You Can Always Issue a Refund Later

Providing a student with a refund is an irreversible decision, so it's worthwhile to think through other options that you may have. 

You can refund a student at any time, as long as their payment is still pending in escrow. Pending funds are the payments you've received for classes that haven't taken place yet --the ones most at risk for cancellation. Once these funds pending in escrow have been paid out to you, refunds cannot be processed within the CourseStorm system. You can check on your pending payouts by navigating to your administrator menu and clicking on the payouts section. 

Alternatives to Canceling Registrations

We recommend that if at all possible, you should postpone, or transfer, any upcoming courses, rather than canceling them. By delaying a class rather than canceling it, you can avoid refunds and preserve revenue.

• Reschedule the activity - Scheduling conflicts happen. Weather, illness, power outages. Instead of canceling, you can change the date of a course at any time in CourseStorm. (To postpone a course with CourseStorm, navigate to your administrator menu, click on the class, click "Edit," click "Schedule, and select your preferred start and end date.)

• Transfer to another class - Suggest another course that may be of interest and offer to transfer their registration. In this situation, a small workaround may be of assistance: you can use a temporary "holding place" class to keep track of folks who can then be transferred to other classes at a later date. 

• Provide a credit for a future class using Promo Codes - Offer a promo code (credit) for the amount of the canceled class for a different course. This means you can cancel the registration but don't need to refund the transaction amount and pay the associated service fees.

Communicate With Your Students

While there’s a great deal of uncertainty for everyone, regular communication helps your learning community stay connected to your program. Communication can provide you with additional time to make decisions that will best benefit your program and learners.

You can email students who enrolled in individual classes or all students in your registration system using CourseStorm, and this may be an effective way to reach out to discuss your plans and intentions going forward.