Payments
How to Track Student Payment Status and Stripe Connect Readiness
Keep the school’s software subscription separate from the payments families make for lessons, packages, deposits, and balances.
Understand the two payment layers
There is the subscription the school pays for Software for Driving School, and there are the payments students or parents make to the school for lessons. These are different relationships and should stay separate in the dashboard.
The subscription screen helps the school manage its plan. Student payment records belong with enrollments, packages, and student records.
Use Stripe Connect readiness as a launch gate
If student online payments are enabled through Stripe Connect, the school needs a connected account that is ready for charges and payouts. If the account is incomplete, the dashboard should say payments are paused or unavailable instead of sending families into a broken checkout.
This is safer for launch because it makes payment readiness visible before a package page asks a family to pay online.
Track deposits, paid status, and balances in plain language
Staff do not want to decode provider events. They need school-friendly states: unpaid, deposit paid, partially paid, paid, failed, refunded, or pay later. Those states should appear where staff review enrollments and student records.
When a family calls, staff should be able to answer whether money was received, what remains due, and whether a checkout is still pending.
Avoid unsupported payment promises
Do not say the platform is a bank, merchant of record, or payment processor unless the legal and technical architecture supports that exact claim. The safer message is that Software for Driving School supports payment status tracking and Stripe Connect-ready workflows when configured.
Provider fees, refund terms, chargeback handling, tax, and consumer-protection rules need school and advisor review.
Review payment history with enrollment context
Payment records are most useful when attached to the student, package, enrollment, and communication history. A raw payment list helps accounting, but the front desk usually needs context: who paid, for what package, what remains, and whether booking should continue.
Use payment status as one part of operational readiness, alongside documents, waivers, package balance, and scheduling rules.
How this workflow creates business value
What this replaces
Confusing payment screenshots, provider-only dashboards, and mixed records where the school subscription and student package payments appear to be the same workflow.
Conversion impact
Clear payment status helps families understand whether they paid a deposit, owe a balance, can book now, or need offline payment instructions.
Staff habit
Review Connect readiness before promoting online student checkout, and keep platform subscription questions separate from student package payment questions.
Try the workflow
See the tutorial steps inside Software for Driving School
Use the trial to build pages, configure enrollment, review records, test scheduling rules, and see where the dashboard removes manual work.
Questions
Tutorial FAQ
Do schools need Stripe Connect?
Only if they want online student payments through connected-account workflows. The platform subscription billing can remain separate.
Can a school keep student payments paused?
Yes. Student checkout can stay off while the school uses subscription billing, website, enrollment, records, and scheduling workflows.
Does Software for Driving School store card numbers?
No public copy should claim card storage. Card handling belongs to the payment provider workflow.
