Scholarships and discounts, applied by rule

A school runs more than one discount line at the same time — sibling discounts, staff-child discounts, early-registration discounts, and the legally defined free-education ratio on top. Tracking all of these by hand leads to both calculation errors and a table that’s hard to defend in an audit. This article explains why scholarships and discounts need to be defined as a rule.

Why relying on memory is a risk

When the answer to “was a sibling discount applied to this student, and how much” lives in someone’s memory or a notebook, the total discount amount stops matching the account by year end. Worse, failing to track the legally required free-education ratio correctly shows up in an audit not as a UX bug but as a straightforward regulatory finding.

The free-education ratio: Article 13 of Law 5580

Article 13 of Turkey’s Law No. 5580 on Private Education Institutions requires private education institutions to educate at least 3% of their students free of charge; the Ministry of National Education can raise that ratio up to 10% (source: MEB — text of Law 5580). Which students that ratio applies to, and how, needs to be tracked live — you should be able to answer “how many students are on free education right now, and what ratio does that come to” at any point in the term.

How a discount rule is defined

In Rotenta, a discount rule is defined as a ratio or a fixed amount, the student group it applies to (sibling, staff child, early registration), and, where needed, a ceiling that stops discounts from stacking past a limit. Once defined, the rule is applied to the student card, and the instalment plan recalculates automatically from that ratio — there’s no need to subtract the discount from each instalment by hand.

When discounts stack

A student can qualify for both a sibling discount and an early-registration discount at once; when two ratios apply one after the other, the combined discount shouldn’t exceed a defined ceiling. In Rotenta that ceiling is part of the rule definition itself — for example, a cap that the total discount can never exceed 40% — and when two rules fire together, the system applies the ceiling automatically, with no manual capping needed.

The same logic applies when a student already on free education is also meant to get a sibling discount: both rules meet on the same student card, the ceiling wins, and which rule is actually in effect stays visible on the record — accounting doesn’t need to separately ask whether two discounts were stacked.

The link to the price list

A discount is applied on top of the announced fee — since an unannounced fee item can’t enter a contract in the first place, a discount never sits on an undefined base either. That’s the same announcement discipline we covered in Instalments and promissory notes.

Example: at a 200-student school, 6 students are on free education, 24 have a sibling discount, and 8 have a staff-child discount. Once the rules are defined, the instalment amount for all 38 students is calculated automatically, and management can see from a single report that the free-education ratio is staying above 3%.

Re-evaluated at term transition

A discount isn’t permanent — a sibling discount can end when the sibling graduates, an early-registration discount can end with the next term’s registration date. In Rotenta, every discount rule carries a validity window; once that window closes, the discount drops off automatically and the instalment amount recalculates for the new term. That means nobody has to sweep through “whose discount is still valid” by hand at the start of each term.

The record an audit asks for

Which rule was behind the free-education ratio and every applied discount, on what date, and defined by whom, lands in the audit trail. When an audit asks “why was this discount applied to this student,” you answer from that record, not from memory.

How scholarships and discounts work in Rotenta

1. In the Scholarships and Discounts module, you define a discount rule: a ratio or amount, the group it applies to, and a ceiling if one is needed.
2. You apply the rule to the relevant student card; if more than one rule overlaps for the same student, the ceiling takes over.
3. The instalment plan recalculates from the applied discount; Accounting updates the instalment amount without a manual correction.
4. The number and ratio of students on free education are visible from a single screen throughout the term.

For the wider picture, go back to school management software; for the collection side, see Instalments and promissory notes.

To talk through your institution’s discount rules and free-education ratio, get in touch.

Frequently asked questions

Can more than one discount apply to the same student?

Yes, but the defined ceiling can’t be exceeded; when rules overlap, that ceiling is applied automatically.

How is the free-education ratio tracked?

The number of students on free education and their ratio to total enrolment is visible in a single report throughout the term.

Can a discount ratio change mid-term?

Yes; once the rule changes, the new ratio applies from the next calculation — past instalments aren’t changed retroactively.

Can a discount be applied on top of an unannounced fee?

No; a discount is only calculated against an announced fee item.

Does the instalment amount change automatically once a discount expires?

Yes; once the discount rule’s validity window closes, the instalment amount recalculates for the new term with no manual update needed.