Discounts, scholarships, and sponsorships

Discounts and scholarships reduce or fund student obligations under different rules. A discount program applies a reusable pricing benefit. A scholarship program manages a funding budget, individual awards, and applications to invoices. Neither is a cash payment.

Audience: bursars, finance managers, scholarship administrators, implementers, approvers, and auditors
Learning time: 45 minutes
Navigation: Finance → Billing → Discount Programs and Finance → Scholarships
Boundary: P2 configures programs and governance. P3 documents invoice effects; P4 documents cash/payment effects.

Learning outcomes

You will be able to:

• distinguish discounts, scholarships, sponsorship funding, credit notes, and payments;
• configure discount scope, benefit, stacking, priority, and approval;
• configure scholarship program budget, eligibility, dates, and approval;
• explain award and application ledgers;
• identify exact permissions for programs, awards, and reversals;
• verify that concessions fail safely when scope is incomplete;
• preserve audit evidence when benefits are reversed.

Object model

Object	Meaning
Discount program	reusable eligibility and benefit rule
Discount application	record of a discount applied, held, approved, or reversed against an invoice
Scholarship program	approved funding source/budget and criteria
Scholarship award	approved entitlement for one student
Scholarship application	immutable apply/reverse ledger row against an invoice
Sponsorship	funding-source/business description; represent through verified scholarship or payer workflow
Credit note	controlled reduction of an existing invoice
Payment	incoming funds

Do not record a scholarship as a payment unless real money was received through the payment workflow.

Discount programs

Verified discount categories include staff, sibling, early-payment, and custom patterns. A program defines:

Field group	Important decisions
Identity	program name/code and school or tenant scope
Category	why a student qualifies
Benefit	percentage or fixed amount; optional cap
Currency	currency of fixed benefit
Fee scope	all fees, fee types, or exact fee IDs
Student scope	day, boarding, half-boarding, or all
Priority/stacking	order and whether benefits combine
Eligibility rules	custom criteria or sibling tiers
Approval	program approval and optional application approval
Dates	effective window
Accounting	optional GL account code
Status	approved and active are both required for use

Safe fee scope

When appliesToAllFees is false:

1. exact fee IDs take precedence when present;
2. otherwise fee types can define scope;
3. if neither scope is present, benefit is zero as a fail-safe.

This prevents a narrowly intended program from reducing unrelated invoice lines.

Stacking

Stackable programs can combine, capped at the invoice value. Non-stackable programs are exclusive and the engine selects according to its rules. Use preview evidence before billing.

Early-payment programs are skipped during billing when no payment date exists; they require a payment-time context.

Scholarship programs and awards

A scholarship program records:

• school;
• name/code;
• funding source;
• coverage type/value;
• currency;
• allocation and annual budget;
• eligibility rules;
• document requirements;
• start/end dates;
• approval status;
• active status;
• history and audit metadata.

Programs are created as draft and remain inactive until approved. Updating key approved financial fields can reset approval to pending.

An award records the student, program, academic year/term, amount or percentage, currency, effective dates, status, approval, and evidence. Award currency must match the program currency.

The exact UI transition labels must match the current screen. The diagram represents verified lifecycle values, not permission to skip required steps.

Application ledgers and reversal

Scholarship applications use immutable apply/reverse rows. A reversal is a compensating row linked to the original application, not destructive editing.

Discount reversals similarly preserve evidence and can create corresponding accounting reversal evidence where configured.

Prerequisites

Requirement	Why it matters
Approved concession policy	protects revenue and equity of treatment
Fee catalogue	benefit scope refers to fee types/IDs
Student classifications	staff/sibling/boarding eligibility depends on reliable data
Funding approval and budget	scholarship awards cannot exceed authorised funding
Currency design	fixed benefits and budgets need consistent currency
Approvers	programs, applications, and awards use controlled actions
Accounting design	concessions may require distinct accounts/mappings
Supporting-document policy	scholarship evidence and privacy responsibilities

Roles and exact permissions

Discounts

Action	Ability
Create/update/list/read program	fee_discount_program:create, update, list, read
Approve/reject program	fee_discount_program:approve
Preview/apply/reverse	fee_discount:preview, fee_discount:apply, fee_discount:reverse
Approve held application	fee_discount:approve
Read applications	fee_discount:read

Scholarships

Action	Ability
Create/update/approve/list/read/statistics program	corresponding scholarship_program:* abilities
Create/update/approve/change status/list/read award	corresponding scholarship_award:* abilities
Apply/reverse scholarship	scholarship_award_application:create, scholarship_award_application:reverse
List/read application ledger	scholarship_award_application:list, scholarship_award_application:read

Do not grant application reversal to a user who only needs to configure programs.

Guided procedure: discount program

1. Open Finance → Billing → Pricing & Billing Rules → Discount Programs.
2. Choose tenant-wide or school scope explicitly.
3. Define category and eligibility.
4. Define percentage/fixed benefit and currency.
5. Choose all fees, fee types, or exact fee IDs.
6. Configure student types, tiers, priority, stacking, cap, and dates.
7. Decide whether each application needs approval.
8. Add accounting reference if approved.
9. preview representative students/invoices where supported;
10. submit/approve and activate.

Verification: program must be approved, active, effective, and correctly scoped.

Guided procedure: scholarship program

1. Open Finance → Scholarships → Programs.
2. Create the program with funding source, budget, coverage, currency, criteria, and dates.
3. retain supporting-document and external approval references;
4. submit and approve;
5. activate only after budget and governance review;
6. create a test award for an eligible test student;
7. verify amount/percentage, dates, academic context, and currency;
8. approve and activate the award;
9. do not apply to a production invoice during P2.

Worked scenario: Mupfure Learning Academy

The school configures:

• a 10% sibling discount, stackable, scoped to tuition fees only;
• a staff discount requiring application approval;
• a USD 20,000 STEM scholarship program funded by a sponsor;
• a USD 500 award for a test student.

The implementer previews the sibling rule and confirms transport is excluded. The staff program is approved and active but applications remain pending until a separate approver acts. The scholarship program budget and award currency match. No record is treated as cash received.

Failure modes

Symptom	Likely cause	Evidence to inspect	Safe action	Escalate when
Discount value is zero	all-fees false with no fee IDs/types, or student not eligible	program scope and preview	correct scope/eligibility	matching program still returns zero
Discount affects wrong lines	applies-to-all or ambiguous fee type	benefit snapshot and program	switch to exact fee IDs where needed	historical invoices require correction
Program is ignored	not approved, inactive, or outside dates	approval/status/effective window	complete governance	eligible active program remains absent
Award cannot be created	budget, program status, date, currency, or school mismatch	program and request error	correct foundation	valid request is rejected unexpectedly
Scholarship application exceeds entitlement	award/budget/previous applications	application ledger totals	reduce amount or resolve prior entries	ledger total is inconsistent
Reversal appears as another row	expected immutable ledger design	reversal link/type	retain both rows	net total is wrong

Verification checklist

• Discount and scholarship policies are approved.
• Program scope is tenant or school by design.
• Benefit type/value/currency are correct.
• Fee and student scope are explicit.
• Stacking, priority, caps, and tiers are tested.
• Programs are approved, active, and effective.
• Scholarship budget and funding evidence exist.
• Awards match program currency and dates.
• Application/reversal abilities are segregated.
• Preview and ledger evidence are retained.
• No concession is misclassified as a payment.

Practice and knowledge check

Guided practice: configure a tuition-only sibling discount and preview its coverage.

Independent scenario: a sponsor funds half of tuition for selected students. Decide which records represent the program, entitlement, invoice application, and any later cash receipt.

1. Why is a discount not a payment?
2. What happens when all-fees is false but no scope is configured?
3. When are early-payment discounts evaluated?
4. Why can program approval and application approval be separate?
5. What is the difference between a scholarship program and award?
6. How are scholarship reversals represented?
7. Which record proves the sponsor’s cash was actually received?

Answer guide: discounts reduce price; incomplete scope fails to zero; early-payment needs payment date; policy may approve rules separately from outcomes; programs fund, awards entitle; compensating ledger rows preserve history; a payment/bank record proves cash.

Next lesson

Continue to Payment methods, providers, and bank accounts.