student has any fees attaches to nothing at all, and no later run will pick it up.
Decide whether it's for one student or a group
It's worth a minute's thought — the two work differently.
Ask yourself: will anyone else ever get this same arrangement?
- Just this child, just this year — an individual discount is simplest.
- Several children, or every year — use a tag. You set the arrangement up once and then simply add students to the group. When the terms change, you change them in one place rather than on twenty students.
A tag can also carry extra fees. A "Boarder" tag might add a hostel fee and take a little off tuition, all in one arrangement — and students move in and out of the group as their circumstances change.
For a group: create the student tag
Settings → Accounting → Student Tags.
Create the tag, give it a clear name, and set up what it does:
- Tag fees — extra charges everyone in this group pays, with the amount and the terms and sessions they apply to.
- Tag discounts — money off, again scoped to particular terms and sessions.
Your school keeps a single "First Term" that every session reuses. A fee or discount attached to a term without naming the session can reach further back than you intended. Set both.
Student tags sit behind the user-management permission for assigning roles and permissions — not an accounting permission. Since a tag changes what students are charged, it's worth checking who at your school holds that permission.
For a group: add the students, then run accounting
The tag must be complete before the run.
Put the students into the tag, then run accounting for the term. The run gives everyone in the tag their tag fees and applies the tag discounts.
If you add a student to the tag after a run, just run accounting again for that one student. Students who already have their fees are left alone, so nothing is charged twice.
A tag discount comes off whichever fee matches the item it applies to — usually the ordinary class fee. So on the student's screen you'll see the class fee itself reduced, rather than a separate line for the tag. That's normal.
For one student: run accounting first, then discount
The student's profile → 'Add discount'.
Open the student, find their fees, and click Add discount — either on a particular fee row, or for the student as a whole. Fill in:
- Which fees? — the bills this comes off.
- How much to take off per fee? — the amount or percentage.
- A Title such as "Scholarship", and a description if it helps whoever reads it next year.
- Academic Terms, and optionally Academic Sessions.
- Discount Type — percentage or a fixed amount.
Percentage or fixed?
| Type | Use it when |
|---|---|
| Percentage | The arrangement is "half fees" or "25% off" and should follow the fee if the price changes. Never takes off more than the fee itself. |
| Fixed | It's a specific sum — ₦20,000 off tuition — regardless of what tuition costs. |
Two reasons, both deliberate:
- The student has no fees at all. Run accounting for them first.
- That fee is already fully paid. There's nothing left to reduce — you want a refund, not a discount.
Check it landed
Don't take the confirmation message as proof.
Open the student's fee list. A discounted fee shows the reduced amount as what's payable. Your Accounting Summary also shows a Discounts figure alongside Gross Fees and Net Fees for the whole term.
When a discount is bigger than the bill
If a discount is worth more than what's still owed on a fee, the extra has to go somewhere. Under Settings → Accounting → Preferences:
| Setting | What happens to the extra |
|---|---|
| Off (the default) | Nothing. The fee goes to zero and the rest of the discount is simply not given. |
Put discounts in the wallet instead of taking them off the fee | The leftover is added to the student's wallet balance, which the family can use against future fees. |
When a discount has put money into a wallet and that fee is later removed, CloudNotte takes that money back out again — otherwise re-running accounting would hand the family the same credit twice. If the family has already spent it, the shortfall is reported to you rather than pushing the wallet below zero.
Common questions
- I created a discount for a student but nothing changed on their bill. Why?
- Almost always because the student had no fees yet when the discount was created. An individual discount is applied at the moment you create it, to the fees that exist right then — it is not picked up later when accounting runs. Run accounting for that student first, then add the discount. You'll notice the
Add discountbutton is greyed out on a student with no fees, which is the same rule showing up on screen. - What's the difference between a discount and a student tag?
- A discount takes money off. A student tag is a group — boarders, staff children, scholarship holders — that can carry both extra fees and discounts. Use a plain discount for a one-off. Use a tag when the same arrangement applies to several students, because then you only set it up once and simply add students to the group.
- Can I give a discount on a fee a parent has already paid?
- Not usefully. A discount can only reduce what is still outstanding, so on a fully paid fee there is nothing left to take off — and the
Add discountbutton is disabled on a cleared fee. If you need to give money back on something already paid, that's a refund rather than a discount: see our guide on fixing fee mistakes. - What happens to a discount that's bigger than what's left to pay?
- By default the extra is simply not given — the fee goes to zero and that's that. If you'd rather the difference went to the family, turn on "Put discounts in the wallet instead of taking them off the fee" under
Settings → Accounting → Preferences. Then the leftover is added to the student's wallet balance for future fees. - Should I use a percentage or a fixed amount?
- Use a percentage when the arrangement is "half fees" or "a quarter off" and should follow the fee if the price changes. Use a fixed amount when it's a specific sum, like ₦20,000 off tuition. A percentage never takes off more than the fee itself, so a 100% discount clears it exactly.
- Who can create discounts?
- Staff with the give discount permission for Accounting. Student tags are separate — they're controlled by the user-management permission for assigning roles and permissions. That's worth knowing, because a tag can carry fees and discounts, so someone who only manages roles can change what students are charged. Review who holds that permission.
- Can I set a discount to expire?
- Yes. A discount can be given an expiry date, and it can be switched off with the "Should this discount be active?" toggle. An expired or disabled discount is skipped the next time accounting runs, but it does not reverse anything it has already taken off.