Admissions and enrolment

If you run an academy, each programme (your course) takes people in one of two ways. With Apply first, a person sends an application and a member of your staff records a decision on it. With Enrol directly, a person enrols themselves and takes a place straight away, paying any fee as they do. The choice is the programme's How people join setting, and your public pages change their wording to match it.

Where the setting is

How people join belongs to the programme's draft. Open Programmes, open the programme, choose Continue editing (or Make changes on a published programme with no draft open), and go to Details. It sits in the Basics panel, with two choices: Apply first — "People apply, staff accept or decline each application, and accepted people pay to start." — and Enrol directly — "People enrol and pay straight away, with no application to review."

Like the rest of the draft, the setting reaches your public pages when an edition is published. Each edition keeps the way of joining it was published with, so a cohort (a class that runs on set dates) goes on taking people the way its own edition says, even after you publish a newer one.

How each reads on your website

The programme page and each cohort page use the words of the way in. The Way in fact on the programme page reads By application or Direct enrolment. When only one date is open, the programme page speaks in that date's own way in, so a cohort still taking people under an earlier edition's setting is offered in its own words.

What happens after someone joins

An application holds no place. It waits on your Applications page until a member of staff decides it, and the applicant is told each decision. A place is held only when you accept the application and an offer goes out; see Record a decision on an application.

A direct enrolment takes a place at once. A place with a fee waits for payment and is held for up to seven days, or until the cohort's enrolment closes if that comes sooner. A free place is set up straight away.

When a cohort can be joined

Both ways of joining follow the cohort's enrolment window. Before the window opens, the cohort page shows "Applications open" or "Enrolment opens" with the date. After the window closes it shows "Applications have closed" or "Enrolment has closed", and once teaching has started, "This cohort is being taught now"; nobody can apply or enrol from your website.

A full cohort is treated differently by the two ways in:

• With Apply first, a full cohort keeps taking applications, so a waiting list can form. Its date is marked Waiting list, with Join waiting list, and its page's button reads Apply for the waiting list.
• With Enrol directly, a full cohort shows "This cohort is full", and nobody can enrol until a place frees up.

A self-paced programme has no cohorts and no dates. People apply or enrol whenever its edition is published.

Adding someone yourself

Whichever way a programme takes people, owners and administrators can still give someone a place directly, including after a cohort's enrolment has closed, and can still accept applications that are waiting. See Manual enrolment and invitations to take a place.

If your academy asks for applications, they arrive on the Applications page of the academy workspace. It groups them by run: one cohort, or one self-paced edition. From there you open a run's queue, and from the queue each application. Owners and administrators have Applications in the menu, and the number beside it counts the applications still waiting for a decision.

The Applications page

The Applications page sorts runs into up to three lists. Use the Programme filter at the top to see one programme only.

• Needs a decision lists every run with applications that are submitted or under review, the longest waiting first. Each row names the programme and the cohort, or Self-paced, counts what is submitted and under review, and says how long ago the oldest was sent.
• Open for applications lists cohorts whose intake is open and where every decision has been made, with the places taken and the date the intake closes.
• Closed before a decision lists runs that ended while applications were still open, so you can see who was never decided.

Choose Open queue on a row to open that run's queue. If nothing is taking applications, the page says "No runs are taking applications": applications arrive only while a cohort's enrolment window is open, or once a self-paced edition asking for applications is published.

The Application queue

The queue shows one run's applications. Its heading names the programme and the cohort code, and three figures sit above the list:

• Enrolled, the places taken up: waiting for payment, being set up, or learning.
• Holding an offer, the people offered a place who have not answered yet.
• Places left, against the cohort's places. A self-paced run has no places to fill, so this figure is not shown.

Below the figures, Find an applicant… searches by name or email, and the tabs narrow the list by status, each with its count: All, Submitted, Under review, Waitlisted, Accepted, Rejected, Withdrawn and Closed. The list shows each applicant's name and email, when they applied, how many days they have been waiting, when the application was reviewed, and its status. Choose a row to open the application.

What each status means

The statuses follow an application from sending to the end of the cohort.

A withdrawn applicant can apply again while the run takes applications, and a closed applicant can apply to another cohort that is taking applications.

One application

An application opens on a page headed with the applicant's name. A strip at the top says where it stands, such as Waiting for a decision or Waitlisted, with the date the applicant applied. Below it are four figures: Places taken, Edition applied to, Place price, before sponsorship and Waiting in this run.

Their answers shows each question of the application form with the applicant's answer, and "Not answered" for any left blank. An answer in the applicant's own words reads "Other:" and their words. A file is listed by name and size with Download. Decisions lists every decision recorded so far, and The offer appears once the application is accepted. While a decision is still open, Record a decision sits at the foot of the page; see Record a decision on an application.

When the page does not load

If the list does not come back, the page says "Applications could not be loaded" and offers Try again. Nothing is lost. A role that does not review applications reads "Applications are not part of your role" instead. A link to an application that is out of date opens as "This application could not be found", with Back to applications.

Your academy can take applications from people who have no Alethris account. They give their name and email address on your apply page, confirm the address with a six-digit code, answer your questions and send. Only the people you accept are asked for an account, which they need to take up and pay for a place. This is on for every new academy. Owners and administrators change it under Academy settings, then Admissions.

Who may apply

The Admissions page's first setting, Accept applications from people without an account, decides who may send an application.

• On: a signed-out visitor sees Your name and email on the apply page, with Send me a code. A visitor with an account can still choose I have an account and apply signed in.
• Off: a signed-out visitor is asked to create an account or sign in before the form appears.

The change applies at once, to every programme and cohort that takes applications. Applications already sent are not affected. Programmes that take enrolments directly, without an application, always need an account.

How accepted applicants get an account

When applications without an account are on, Accounts for accepted applicants sets How an accepted applicant gets an account:

• Made for them: when you accept someone, Alethris makes their account and emails them a link to choose a password. Following that link proves the address is theirs, so they are not asked to confirm it again.
• They create it: when you accept someone, they are emailed an invitation to create their account with the address they applied with, and they confirm it from the email that follows.

Either way, the applicant gets one email from your academy, with the offer's deadline, in place of the usual offer email. Someone who already has an account with that address is offered the place there, and is sent the usual offer email.

Applications from people without an account

An application sent without an account reads like any other in the Application queue. Its record's status line says the address "applied without an account". You review, accept, waitlist or reject it in the usual way, and the applicant hears of each step by email.

While an accepted applicant has not set their account up, The offer on the application's page says "The applicant has not set up their account yet. They take up the offer once they have." If they cannot find the email, choose Send the account email again. A fresh email goes to the address they applied with, and the link in any earlier one stops working.

An account that is made and never set up is removed once its offer has lapsed. If you send a new offer later, a new account is made.

An applicant without an account can give a discount code on the form, as anyone signed in can. The code is checked for the address they confirmed: a code kept for learners new to your academy is refused if that address already holds a place here, and a limit on uses for each person counts the places held under it. The fee they see when they send the application is the fee their offer carries, unless the discount runs out in between.

When it does not work

• Owners and admins only. The Admissions page is for staff who can change the academy's settings. Ask an owner or an administrator.
• "The change was not saved". Someone else changed these settings at the same time, or the connection dropped. The page shows the latest settings; choose again.
• "The email was not sent". The applicant may have set up their account in the meantime, so there is nothing to send. Reload the page: once the account is set up, the note is gone.

Every application waits until a member of staff records a decision on it. If you are an owner or an administrator, you decide applications from the application's own page, under Record a decision. Accepting sends the applicant an offer of a place; waitlisting keeps them waiting without a place; rejecting turns them down. The applicant is told each decision by email and in their notifications.

Find the application

1. Open Applications.
2. Choose Open queue on the cohort or self-paced run.
3. Choose the applicant's row.

Record a decision appears at the foot of the page while the application is Submitted, Under review or Waitlisted. Read Their answers above it first, and check Places taken and Place price, before sponsorship among the figures. When the applicant applied with a discount, the line under the price says what it brings the price to, or that it was withdrawn or no longer prices the place.

Record the decision

1. Under Funding, choose how the place will be paid for if you accept: Self-funded, Sponsored or Manual. Funding matters only when you accept.
2. For a sponsored place, choose the Sponsor, typing part of its name to find it, and check the Committed amount, the sum the sponsor has agreed to pay. It starts at the place's price and may be less, never more. Optionally, add your Invoice or order reference.
3. Optionally, write a Reason, up to 2,000 characters. It is "Recorded with the decision, never shown to the applicant."
4. Choose Accept, Waitlist or Reject.

How the three kinds of funding differ

The funding you choose decides what the applicant pays when they take up the place.

• Self-funded — the applicant pays the place's price. If they applied under a discount, the offer is priced with it, even if it has ended since; if its places have run out, the code they typed is tried instead. A free place costs nothing.
• Sponsored — a sponsor pays, and the applicant pays nothing, whatever amount the sponsor committed. The offer names the sponsor. See Sponsors and sponsored places.
• Manual — the fee, if any, is settled outside Alethris, and the applicant pays nothing here.

If your academy cannot collect payment online yet, choosing Self-funded for a place with a fee shows a warning: the place could not be paid for. Set up a settlement account under Payments & earnings first, or choose Manual if the fee is settled outside Alethris.

What each button does

• Start review marks the application Under review, so colleagues know someone is reading it, and the applicant is told it is being reviewed. It appears only on an application that is still Submitted.
• Waitlist keeps the applicant on the waiting list. It holds no place, and you can accept or reject them later.
• Reject turns the application down. The applicant is told it was not successful this time.
• Accept checks that a place is free, then sends an offer that holds the place until it expires. The application becomes Accepted, and The offer appears on the page; see Admission offers, expiry and revoking.

Every decision is listed under Decisions with its date and reason. A decision cannot be edited afterwards: on a waitlisted application, a later Accept or Reject replaces it. Once an application is accepted or rejected, Record a decision no longer appears.

For an application to a cohort, Transfer… beside the buttons moves it to another date of the same edition; see Transfer an application to another cohort.

When a decision is refused

• "The cohort is full." Every place is taken, counting offers still waiting for an answer. Choose Waitlist instead, and accept the applicant when a place frees up, or raise the cohort's places. See Places, a full cohort and the waiting list.
• "Every learner place the plan allows is taken. Places free up as learners finish or leave." Your plan's limit on learners at a time has been reached across the whole academy. The owner or a finance administrator can move to a larger plan under Billing; otherwise wait for places to free up.
• "That sponsor is unavailable." The sponsor was archived. Choose another sponsor, or restore it under Sponsors.
• "Choose the sponsor funding this place.", "Enter what the sponsor has committed." or "Enter the amount as a plain figure, like 120000." Complete the sponsor fields before accepting.
• An amount above the price. "A sponsor cannot commit more than the place's price of price." Lower the committed amount.
• "The application changed; reload and retry." Someone else decided or moved it while you were working. Reload the page and look again before deciding.

While your academy's growth is restricted because its plan is unpaid, accepting is refused with a message that billing must be restored first. Waitlisting and rejecting still work.

If someone has applied for one date of a programme but should join another, you can move their application instead of asking them to apply again. Transfer… moves an application that has not been decided yet to another cohort (another class of the same programme) that teaches the same edition and has not started. Owners and administrators can transfer applications.

What a transfer keeps and changes

A transfer changes only the cohort the application belongs to.

• The answers stay valid. Both cohorts teach the same edition, so the application was made against the same form, and nothing is asked again.
• The status stays. A submitted, under-review or waitlisted application keeps that status until the next decision.
• No place is claimed. A transfer holds nothing in the new cohort. Places are checked when you accept, so you can move an application into a full cohort, where it waits for a place like any other.

Each time you move it, the applicant is told, by email and in their notifications, that their application has moved to the new cohort, and their own application page then shows the new cohort and its dates.

Which cohorts can take it

The new cohort must be of the same programme, pinned to the same edition as the application, and Published: not a draft, not yet started, and not finished. A self-paced application has no cohort, so it cannot be transferred.

An application cannot cross editions. The answers were given against one edition's form, and moving to a cohort of another edition would mean applying again.

Transfer an application

1. Open Applications, choose Open queue on the run, and open the application.
2. Under Record a decision, choose Transfer….
3. In the dialog headed "Transfer this application", choose the cohort to move it to. Each choice shows the cohort's code, its status, its places and when it starts.
4. Choose Transfer application.

The confirmation reads "Application transferred", and the line above the applicant's name now names the new cohort. Record the decision from there as usual; see Record a decision on an application.

An application sent with a discount keeps it when it moves, but a discount that covers only the first cohort does not price a place in the new one. Choosing such a cohort shows a warning first: "Discount does not cover code, so if the applicant is accepted there, the offer is at the listed price." You can still move it.

When a transfer is not possible

• Transfer… is missing. The application has already been accepted or rejected, was withdrawn or closed, or is for a self-paced programme. Only an application still waiting for a decision can move.
• "No other published cohort pins this edition, so there is nowhere to transfer to." Create and publish another cohort of the programme while the same edition is live, then transfer. A cohort that has already started teaching cannot take a transfer.
• "The application changed while you were working. Reload and try again." Someone decided or moved the application in the meantime, or the applicant already has an open application on the cohort you chose. Reload the page and check where the application stands.

When you accept an application, Alethris sends the applicant an admission offer: a place held for them while they decide. The offer holds the place for seven days from when it is sent, even if the cohort's enrolment has already closed, so you can still fill a place from the waiting list after enrolment ends. The applicant is told they have a place and by when to accept. If they decline, let it expire, or you revoke it, the place is released and you can send a new offer later. Owners and administrators manage offers.

Where to see an offer

An offer appears under The offer on the application's page, once the application is accepted. Open Applications, choose Open queue on the run, and open the applicant. The first line gives the offer's state, its funding and the amount due, such as "Offer sent · Self-funded" followed by the fee, or "Sponsored by" and the sponsor's name. When less is due than the place's price, as with a discount or a sponsored or manual place, it also shows the full price.

While the offer waits for an answer, the line beneath reads "The applicant has until" the expiry date "to accept. The place is held until then." An offer waiting for an answer is counted under Holding an offer in the run's queue, and it takes one of the cohort's places exactly as a learner does.

When the applicant accepts

What happens next depends on the funding chosen when the application was accepted.

• A self-funded place with a fee waits for payment. The applicant pays on Alethris, and the place stays held until the date the offer would have expired. If it is not paid by then, the place lapses and is released.
• A sponsored, manual or free place needs no payment and is set up straight away.

The offer then follows the place: it says the place is accepted and awaiting payment, that access is being set up, or that the person is enrolled and learning. If the applicant pays you outside Alethris, an owner or administrator can open their record under Learners and choose Activate without payment….

What a lapsed offer releases

An offer lapses in four ways, and each one releases the place at once:

• the applicant declines it ("Offer declined");
• the expiry date passes without an answer ("Offer expired");
• you revoke it ("Offer revoked");
• the cohort is cancelled or completed, which withdraws it ("Offer revoked").

A self-funded place that was accepted but not paid by its deadline lapses in the same way. The application stays Accepted, and The offer says the place was released.

Revoke an offer

Revoke an offer when you need the place back before the applicant has answered.

1. Under The offer, choose Revoke this offer….
2. Enter a Reason of at least 2 characters. It is kept with the offer and not shown to the applicant.
3. Choose Revoke offer.

The place is released immediately, and the applicant is told the offer was withdrawn. Revoke this offer… appears only while the offer is waiting for an answer. Once the applicant has accepted, end the place from their record under Learners with Cancel enrolment… instead.

Send a new offer

After an offer lapses, Send a new offer… appears under The offer.

1. Choose Send a new offer….
2. Under Funding, choose Self-funded, Sponsored or Manual. For a sponsored place, choose the Sponsor and check the Committed amount, which may not be more than the place's price.
3. Choose Send offer.

A new offer checks again that a place is free and gives the applicant a full new offer window. The confirmation reads "Offer sent" and "The applicant has been notified." Once the cohort has been cancelled or completed, Send a new offer… no longer appears, and The offer reads "The cohort has ended, so no new offer can be sent."

When an offer cannot be sent

• "The application changed while you were working. Reload and try again." Someone decided or moved the application meanwhile. Reload the page to see where it stands.
• "The cohort is full." Free a place or raise the cohort's places; see Places, a full cohort and the waiting list.
• "Every learner place the plan allows is taken. Places free up as learners finish or leave." Wait for a place to free up, or move up a plan in Settings, under Billing.
• "New learners cannot be admitted until your academy's billing is up to date." The plan is unpaid. Settle it in Settings, under Billing.
• "Choose the sponsor funding this place.", "Enter what the sponsor has committed." or "Enter the amount as a plain figure, like 120000." Complete the sponsor fields.
• An amount above the price. "A sponsor cannot commit more than the place's price of price." Lower the committed amount.
• "The offer changed while you were working. Reload and try again." The applicant answered, or the offer expired, while you were revoking it. Reload to see where it stands.

If you run an academy, you can give someone a place on a programme without an application or the public enrolment form. It works whether or not the programme asks for applications, and after a cohort's enrolment window has closed, as long as the cohort is published or running.

A current member of your academy is enrolled at once. Anyone else is sent an invitation by email, and the place is created only when they take it up.

Enrol someone

1. Open Learners and choose Manual enrolment.
2. Under Who is taking the place, choose A current member or Someone by email.
3. For a current member, use Find a member by name or email…, then choose them under Member. For someone by email, enter their Email, the address they will sign in with, and optionally their Name.
4. Choose the Programme. Only published programmes are listed.
5. For a cohort-paced programme, choose the Cohort. Published and running cohorts are listed, and joining a cohort part-way through is fine: attendance counts from the next session.
6. Under Funding, choose Manual, Self-funded or Sponsored; the line under it says what the choice means for the learner. For a sponsored place, choose the Sponsor by typing part of its name, and check the Committed amount, which starts at the place's price.
7. Choose Enrol learner for a current member, or Send invitation for someone by email.

How the funding choice works

Funding decides what the person pays. Manual is chosen to start with.

• Manual means the fee, if any, is settled outside Alethris. The place is set up straight away.
• Sponsored means a sponsor pays and the learner pays nothing. The place is set up straight away; see Sponsors and sponsored places.
• Self-funded means the learner pays the price on Alethris. A place with a fee waits for payment and is held for up to seven days, even after the cohort's enrolment has closed. A free place is set up straight away.

What happens next

Enrol learner creates the place at once and opens the learner's record. The place takes one of the cohort's places straight away and counts towards your plan's learners at a time.

Send invitation emails the person a link and takes you back to Learners. Nothing is charged and no place is held until they take it up.

What the person invited does

Following the link opens a page headed "Academy name has a place for you", with the programme, the cohort and the expiry date. They sign in, or create an account, with the address the invitation was sent to, and choose Take my place. Taking the place enrols them and adds your academy to their Alethris Hub. A self-funded place with a fee then goes to payment; a sponsored or manual place has nothing to pay.

Invitations still waiting

Invitations not yet taken up appear on the Learners page, above the list of learners, under a heading such as "2 invitations waiting to be taken up". Each shows the person, the programme and cohort, and the date the link expires.

• Send again sends a fresh link with a new expiry date. Wait a minute between sends.
• Withdraw cancels the invitation, so its link stops working.

An invitation whose email came back says "The invitation email to this address came back". Check the address, then withdraw it and invite the right one.

When it does not work

• "The cohort is full." Every place on the cohort is taken. Free a place or raise the cohort's places; see Places, a full cohort and the waiting list. For an invitation, this is checked when the person takes the place up.
• "Every learner place the plan allows is taken. Places free up as learners finish or leave." Your plan's learners at a time are all in use.
• "An active enrolment already exists." The member already holds a place on that cohort.
• "This address already has an open invitation to this programme." Find it on Learners and choose Send again.
• "This address is already enrolled on this programme." The address already holds a place on that programme, or has completed it.
• "Too many invitations are waiting." Withdraw invitations nobody will take up. "Too many attempts." Try again at the time it gives.
• "That sponsor is unavailable." or "The sponsor is archived." Choose an active sponsor.
• "The committed amount cannot be more than the place's price." Lower the committed amount.
• Manual enrolment is missing. Only owners and administrators enrol people by hand.

The person invited may also be turned away. A link that expired, was withdrawn or was used opens a page headed "This invitation is no longer valid"; if that happens while the page is already open, Take my place says "This invitation link is no longer valid. Ask the academy to send it again." Either way, choose Send again on the invitation, or send a new one. If they are signed in with a different address, the page asks them to sign in as the invited address. "This place is no longer available; ask the academy to invite you again" means the programme or cohort is no longer open, or the programme became cohort-paced after an invitation naming no cohort; invite them to a cohort instead. An archived sponsor still funds the place. "This academy is not taking new learners at the moment" means every learner place your plan allows is taken.

A sponsor is an organisation that pays for someone's place, such as an employer or a public fund. If you run an academy, you record each sponsor once under Sponsors, then choose it whenever you fund a place. The learner pays nothing for a sponsored place, and their offer and Fees page name the sponsor that pays. The sponsor pays your academy outside Alethris. Owners and administrators manage sponsors and sponsored places; finance administrators see sponsors and record their payments.

Add a sponsor

1. Open Sponsors and choose Add sponsor.
2. Enter a Reference: your short code for this sponsor, such as an account or purchase-order reference. It is saved in capitals and cannot be changed later.
3. Enter the sponsor's Name.
4. Optionally, add a Contact name, Contact email and Contact phone for invoices and settlement, and Notes that staff should read before funding a place.
5. Choose Add sponsor.

To change a sponsor's details later, choose Edit… on its row or on its page, then Save changes. Every field except the reference can change, even once the sponsor is archived.

Fund a place with a sponsor

A sponsored place is chosen wherever you set a place's funding: under Record a decision when you accept an application, in Send a new offer…, and on the Manual enrolment page.

1. Under Funding, choose Sponsored.
2. Under Sponsor, type part of the sponsor's name or reference and choose it. Only active sponsors are offered, and the sponsor's notes appear under the field.
3. Check Committed amount. It starts at the place's price, which is what most sponsors pay. A sponsor may commit less, never more.
4. Optionally, enter your Invoice or order reference, to match the sponsor's payment later.

Whatever amount is committed, the learner owes nothing, and the place is set up without payment as soon as it is accepted or taken up. The sponsor's page then lists the place as owed; marking it settled is covered in What a sponsor owes.

When a sponsor withdraws from a place

If a sponsor stops paying for a place the learner keeps, release the sponsorship on the learner's record.

1. Open Learners, then the learner.
2. On the Sponsor row, choose Release….
3. Under How the place is paid for now, choose Settled outside Alethris when the academy settles the fee itself, or Another sponsor, then choose that sponsor and its committed amount.
4. Optionally, enter a Reason. It is kept with the released sponsorship.
5. Choose Release, or Keep as is to change nothing.

The learner keeps their place and still pays nothing. The first sponsor's statement shows the place as released, with your reason.

When a sponsored place ends early

A place that never goes ahead releases its sponsorship on its own: a declined, withdrawn or lapsed offer, a place cancelled before it started, or a cancelled cohort. When you cancel a sponsored place that has started, Cancel enrolment… asks "Does sponsor still owe for this place?" Choose Yes, keep it owed or No, release it, according to what you agreed with the sponsor. A settled commitment stays settled either way.

Archive or restore a sponsor

Archive a sponsor you no longer work with: choose Archive… on its row or page, then Archive. It is no longer offered when a place is funded, but what it already promised stands: the places it funds stay owed until you settle or release them, and invitations it funds still go ahead when they are taken up. The dialog counts both before you confirm. To offer the sponsor again, choose Restore…, then Restore.

When it does not work

• "That sponsor code or enrolment funding record already exists." Another sponsor already uses that reference. Choose a different one.
• "Enter a valid sponsor code and name." A reference starts with a letter or digit and uses only letters, digits, dots, dashes and underscores; a name needs at least 2 characters.
• "No active sponsor matches. Add one under Sponsors first." Add the sponsor, or restore it, before funding the place.
• An amount above the price. "A sponsor cannot commit more than the place's price of price." Lower the committed amount.
• "That sponsor is unavailable." or "The sponsor is archived." The sponsor was archived while you were working. Choose an active sponsor.

Each cohort (a class that runs on set dates) can limit how many people take part. When every place is held, nobody new can be offered or given a place until one frees up, but a programme that asks for applications keeps taking them, so a waiting list can form. Alethris never moves anyone off the waiting list by itself: when a place frees up, you decide who gets it. This lesson is for owners and administrators, who set places and decide applications.

Set a cohort's places

A cohort's places are set when you create or edit it. Open Cohorts, open the cohort, choose Edit details, and enter a number under Places, in the Places and price panel. Leave it blank for no limit. A self-paced programme has no cohorts, so its applications have no places to fill.

What holds a place

A place is held from the moment an offer goes out until the place ends. These all hold one:

• an offer the applicant has not answered yet;
• a place waiting for payment;
• a place whose access is being set up;
• a learner who is learning.

A completed place, a cancelled one, and an offer that lapsed hold nothing. An application holds no place, whatever its status. The Application queue for a cohort shows the count in three figures: Enrolled, Holding an offer and Places left.

When a cohort is full

What a full cohort refuses depends on how people join.

• With Application required, applications still arrive: the public date is marked Waiting list, with Join waiting list, and the cohort page's button reads Apply for the waiting list. Accept is refused with "The cohort is full".
• With Direct enrolment, the public cohort page says "This cohort is full", and nobody can enrol.
• Manual enrolment is refused with "The cohort is full". An invitation by email can still be sent, but taking up the place is refused while the cohort is full.

Keep a waiting list

The waiting list is every application on the cohort marked Waitlisted.

1. Open the application from the cohort's queue.
2. Under Record a decision, choose Waitlist.

The applicant is told they are on the waiting list. The application holds no place, and it stays open: you can accept or reject it later. To see the list, open the cohort's queue and choose the Waitlisted tab. The list does not rank anyone, so the choice of who comes off it is yours.

When a place frees up

A place is released when:

• an applicant declines an offer, lets it expire, or has it revoked;
• a place waiting for payment is not paid by its deadline;
• an enrolment is cancelled, with Cancel enrolment… on the learner's record under Learners.

To admit someone from the waiting list, open their application and choose Accept. The offer takes the free place at once and gives the applicant seven days to accept, even if the cohort's enrolment has closed. Alethris does not announce a freed place to you or to the waiting list, so check the queue's Places left figure.

Raise the places

You can also make room by raising the cohort's places. Choose Edit details, enter the higher number under Places, and choose Save changes. Places can change even while the cohort is running.

Places cannot drop below the number already held: nobody is ever removed to make a cohort smaller. A lower number is refused with "Capacity cannot be lower than the number seats already held". Enter at least the number of places taken.

Your plan's limit on learners

Separately from each cohort's places, your plan limits how many learners hold a place at once across the whole academy: 50 on Starter, 250 on Growth and 1,000 on Scale, with Enterprise set by agreement. Each learner counts once, however many places they hold, and finishing a programme frees their count.

At the limit, accepting an application and enrolling a current member are refused with "Every learner place the plan allows is taken. Places free up as learners finish or leave". An invitation can still be sent, but the person taking it up, like a visitor trying to enrol, is told "This academy is not taking new learners at the moment". The owner or a finance administrator can move to a larger plan under Billing.

When a cohort ends

When a cohort is completed or cancelled, applications still waiting on it, including the waiting list, are closed without a decision. Closed is not rejected: those applicants can apply to another cohort that is taking applications. Offers still waiting for an answer are withdrawn and places still waiting for payment are cancelled, so the cohort holds no place for anyone, and no new offer can be sent for it.