How Do I Set Up Hourly Billing in iClassPro? – iClassPro Support

IN BRIEF
Hourly billing allows iClassPro to calculate tuition based on the total number of hours a student or family is enrolled each week, with charges applied over the billing period. This setup supports flat hourly rates, sliding-scale discounts, and multi-student or multi-hour discounts using Tuition Schedules and/or Discount Schedules.

Overview
Accessing the Feature
Step-by-Step Instructions
Troubleshooting & FAQs
Related Articles

Overview

Hourly billing is used when tuition is determined by the total weekly hours a student or family attends classes. Those weekly hours are totaled across the billing period and then charged, with discounts applied as configured.

iClassPro supports hourly billing in several common scenarios:

A flat hourly rate, regardless of total hours.
A sliding-scale rate where the hourly price decreases as total hours increase.
A flat base rate combined with Discount Schedules to arrive at specific pricing outcomes.

Hourly billing is typically required when discounts depend on the number of hours attended, rather than on a per-class basis.

Accessing the Feature

Hourly billing is configured at the class level, with supporting setup in Tuition and Discount Schedule settings.

From the main navigation menu, go to Settings > Setup > Class Settings > Tuitions to create or confirm your base hourly tuition.
Navigate to the Classes page and open the class you want to configure.
Select the Billing tab within the class.

Additional configuration may be required in Discount Schedules or Programs, depending on how discounts are applied.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Decide How You Will Bill Hourly

Before configuring the System, determine which hourly billing approach best fits your business model:

Flat hourly rate
- Use when the hourly price is the same regardless of total hours.
- Example: $35 per hour for all enrollments.
Sliding-scale hourly rate
- Use when the hourly price decreases after a certain number of hours.
- Example: $35 per hour for the first two hours, then $30 per hour beyond that.
Flat rate with Discount Schedule
- Use when you prefer to start with a higher base tuition and apply calculated discounts to reach your desired pricing.

Step 2: Calculate Your Base Hourly Rate

Your base hourly rate must be equal to or greater than the most expensive short-duration class you offer.

Start with your shortest class length.
Convert that price to an hourly equivalent.
Set your base hourly tuition at or above that amount.

Example:

Shortest class: 30 minutes for $40.
Hourly equivalent: $80 per hour.
Base hourly tuition should be at least $80.

This approach ensures discounts subtract from tuition rather than requiring the System to add to it, which is not supported.

Step 3: Create the Hourly Tuition

Go to Settings > Setup > Class Settings > Tuitions.
Create a tuition with your calculated base hourly rate.
Save the tuition.

This tuition will be attached to each hourly-billed class.

Step 4: Configure Class Billing Settings

For each class that bills hourly:

Open the class and select the Billing tab.
Set How do you bill? to Hourly.
Set How often will you bill for the class? to Month or Session, based on your billing cycle.
Set This class calculates prices by the number of hours in a… to Week.
Set Do you allow discounts? to Yes, unless you are using a Tuition Schedule instead.
Attach the base hourly tuition created earlier.
Configure proration and tax settings as needed.

Repeat this process for each hourly-billed class.

Step 5: Determine Discounts Using a Spreadsheet

Discounts are easiest to calculate using spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel.

Click here to download a sample spreadsheet to help calculate your discounts.

Calculations View:

Formula View:

The spreadsheet is set up as follows:

Column A: Lists the different totals of hours that students can take during a week (in decimal format).
- For additional help with entering decimal values for specific class lengths, see the "Minutes-to-Decimals Worksheet."
Column D: The Target Price is how much you wish to charge Student 1 for the number of hours per week listed in Column A.
Column G: The amount to enter in Column 1 of your Discount Schedule, represented as a Discounted Percentage of tuition. This is the discount that will be given to Student 1.
Column H: The amount to enter in Column 2 of your Discount Schedule, represented as a Discounted Percentage of tuition. This is the discount that will be given to Student 2, or to all students if you count students by Total and there are two active students in the family.
Column I: The amount to enter in Column 3 of your Discount Schedule, represented as a Discounted Percentage of tuition. This is the discount that will be given to Student 3, or to all students if you count students by Total and there are three active students in the family.
Column L:
- Cell L4: The base tuition amount if a student takes one hour of classes during the week. This should be at least double the amount you charge for your highest-priced 1/2 hour class.
- Cell L5: The discount you wish to give if the family has a second student (or two total students) enrolled. This value should be entered as a percentage.
- Cell L6: The discount you wish to give if the family has a third student (or three total students) enrolled. This value should be entered as a percentage.

When using the discount calculation spreadsheet:

List total weekly hours in decimal format.
Define the target price you want to charge for each hour total.
Calculate the discount percentages needed to reach that target price.
Convert those values into discounted percentages for use in Discount Schedules.

Important considerations

Discount percentages may include up to four decimal places.
A negative discount percentage indicates that your base hourly rate is too low and must be increased.
Discounts are always applied as a percentage off tuition.

Step 6: Set Up the Discount Schedule

Go to Settings > Setup > Class Settings > Discount Schedules.
Create a new Discount Schedule.
Enter discounts as percentages, including the percent sign (%).
Enter values exactly as calculated, including up to four decimal places if needed.

Discount columns typically represent:

Student one or total students.
Student two or second active student.
Student three or third active student.

Step 7: Attach Discount Schedules to Programs or Classes

By default, Discount Schedules are attached at the program level.

Go to Settings > Setup > General Settings > Programs.
Edit the program and attach the appropriate Discount Schedule.

If necessary, override the program-level Discount Schedule:

Open the class.
Go to the Billing tab.
Attach a different Discount Schedule specific to that class.

This is useful when:

Not all classes in a program bill hourly.
Different classes require different discount structures.

Troubleshooting & FAQs

When should I use hourly billing?
- Use hourly billing when tuition or discounts depend on the total number of hours a student or family is enrolled each week.
Why must my base hourly rate be so high?
- Discounts can only reduce tuition. Starting with the highest possible base rate ensures shorter or premium classes are not underpriced.
Can I combine hourly billing with multi-student discounts?
- Yes. Use Discount Schedules to apply multi-student or total-student discounts to hourly-billed classes.
What does a negative discount percentage mean in my spreadsheet?
- It indicates the desired tuition would require charging more than your base hourly rate. Increase the base rate and recalculate.
Can I attach Discount Schedules at the class level instead of the Program level?
- Yes. Class-level Discount Schedules override Program-level settings.