Why we built it this way
Microschools enroll families, not students. Most software enrolls one student at a time and then asks you to figure out which ones are siblings. CohortLedger flips that: you create a family record first (with the primary contact, email, and phone), then attach one or more students to that family. Quarterly invoices then group by family, not by student, which is how operators bill in the real world.
1. Open the Students tab
From the sidebar, click Students. You see the roster table grouped by family. The seeded demo has 20 families and 22 students. New families appear at the top of the list.
2. Add the family record
Click Add family. Required fields are the last name used on tuition agreements, the primary contact name, email, and phone. Optional fields are the secondary contact (used for emergency alerts) and the household address.
We do not collect SSN, ITIN, or financial information from families. ESA programs handle that through their own platform (ClassWallet, Odyssey, Step Up). CohortLedger only needs identity-level information for tuition billing.
3. Attach each student
For each child, enter the student name, date of birth, grade level, and the ESA program funding their tuition. The program dropdown shows every state ESA you have enabled in your state setup.
If a family is paying full tuition out of pocket, select Out of pocket. CohortLedger still tracks attendance and produces an invoice for the family, just without the ESA-program split.
Mixed cases are common. One student on Texas TEFA, one sibling on Arizona ESA (recently relocated), and a third out-of-pocket all live on the same family record. The Billing tab handles the split automatically.
4. Set the annual tuition and the ESA share
Per student, set the annual tuition for this school year and the expected ESA award amount. For Texas TEFA this is $10,474 per K-12 student. For Arizona ESA it depends on the student category. If you are not sure, leave it blank and update later — CohortLedger will not block on it.
5. Upload required state documents
Some states require a per-student document (Arizona IVP card for teachers, Florida fingerprint clearance, Texas DPS background check). The student detail page surfaces what is missing and what is on file. See Exporting your audit trail for how these documents flow into the quarterly audit packet.
Common mistakes
Two patterns to avoid: do not create one family record per child (you will end up with duplicate Castillo families on every page). And do not leave the ESA program blank if you intend to invoice through that platform — Billing skips students with no program assigned, so they show as out-of-pocket on the quarterly invoice batch.
Next
Once families and students are in, send your first quarterly invoice.