Knowledge Base

What a Makeup Credit Represents

A makeup credit is not a financial credit. It is a record of entitlement — it says "this student missed a lesson and is owed one". The system tracks these separately from billing so that you can always see at a glance which students have outstanding makeups, without needing to cross-reference invoices.

Each credit is linked to the original lesson that generated it, so there's always a clear audit trail: you can see which absence triggered which credit, and whether that credit has been used.

How Credits Are Created

Makeup credits are created automatically when you mark attendance with a status that is configured to create one. Whether a given status creates a credit is a setting you control — it's not fixed by the platform. See Attendance Statuses and What They Mean for how statuses are configured.

Common scenarios where studios configure a status to create a makeup credit:

• Absent with notice — the student let you know in advance; your policy is that they're owed a replacement
• Teacher cancelled — you cancelled the lesson; the student is owed a replacement
• Absent without notice — varies by studio. Some create a credit; others don't as a matter of policy

The moment you save an attendance record with a credit-creating status, the credit is created automatically in the background. There's nothing additional you need to do.

Group Lessons and Makeup Credits

Makeup credits are for individual lessons only.

Due to the nature of group lessons, makeup lessons are not created for individuals who miss a lesson within a group. If one student misses a group lesson while others still attend, the lesson is still a shared group lesson rather than an individual replacement scenario.

If you want flexibility for group attendance, whether a missed group lesson gets charged is controlled by attendance settings instead:

• use a non-billable attendance status if you do not want that student charged for the lesson
• use a billable attendance status if you do want that student charged for the lesson

If you regularly want this kind of flexibility in groups, the recommended setup is to bill the group using Lesson Packs, so each student has their own pack balance and attendance determines whether a credit is used.

Credits Are Independent of Billing

Creating a makeup credit does not change any invoice or charge. The credit is purely an entitlement record. This means:

• If the lesson was already invoiced and the student is marked absent, the invoice is not automatically adjusted — the charge stands. If your attendance settings create a makeup credit, the makeup lesson becomes the replacement for that missed lesson.
• If the lesson was not billable (e.g. the teacher cancelled), no charge was generated in the first place, and the makeup credit simply records the replacement entitlement.

Viewing Outstanding Credits

Outstanding makeup credits are visible on the student's detail page. You can see which original lessons generated credits, and whether each credit has been scheduled as a makeup or is still pending.

If you have multiple students with outstanding makeups, this information is visible across your student list so nothing falls through the cracks.

Using a Credit: Scheduling a Makeup Lesson

To use a makeup credit, you schedule a makeup lesson against it. From the student's detail page, you can create a makeup lesson for any outstanding credit. You choose the date and time; the makeup is linked to the original lesson the credit came from.

This scheduling flow applies to credits created from individual lessons. Group lessons do not produce individual makeup credits to schedule.

A makeup lesson is a real lesson — it appears in your calendar, can have attendance marked, and has its own billing implications depending on your billing model. See Makeup Lessons: Scheduling a Replacement for the full scheduling flow and billing detail.

What Happens When a Credit Is Removed

If you change or clear the attendance record that created a makeup credit, the credit is removed. For example:

• If you marked "Absent with notice" (which created a credit), then later change the status to "Attended", the credit is deleted — the student is no longer owed a replacement
• If you clear attendance entirely, any associated makeup credit is also removed

If a makeup lesson has already been scheduled against the credit, you must resolve the makeup first before you can clear the original attendance record.

Makeup Credits and Billing Models

Makeup credits exist at the attendance layer and are independent of billing model. A makeup lesson is treated as a replacement lesson, not a new billable lesson. The exact effect depends on your billing model:

• Lesson packs — makeup lessons do not consume lesson-pack credits. The original missed lesson may create the entitlement for a replacement, but the makeup lesson itself is not charged again through the pack.
• Calendar-based billing — makeup lessons are never billed. If the original missed lesson was already billed as part of the schedule, the makeup lesson is treated as the replacement lesson and is excluded from future calendar-billing calculations.
• PAYG — makeup lessons are not billed. Even if the makeup lesson is attended, it is treated as the replacement lesson rather than a new charge.
• Monthly and term billing — the makeup lesson does not affect invoicing.

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