Continuing our series, this third guide is crucial for those setting up paid trips. It focuses on the financial aspects of trip setup, which is the necessary next step after setting up a paid trip, as outlined in the second guide in the series. We'll show you exactly how to add the core trip price, explaining the various pricing options available, and cover how to set up different or custom prices for specific pupil groups.
Note: If you set up a Free Trip when following the instructions in the previous guide in the series, you can skip this guide and move on to Managing Trip Participants.
The guides in this series are:
- Introduction
- Creating the trip
- Adding prices for paid trips
- Managing trip participants
-
Troubleshooting, further reading and customisation
Setting Up Prices
After clicking "Add Trip" for a paid trip in Guide Two of this series, you will be taken to the trip's overview page.
You can also navigate to this page by going to:
- School > Activities > Trips using the top menu
- Click on your trip
- Click More Information on the slide over
Step 1: Access the Trip Prices Section
- On the trip's overview page, you see a Trip Prices section
- Click +Add within the Trip Prices section to enter the payment amount for your students.
A table then appears, allowing you to define the price details.
Step 2: Define Pricing and Payment Options
For each price you add, you can customise the settings associated with it as outlined in the subsections below.
For each student group with a different price or different settings, click the grey +Add button to add an extra line to the table. To remove a line from the table, use the bin icon located on the right-hand side of the respective row.
Important Note: A price must be associated with every eligible pupil on the trip, even if some students can join for free; a cost of £0 is set.
When you're happy with your choices, click Save to confirm them.
Top Tip: Need to enter the same detail into multiple cells? Copy and paste your values as you would in a spreadsheet, or, for fields with a Pencil icon, highlight the relevant cells, click the green Bulk Action, and then click Bulk Fill.
Group / Pupil
Use the Group/Pupil dropdown field to select the students to whom your pricing and rules apply. All students eligible for the trip need to have a price set. Even if they are not expected to pay at all, their price will need to be set to £0.
Only one student or group can be added to this field at a time. If you have two student groups with the same price, ensure you add a separate line for each group (using the grey +Add button under the table) or set a student group that both groups are included in (such as a custom group).
You can also set prices for individual students with this dropdown.
If a student is part of two groups with a price, the best price available at the time of booking is applied to them. Therefore, if you have a cost of £100 for Year 7 students and a price of £50 for Pupil Premium students, a student who is in both Year 7 and the Pupil Premium category is charged £50 when they book.
Top Tip: Want to ensure all eligible students have at least one price, but are unsure which student group to use? Set the Group/Pupil to the first option in the dropdown (all students enrolled in your academic year). Although not all students this academic year may be eligible for the trip, this ensures that you have a price for all eligible students.
Price Ex. VAT and VAT Rate
These fields allow you to set the trip cost, excluding VAT, and the applicable VAT rate.
In most cases, this means you set the full amount you expect to be paid for the trip when all is said and done in the Price Ex. VAT field as your VAT rate is likely to be Exempt (0%).
If you do need to apply VAT, the total price parents are expected to pay will be Price Ex. VAT + (Price Ex. VAT * VAT rate).
To enter Price Ex. VAT: click the Pencil icon and enter the price as a decimal (e.g., 15.50 for £15.50) or as a whole number (e.g., 12 for £12.00).
To enter the VAT Rate, use the dropdown.
Voluntary Contribution
Use this dropdown field to choose whether to enable a voluntary contribution. If enabled, yes or no:
- This means parents can choose how much they pay towards the trip. This way, the total price you set acts like a guide price
- Parents can pay more than the total price you set, less or the minimum allowed
- Parents still need to obey the Min. Instalment Threshold if you allow Instalments (see the next section for details on this) when voluntary contribution is switched on. For example, if you require parents to pay a minimum of £10 per instalment and have voluntary contribution switched on, parents need to pay a minimum of £10 each time they make a payment or the difference between the total amount and what they have paid so far (if less than the minimum instalment amount).
- Parents must still meet the Auto-Confirmation threshold to confirm their child's participation in the trip via the Portal or App. If this threshold is the same as the trip's total price, this means parents still need to pay the full cost to confirm their child for the trip without a school Admin intervening.
Instalments Permitted and Minimum Instalment Amount
Use the Instalments Permitted? drop-down (yes/no) to decide whether parents can pay for the trip over multiple payments.
If instalments are permitted, set the minimum amount guardians can pay at one time using the Min. Instalment Amount field (click the pencil to enter the amount as a whole number or decimal). This must be at least £1 if Instalments Permitted? is set to Yes.
Note: This only allows you to set a minimum payment amount, not a payment deadline. It's not possible to set payment deadlines in Arbor.
Auto-confirmation Threshold
Use this field to set an amount that, once paid, automatically confirms a child's place on the trip (acting like a deposit). This price must be greater than or equal to your Min. Instalment Amount, and less than or equal to the total trip price.
Show Amount Outstanding
Choose whether to show the remaining payment amount on the Parent Portal and in the MIS. If set to No, the outstanding amount will display as £0.00 even if a student has not paid the full amount. If Voluntary contribution is switched on, parents will still see an outstanding amount, even if they have paid enough to confirm their child. Therefore, bear this in mind when choosing your total price and confirmation thresholds.
Custom Prices for Different Groups
As mentioned above, Arbor allows you to set different prices for different groups or individual students, which is ideal for applying discounts or charging more for specific circumstances. This section delves deeper into setting up discounts.
Applying Discounts
If you want to apply a discount to a specific pupil group (for example, Pupil Premium students) when setting prices:
- Set the base price for all students, or the largest group
- Select +Add and create a separate, lower price for the discounted group
The price the guardian will ultimately pay will be the lowest price set for the student.
Charging More than the Base Amount
If you need some students to pay more than the base price:
- You must first create Custom Groups containing the students at each price point
- Set a price for the students paying the base amount.
- Set a new, higher price for each additional group.
A note on Changing Prices
Once students have been confirmed for a trip, you cannot change the price for them without contacting your Arbor Support team. This is a crucial limitation to consider when setting your initial prices.
This concludes Guide Three in our Setting Up Trips series (Adding Prices for Paid Trips). You have successfully configured the financial details for your trip. The following guide in the series, Managing Trip Participants, details how to handle sign-ups, payments, refunds, and participant status.
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