Short version: charge for the lessons that are left in the term, not the whole term. That is the per-lesson rate multiplied by the lessons still to run, with holidays already taken out. If your studio deliberately charges a flat fee whatever the start date, say so up front and use it.
The situation
A studio bills group classes by school term. A new student joins the Thursday beginners’ strings class in week six of a ten-week term. There is a public holiday on a Thursday later in the term.
The full-term fee covers ten weeks. The new student will attend what’s left: weeks six to ten, minus the Thursday holiday, so four lessons. Charging for ten is an easy way to lose a family before their first lesson. Working it out by hand for every late joiner is where mistakes creep in, especially around holidays.
Two ways studios bill
By block (rolling). The student buys a number of lessons, such as ten, that start whenever they start. There’s no “mid-term” to worry about: the first invoice is for a full block, and lessons appear once it’s paid. The next block’s invoice goes out automatically near the end of the current one.
By term. Everyone in a class is billed for the same term. Here the start date matters, and the fair first invoice depends on how many lessons remain.
How Encore prices a term invoice
For a program billed per term, each invoice is:
per-lesson rate × the number of lessons in that term
The lesson count comes from the class’s weekday across the term’s dates, leaving out closed days such as public holidays and studio closures (see Settings → Holidays & terms). For a student who joins mid-term, only the dates from their first lesson onward are counted. So in the example above, the invoice is four lessons at the per-lesson rate, and the holiday Thursday has already been removed.
If your policy is a single price regardless of start date, set a flat term fee on the program. Encore uses that instead of the per-lesson calculation.
Setting it up
In Settings → Programs, choose Per term as the billing type, then enter either a price per lesson or a flat term fee. Define your terms under Holidays & terms. When you enrol a student, their first invoice is worked out from the date of their first lesson.
What to tell families
“You pay for the lessons you’ll actually have this term.” It is easy to explain, easy to check, and it gets the first invoice right without anyone reaching for a calculator.