Month three of six
Forty students bought your course on a six-month plan. By month three, five instalments have failed. Two students have updated their cards. One replied that she lost her job and asked whether she could pause. Two have not replied at all, but are still active in the course and the community.
Your checkout sent its standard failed payment emails. After that, nothing happened, because the platform's plan feature does not do anything more. You are left to decide, one by one, whether to chase, cut access, or let it go.
Why plans are hard to manage
A payment plan is a one-off purchase paid in pieces, which makes it different from a membership. The student usually gets full access up front. If an instalment fails, the default is often a few retries and then silence. Your rules on what should happen (a grace period, reduced access, a late fee, a revised plan) exist only in your head or your terms.
- Failed instalments get only the processor's generic emails.
- Access stays fully open whatever happens.
- There is no route for students who want to reschedule.
- Plan status across all students is not visible in one place.
- Decisions are made one at a time, inconsistently.
What your terms say, and what you can do about unpaid amounts, is for you and your adviser. The problem we solve is applying your chosen approach consistently and kindly.
What missed instalments cost
Unpaid income, most directly, which adds up across a launch. Unfairness to students who pay on time. And time spent on awkward one-off decisions. Students in genuine difficulty often go silent because there is no easy way to ask for help, which makes them look like they are avoiding payment when they are not.
Instalment handling with your rules
- Each plan is tracked with its schedule, payments made and payments due.
- When an instalment fails, the student receives a message from you with a card update link, sent from your email tool.
- Your grace period applies, during which access continues.
- After the grace period, your chosen rule applies, such as pausing new modules, pausing community access, or pausing everything, applied across your tools.
- Students can request a revised plan through a short form, which you approve or adjust, and the new schedule is created in Stripe.
- When payment resumes, access is restored everywhere.
- A dashboard shows every plan: on track, failing, in grace, paused, revised or complete.
| Plan status | Access (your rule, example) | What the student receives |
|---|---|---|
| On track | Full | Receipts |
| Instalment failed | Full, during grace | Card update link and reminder |
| Grace ended | New modules paused | Clear note and options |
| Revised plan requested | Unchanged while you decide | Confirmation |
| Paid in full | Full | Thank you |
Plans that finish
Students who simply had a card problem fix it straight away. Those in real difficulty have a respectful way to ask for a different schedule, and you decide with their history in front of you. Students who stop paying have access paused by your rules, not by your mood that day. And you can see the state of every plan without opening each one.
Back to the five failed instalments in month three. Two students fix their cards the same day from the reminder. The student who lost her job requests a revised plan, and you approve a smaller monthly amount. The two who stayed silent reach the end of the grace period, their new modules pause, and each receives a clear note with their options. One replies within a week.
Is this happening with your plans?
- Students stop paying partway through a plan and keep full access.
- Failed instalments only get generic processor emails.
- Students in difficulty have no way to ask for a new schedule.
- You decide what to do case by case.
- You cannot see all plans' status in one place.