Pricing & Billing
Free to teach. Pay per student seat.
SCALE uses a seat-based, pay-as-you-go model — not a recurring subscription. Instructors get a free workspace with up to 3 active classrooms. Student access is sold as seats — one seat = one student enrolled in one classroom at a time.
Start free with up to 3 classes. Buy seats when you're ready — bulk for your department, grant them to students directly, or let students pay individually. One seat, one student, one class.
How pricing works
Payments are one-time via Stripe Checkout. You can decide if students should pay per seat or if the organization wants to buy bulk seats.
Option A: Organization buys seats (prepaid)
Best for funded cohortsFree to teach
Instructors get a free workspace with up to 3 active classrooms. Full simulation — no credit card required.
Buy bulk seats
Departments purchase organization seats in bulk via one-time Stripe checkout. Seats add to your org pool immediately.
Grant & reserve
Seat students without student checkout — grant directly from your roster or reserve seats by email before students join.
Students join free
Students sign in and enroll automatically using the pre-funded organization seats. Zero student cost or billing friction.
Option B: Students pay per seat individually
No department budget requiredFree to teach
Instructors get a free workspace with up to 3 active classrooms. Full simulation — no credit card required.
Invite students
Instructor sets the class join policy to Student Paid and shares the invite link or class code.
Student checkout
Students purchase class access individually via Stripe Checkout at enrollment—similar to a course material fee.
Instant access
Stripe processes the payment and redirects the student, granting immediate access to the classroom activities.
Student enrollment
Instructor & admin tools
Department-wide rollout
Who pays for what?
| Role | Pays? | What they get |
|---|---|---|
| Teacher / instructor | No (for teaching) | Free workspace; can create and manage classes. Teachers never need a seat to access their own classes. |
| Organization admin | Optional | Purchases organization seats in bulk, reserves seats by email, and can grant seats manually. Manages billing in Settings → Billing & Seats. |
| Student | Sometimes | Needs a seat to enroll. May use an org-prepaid seat, reserved email seat, instructor grant, or pay individually via Stripe. Can leave a class voluntarily. |
Two funding models
When creating a classroom, instructors choose a billing mode. This mainly drives how students join (invite link vs roster), not a separate payment processor.
| Mode | Instructor intent | Default join behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Individual Student Paid | Students buy their own access | Invite link required |
| Teacher-Paid Seats | Institution/department funds seats; students don't pay | Roster-only verification (CSV import) |
Seat funding is resolved at the organization level. Even in Teacher-Paid mode, students need an available org seat (manual grant, email reservation, or floating pool) — otherwise they hit the individual paywall. The department must purchase org seats in Billing Settings; the app does not auto-charge instructors.
Core concepts
Seats, pools, grants, and reservations — the building blocks of how access works in SCALE.
Seat
One seat = one student enrolled in one classroom at a time. Seats are consumed on enrollment and released or held when a student leaves. Instructors and admins never consume seats.
Organization seat pool
Each organization has one active seat pool. Total seats are cumulative from purchases. Used seats are claimed by enrolled students. Reserved seats are assigned to a specific email but not yet used. Floating available = total − used − reserved.
Email reservation
Org admins can reserve a seat for a specific email before that student joins. Holds floating capacity and ensures org-paid enrollment when they sign in with that email. Unclaimed reservations can be revoked.
Manual seat grant
Instructors with org admin access can grant an organization seat and enroll a student in one step — no Stripe checkout required. Consumes one floating org seat. Available from the classroom student list or Enrollment Controls.
Leaving a class
Students can leave voluntarily from their dashboard. Org-paid seats return to the department pool. Student-paid seats are held for reuse in another class within the same organization.
Ways to fund a student seat
| Method | Who initiates | Pool seats? | Student checkout? | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bulk purchase | Org admin | Adds to pool | No | Department buys upfront |
| Email reservation | Org admin | Yes (holds floating) | No | Known student emails before term |
| Manual grant | Org admin / instructor | Yes (consumes floating) | No | Roster students, TAs, exceptions |
| Self-join (floating pool) | Student | Yes | No | Open enrollment when seats remain |
| Student checkout | Student | No | Yes | Pool exhausted or no reservation |
Common scenarios
Whether your department funds upfront, students pay individually, or you run a hybrid — SCALE supports flexible enrollment workflows.
Journey A
Department buys seats upfront
- 1.Org admin purchases seats via Settings → Billing & Seats.
- 2.Optionally reserves seats by email for known students.
- 3.Instructor creates class, imports roster, grants seats or sends invites.
- 4.Students join org-paid until pool is exhausted.
Buy once, enroll your whole cohort. Seats return to the pool when students drop or leave.
Journey B
Students pay individually
- 1.Instructor creates class with Individual Student Paid mode.
- 2.Sends invite links.
- 3.Student hits paywall → Buy Class Access → Stripe → auto-join.
No departmental budget? Students purchase access directly — like a course material fee.
Journey C
Hybrid funding
- 1.Department buys 20 seats; class has 25 students.
- 2.First 20 join org-paid; remaining 5 see student paywall.
Subsidize what you can; students cover the rest.
Journey D
Free exploration
- 1.Up to 3 active classrooms free for instructors.
- 2.Students still need seats to enroll.
Pilot SCALE with up to 3 classes before you commit.
Journey E
Instructor grants seats from roster
- 1.Department purchases org seats.
- 2.Instructor imports CSV roster and sets roster-only join policy.
- 3.For students who haven't self-joined, instructor clicks Grant seat on the student list.
- 4.Student is enrolled immediately — one org seat consumed, no student payment.
Upload your roster and seat your class in clicks — no student checkout required.
Journey F
Student leaves and rejoins
- 1.Student enrolled org-paid or self-paid.
- 2.Student chooses Leave Class from dashboard.
- 3.Org seat returns to pool or paid seat is held.
- 4.Student can rejoin later if a seat is available, reservation exists, or held seat can be repointed.
Students aren't locked in — leaving frees department seats for waitlisted students.
Who is this for?
Universities & departments
Seat packs, roster import, manual grants, and pool management for funded sections.
Individual instructors
Student-paid model — no departmental budget required. Students purchase at enrollment.
Pilots & exploration
Free 3-class tier lets you pilot SCALE before committing to seat purchases.
Organization seats vs. student seats
| Org seats | Student seats | |
|---|---|---|
| Who pays | Department / admin | Student |
| When | Before or during term | At join time |
| Instructor tools | Purchase, reserve, grant | N/A (student self-serve) |
| On leave/drop | Returns to pool | Held for reuse (same org) |
| Best for | Known roster, funded sections | Bookstore / student-pays |
What you'll see in the app
Teachers & org admins
Teacher Dashboard
Classroom count vs. free limit; org seat usage summary
Settings → Billing & Seats
Purchase seats, view pool stats, reserve/revoke email reservations
Classroom → Enrollment Controls
Join policy, open/closed, Grant Organization Seat
Classroom → Student list
Grant seat action per student, remove, transfer
Classroom → Roster import
CSV upload for roster-only classes
Students
Invite link / Auth join flow
Join attempt; Buy Class Access on paywall
Student Dashboard
Class picker, checkout on paywall, Leave Class on enrolled classes
Student Classrooms
Self-join (open policy) with checkout fallback
Settings → Class Access
Active and held seats; refund note → contact support
Frequently asked questions
Answers for marketing, sales, support, and procurement — aligned with how billing works in the SCALE app today.
General
For instructors & departments
For students
For IT & procurement
Edge cases
Ready to get started?
Create your first class in minutes.
No credit card for instructors. Upload your roster and grant seats when you're ready — or let students purchase access at enrollment.