Payment plans: let students pay a course in installments

A payment plan lets a buyer pay for a course in several smaller charges instead of one. The headline price doesn't change — you simply let them start with a fraction (say ₹3,000 of a ₹9,000 course) and pay the rest on a schedule. It's a proven way to turn "too expensive right now" into "yes, today," especially for higher-priced courses.

The whole journey: you turn it on, the student pays the first installment by UPI and gets instant access, and the rest run on a reminder schedule.

Turn it on for a course

Payment plans live in the publish flow, not a separate settings page. Open the course, click Publish changes, and in the Monetize dialog pick "Payment plan" as the access model. Two fields appear: how many installments (2, 3, 4, 6 or 12) and how often to charge (every 7, 15, 30 or 60 days). Save, and the plan is live for every new buyer of that course.

Course  →  Publish changes  →  Monetize dialog
  Access model:  ( ) One-time   (•) Payment plan   ( ) Membership
  Plan details:  Installments [ 3 ]   Charge every [ 30 days ]

The plan only changes HOW the price is collected, not the price itself. A ₹9,000 course on a 3-part plan still earns you ₹9,000 — the student just begins with ₹3,000.

What the student sees

At checkout the button reads "Pay ₹3,000 now" with a clear note: "Installment 1 of 3. You'll pay 2 more, one every 30 days — we'll remind you." They pay the first installment by UPI (cards and net-banking work too), and the course unlocks immediately. The amount of each installment is worked out on our server from the course price, so it's always exact and can't be edited to underpay.

The headline price is split evenly; the buyer starts with the first share and the rest are scheduled.

Collecting the rest

You don't chase anyone — reminders are automatic. For each upcoming installment the student gets an email three days before it's due, another on the due date, one more the day after if it's still unpaid, and a final "access paused" email if it slips past the three-day grace. Every reminder links straight to their library, where a "Payment plan" card shows the full schedule and a "Pay installment N" button. Paying runs the same quick UPI checkout and marks that installment done. The student can also pay early from that card at any time.

Reminders are sent by email automatically. They also go out on WhatsApp when two things are true: (1) the student has a WhatsApp number on file — we ask for it at sign-up, and any student without one is prompted to add it before they can use their dashboard; and (2) an approved WhatsApp template (named installment_reminder) exists in your Meta account with your WhatsApp credentials set. Until that template is approved, reminders are email-only — nothing fails silently.

If a student misses a payment

The plan is fair by design. A student keeps access as long as they're paying. If an installment goes more than three days past its due date, their access to that course automatically pauses — the lesson player shows a friendly "access paused, pay to resume" screen instead of the lessons. The moment they pay the overdue installment, access comes back instantly. Finish all the installments and access is permanent.

Access pauses only after a 3-day grace window, and resumes the instant the overdue installment is paid.

On-time students never see any of this — the pause only triggers after the grace window, and clears the moment they pay.

Coupons and add-ons work too

A payment plan combines cleanly with your other checkout tools. A coupon discounts the course and the discount is spread across every installment — so a 10% code on a ₹9,000 course in 3 parts makes each installment ₹2,700 instead of ₹3,000. An order bump (a one-time add-on like a resource pack) is charged once, not split — it's added to the first installment only, since the student receives it up front. Everything is computed on our server from your real prices, so the amounts are always exact and can't be edited by the buyer.

Coupon → spread across all installments. One-time add-on → charged once, on installment 1.

What a payment plan is NOT (yet): it isn't auto-debit. We don't store a card or UPI mandate to charge the student automatically — they pay each installment themselves from the reminder or their library. That's deliberate (it works for every academy without extra Razorpay setup); true auto-charge is a separate, future option.