Most schools discount tuition for families with more than one child enrolled. The Fee Calculator supports two ways of expressing this — pick the one that matches how your fee schedule is documented in print.
The two methods
Built-in (per-child fee fields)
Each year level has separate fee fields for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th child. You enter the dollar amount each sibling pays directly.
Example — Year 7 fees:
| Child | Yearly fee |
|---|---|
| 1st child | $18,000 |
| 2nd child | $16,200 (10% off) |
| 3rd child | $14,400 (20% off) |
| 4th child | $9,000 (50% off) |
| 5th child + | $0 (free) |
Use this method when your fee schedule lists explicit per-child amounts, or when the discount varies by year level (e.g. larger discounts on primary fees than secondary).
Percentage-based
A single set of discount percentages applies to every year level. You set the percentage for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th+ children once, and the calculator applies it to whatever year level the child is in.
Example — single set of percentages:
| Child | Discount |
|---|---|
| 1st child | 0% |
| 2nd child | 10% |
| 3rd child | 20% |
| 4th child | 50% |
| 5th child + | 100% |
Use this method when your discount is the same across all year levels — most common pattern, simpler to maintain.
Choosing the method
Go to Fee Calculator → Calculator Settings and set Discount type to either Built-in or Percentage.
Switching between methods doesn’t delete the underlying data — the unused fields are just ignored — but you do need to make sure the active method’s data is correct before parents start using the calculator.
Setting up the built-in method
The per-child fees live on each year-level fee entry. See Setting up year-level fees. On every year-level fee record, fill in:
- Term fee child 2 through Term fee child 5.
- Yearly fee child 2 through Yearly fee child 5.
The first-child amount is the standard Term fee / Yearly fee field.
Setting up the percentage-based method
Go to Fee Calculator → Discounts. There’s a single discount record per school (the form auto-redirects between create and edit).
Fields:
- Second student discount percentage — e.g. 10 for 10% off.
- Third student discount percentage — e.g. 20.
- Fourth student discount percentage — e.g. 50.
- Subsequent student discount percentage — applied to the 5th child and every child after.
Save. The percentages apply immediately to all calculations.
How the discount is allocated across siblings
The calculator sorts children by yearly fee, highest first. The most expensive child is the “first child” and pays full price; the next most expensive is the “second child” and gets the second-child discount, and so on.
So a family with a Year 12 ($25,000) and a Year 4 ($15,000) child gets:
- Year 12: full price ($25,000).
- Year 4: second-child discount.
Never the other way around. This makes the discount predictable and parent-friendly.
You can override the sort order by setting the Ordering field on year-level fees, but most schools leave it at the default cost-based order.
When discounts don’t apply
A year level marked with Discount applies = unticked is never discounted, regardless of where it falls in the sibling order. The first sibling at this year level pays full price; the second sibling at a normal year level still gets the second-child discount.
Service charges (Term service charge / Yearly service charge on each year-level fee) are also never discounted, regardless of method or settings.
Which method does your school use today?
If you’re not sure:
- Go to Fee Calculator → Calculator Settings.
- Look at the Discount type field.
If it’s built-in, your per-child fee fields are active. If it’s percentage, the Discounts page (the single record) is the source of truth. Keep whichever one is active correctly populated; the other can be ignored.