Seedling bills tuition for you and collects it automatically through Stripe, so you spend less time chasing payments.
1. Connect payouts (one time)
Before you can collect, connect your Stripe account in the Billing area — see Getting paid: connect Stripe for exactly what Stripe asks for. Once it's done, money from tuition lands in your bank on Stripe's payout schedule.
2. Create a tuition plan
- In Billing, click Create Plan and give it a name, an amount, and a billing frequency (weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly).
- Optionally add a one-time registration fee or a deposit — both are charged at enrollment, and the deposit is credited toward future tuition.
- Assign the plan to a child.
3. Apply discounts
Create a discount once, then apply it per child — for example a sibling or staff discount:
- Discounts are created under Billing → Settings → Discounts — add one with a name and either a percentage or a flat amount.
- In Family Billing, click Discount on the child's row and pick the discount to apply. The badge on the button shows how many are applied.
4. Who pays the processing fee?
On the Billing → Settings tab, the "Who pays the service fee?" setting lets you choose:
- Families pay the fee — a small service fee is added at checkout, and you receive full tuition.
- Our center covers it — families pay tuition only, and the fee comes out of your payout.
Seedling's fee is just 0.5% per payment, capped at $2 for bank (ACH) payments, on top of standard Stripe processing — so steering families to bank payments keeps costs tiny.
Prefer families to see one clean number? The same settings section has a "bake it into tuition" calculator: enter what you want families to pay all-in, and it suggests the tuition to set so the fee is already included.
Want bank payments only? Turn on Only accept bank (ACH) payments on the Billing → Settings tab. Setup links then let families add a bank account only (no card). It keeps fees lowest, but families need a US bank account and payments take a few days to clear. It applies to new setups; anyone already paying by card keeps their card until they redo setup.
5. Get families on autopay
- From a family's billing, choose Send Setup Link — they get a secure link by email.
- They add a card or bank account in a couple of taps — no account to create.
- Charges then run automatically on schedule. Families get a reminder email about 3 days before each charge and a receipt after each successful payment — both include a secure link to view or update their saved card or bank.
Anyone who hasn't finished setup shows as Pending Setup so you can give them a nudge.
Assign many families at once
Children with no tuition plan yet show in an alert at the top of Billing → Family Billing ("N children without billing"). Click Assign Plans to set them all up in one step:
- Select the families and children to include (or Select All).
- Pick a plan — and optionally a payer and a discount — for each child.
- Click Assign — every assignment is created at once, and setup emails go out automatically.
If any setup email or agreement doesn't send, you'll see a notice telling you how many — resend from that family's billing row.
Pause & resume billing
Need to stop charging a family for a while — a summer break, an extended absence — without losing their setup? On their billing card in Family Billing:
- Pause Billing stops all scheduled charges for that child. Nothing is cancelled: the plan and the family's payment method stay on file.
- Resume starts charges again from now. If a charge date passed while paused, it rolls forward to the next cycle — Seedling never back-charges for the paused period.
One-time charges & reminders
- Bill a one-off (a field trip, a late fee) by clicking Charge on a family's row in Family Billing — see One-time charges & deposits.
- Behind on payments? Remind unpaid emails every family with a failed charge a fresh secure link — see Failed payments & refunds.
Year-end statement time? See Year-end tax statements.