Making a Fee Optional (Opt-In)
Mandatory and optional are both just a flag on a fee item. An optional fee is never billed by default to anyone — a student only owes it once someone opts them in, individually or in bulk.
Setting a fee as optional
When adding or editing a fee item under Fees → Structure, select Opt-in (instead of Compulsory) under "How it is billed." The UI explains it plainly: Compulsory is "charged automatically to every student it applies to," Opt-in is "only billed to students you enrol, one by one."
02Click Add fee (or Save, if editing an existing one).
The fee now exists but isn't charged to anyone by default.
Opting students in
- One student at a time: from their profile, click Manage opt-ins under Fees this term, then search, switch on the fees they need and save (see Opting a Student Into or Out of a Fee).
- In bulk: from the fee structure page, use the bulk opt-in tool, which supports filtering by search term or class, plus a "select eligible" shortcut, before applying the opt-in to everyone matched at once.
Opting a student out only skips future billing — it doesn't touch anything already invoiced.
The discountable flag
Separately from required/optional, every fee has a discountable flag controlling whether it counts toward the base a sibling or staff discount is calculated on.