OpenApply has a complimentary 'Discounts & Taxes' feature within the core functions of the system. This allows schools to easily reduce or increase the fee amount when issuing an invoice.
Configure Discounts
Navigate to Settings > Payments > Discounts and click on "Create Discount"
- Enter an internal name of the discount and it will be visible only on the admin's side
- Enter the name of the discount and it will be visible on the invoice on the parent's side
- Select a discount type for the discount
- See existing discount types or add custom discount types
- Set the validity period for the discount. By default it is set to be 'Ongoing.' If it is an early bird discount, select 'Time-bound' and set the start date and the end date to define the validity period.
- Set the discount by either a percentage or a fixed amount
- (Optional) Add internal notes if necessary and they will be visible only on the admin's side
Apply Discounts
There are 4 ways to assign a fee to a student, as introduced in Flexible Fees. It is possible to add discounts & taxes only when assigning a fee to particular student(s) via the roster.
Via Dashboard > Enquires, Applicants or Students roster, you can issue an invoice to student(s) if the fee is applicable to only certain student(s).
After you have selected the student(s) and a fee template, you can reduce the fee amount by adding a discount or increase the fee amount by adding a tax that applies to the selected student(s). For any addition to the fee amount, for instance, surcharge or handling charge, you can add it by adding a tax and naming the tax as wanted. When adding a tax, you can either define a percentage or enter a fixed amount. It is only possible to add one discount and one tax for an invoice.
Before sending the fee to the selected student(s), you can preview the invoice to see how the invoice will look on the parent's side.
Apply Multiple Discounts
An individual invoice may now include more than one discount simultaneously—up to five—and the system will perform the calculations automatically.
The following capabilities are now available:
Apply up to five discounts to a single invoice, combining percentage-based and fixed-amount discounts as desired.
Observe the total amount recalculated in real time as discounts are added, removed, or reordered.
Manage the sequence in which discounts are applied, recognizing that the order influences the final amount.
Select the method by which the institution rounds monetary values, ensuring alignment with your finance department and tax authority requirements.
When a discount reduces the amount due to $0, the system will prompt whether to mark the invoice as Paid, preventing invoices from remaining in an incorrect status.
Explanation of Discount Calculations — Sequential Application of Discounts
Discounts are applied sequentially, one at a time from top to bottom. Each discount is computed based on the remaining balance after the previous discount has been applied, rather than the original price. Following each calculation, the discount amount is rounded before being deducted.
Presented below is a practical example with an original amount of $7,899.99:
📝Note: The order of discounts is important. Applying the same discounts in a different sequence may result in a different final total, as each step is calculated based on the current running balance. For this reason, each discount row displays the "Applies to $X" amount from which it was derived, to ensure clarity regarding how the final figure was obtained.
📝Note: Discounts shall never reduce the total amount below $0. In cases where stacked discounts exceed the price, the amount due will be capped at $0.00 and will not become negative. When this occurs, the final discount entry will display the actual remaining amount deducted, rather than its full nominal value (for example, if only $40 remains, a $60 fixed discount will be shown as −$40).
Rounding rules
Rounding rules for discounted amounts can be configured under Settings > Payments > Invoice Settings.
Option |
When to use |
|---|---|
Round Down (default) |
Friendliest to families, zero complaint risk. |
Round Half Up |
Neutral; may need a word of explanation to finance. |
Round Up |
Not recommended — most likely to upset families. |
When a Discount Has Validity Period
When a discount has a validity period, each discount row is checked on its own:
Expired discounts are either hidden or marked as (Expired) in the "+ Add Discount" list, thereby preventing their selection for a new invoice.
On an invoice, an expired row remains visible but is displayed with a strikethrough amount and a red "Expired" tag — it is not included in calculations (and is never silently removed).
If a row is skipped due to expiration, the subsequent rows recalculate their "Based on $X" values from the preceding valid row.
Invoices that have already been sent or paid are locked and remain unaffected if a discount expires afterward. (This approach aligns with the practices of Stripe, Chargebee, and Shopify: expiration only prevents new usage and does not alter historical records.)