Fees and paying

The fee for a place on a programme is one payment, made in full. There are no instalments, and nothing is charged until you pay. As a learner, you see what you owe in two places: Payments in the Alethris Hub, which covers every academy, and the Fees page inside each programme's workspace, which covers that one place.

A fee is one payment

The fee is fixed when your place is created: when you enrol, or when the academy offers you a place after an application. It includes any discount that applied then, and it does not change if the academy later changes the programme's fee. Where a programme page describes its fee, it says so before you join: "One payment, in full, before teaching starts. There are no instalments." For a self-paced programme it reads "One payment, in full, when you enrol."

A place with a fee is held for you while you pay, until a date the payment page shows. If the fee is not paid by then, the place is released.

What you owe now

In the Alethris Hub, open Payments: "What you owe and what you have paid, at every academy."

• Owed now lists each place waiting for payment, with the fee, the date the place is held until and "Nothing has been charged yet." Choose Pay to open the payment page.
• When nothing is owed, the page says "You owe nothing right now."
• A fee at an academy that has since closed is not owed, so it is not listed here. On My learning, that place reads Academy closed: "amount was never charged. This academy has closed, so there is nothing left to pay."

The same places appear on My learning under Awaiting payment, on the Hub's Overview under Needs you, and under Deadlines as "Pay by date".

The Fees page

Once your place is open, the programme's workspace has a Fees & payments page, headed Fees. It is not shown for a free programme that you joined yourself, because there is nothing to pay.

At the top, the page shows a fee and where your place stands:

For a place you paid for, the fee shown is what you were charged. When a discount reduced it, the page names it after the status: "Discount took amount off the listed fee." For a sponsored place, or one the academy recorded, it is the place's listed fee. A place that a discount made free shows Free and no status: "Your place is free: discount took the whole fee off. There is nothing to pay."

A refund counts here only once it has been paid back; until then the place reads Paid in full. After several refunds, the date reads "in n parts, the last on date", and "Your place stays open." follows when you keep your place.

What you actually paid is on each payment below: "Payment of amount", the date, how you paid, a Receipt button and the receipt's reference. A refund, if one is ever made, is listed on the payment it belongs to, with the academy's reason and, once paid back, Refund receipt.

Beside the payments of a place you paid for, Refunds states the programme's refund policy, and how to ask for one. A sponsored place, or one that cost you nothing, has no refund policy to show.

A place still waiting for payment

A place waiting for payment does not open its workspace yet. Opening it shows "Your place is waiting for payment", the amount outstanding and Pay on Alethris, which takes you to the payment page. Once the payment is confirmed, the place is set up and the programme opens.

Where the money goes

Alethris never holds your money. A payment you make on Alethris goes to the academy through its payment provider, Paystack, and each payment has a receipt in the academy's name that you can download.

When something looks wrong

• "Not recorded". "Your place is open, but how it was paid for is not recorded here." If you paid, contact the academy with your payment's details.
• "Your fees could not be loaded". "Nothing about your place has changed — this could not be read just now." Choose Try again.
• A payment you made is missing. Contact the academy, or raise a case with Alethris Support from Support in the Hub, choosing the category Learner payment.

You pay for a place on its payment page in the Alethris Hub. Pay online takes you to Paystack's secure page, where you pay by card or another way Paystack offers, and brings you back to Alethris to confirm the payment. The money goes straight to the academy; Alethris never holds it.

Open the payment page

The payment page opens on its own after you enrol on a programme with a fee, or accept an offer of a place. To return to it later, choose Pay on the place's row under Owed now on Payments, or under Awaiting payment on My learning.

The page is headed Complete payment and says "Your place is held until date." Below that, the academy's card names the programme and cohort and states the amount. If a discount applies, the card shows the fee, the discount by name with the amount it takes off, and To pay.

Pay

1. Under How would you like to pay?, find Pay online: "By card, or another way Paystack offers, on Paystack's secure page."
2. Choose Continue to Paystack.
3. On Paystack's page, choose how to pay and complete the payment.
4. Paystack returns you to the payment page, which shows Checking your payment and "Confirming your payment…".

What happens next

When the payment is confirmed, the page says "Payment confirmed. Your place is secured." It then reads Paid: "Your payment has been received, and your place is being set up." The page waits while the place is set up, usually a few seconds, and then reads "Your payment for this place has been received." without a reload. From then on the academy is on My academies. View the receipt opens your receipt, and Go to My learning takes you to your places.

You also receive an email, "Payment received for programme", which says "Keep this email for your records." Once the place is set up, it moves to In progress on My learning and its workspace opens.

A payment that completes after the time to pay has ended, or after the academy released or withdrew the place, cannot keep it. The page then says, for example, "Your payment arrived after this place was released, so the place could not be kept. The payment will be refunded to you." View the receipt opens the payment, where the refund appears once it is made.

When the payment is not confirmed straight away

The payment page tells you what Paystack reported:

• "The provider has not confirmed this payment yet. This usually resolves within a minute." Choose Check again after a moment.
• "The payment did not go through. Nothing was charged, so you can try again below." Choose Continue to Paystack again, or another way to pay on the page.
• "You left the payment page before it finished." If you had already approved the payment, it may still come through. Continue with the same payment rather than starting another, and choose Check again.
• "A payment is already in progress on Paystack." You started a payment that has not finished. Choose Continue on Paystack to complete it. The page offers no other way to pay until it ends.
• "Your payment was received but could not be applied to this place." Paystack took the payment, but it did not match what this place was set up to receive, so it is being reviewed and will be refunded to you. The page offers no way to pay meanwhile; do not pay again.
• "A payment you started is being checked with Paystack." A payment you began did not finish setting up. Nothing can be paid on it, and within a few minutes the page offers the ways to pay again. Choose Check again.

When you cannot pay online

• The academy has not set up online payment. The page says the academy "has not set up online payment yet, so this place cannot be paid for here." It asks you to contact the academy to arrange payment before the date your place is held until, and offers a link to its website.
• Online payment is not available yet. Alethris is not taking online payments yet, so the page asks you to pay the academy directly. Your place is set up once the academy records your payment.
• "Ways to pay are unavailable right now. Your place is unaffected." The ways to pay could not be read. Choose Try again, and if the message stays, contact the academy: it also appears while the academy cannot take payments on Alethris.
• "The payment could not be started. Nothing was charged." Try again in a moment.
• "This enrolment does not exist, or it is not yours." You are signed in with a different account from the one that holds the place. Sign in with that account.

If nothing is owed, the page says so instead of offering a way to pay: for example Nothing to pay for a free or sponsored place, Nothing to pay yet for an offer you have not accepted, or Place released for a place that expired before payment.

You can pay for a place by bank transfer in two ways. On your place's payment page in the Alethris Hub, Pay by bank transfer gives you an account made for this one payment, and your transfer is confirmed automatically. Alternatively, by arrangement with the academy, you can pay into the academy's own account, and the academy records and confirms the transfer itself.

Get the account details

1. Open your place's payment page: choose Pay on its row under Owed now on Payments, or under Awaiting payment on My learning.
2. Under How would you like to pay?, find Pay by bank transfer: "Transfer the exact amount to an account made for this payment. It is confirmed automatically."
3. Choose Get account details.

The page then shows Transfer to this account, with the Bank, the Account name, the Account number, the Amount and the time the account is Valid until. Copy beside the account number copies it for your banking app.

What to send

Send the exact amount shown, from your own bank, before the time under Valid until. "It was made for this payment only." The account is valid for a limited time, and never beyond the date your place is held until.

What happens next

"The transfer is confirmed automatically, usually within a few minutes." A transfer made before the date your place is held until counts even when it is confirmed shortly after. Once it is, your place is paid for and set up, and you receive an email, "Payment received for programme". The payment appears under Payments in the Hub with the method Bank transfer and a receipt.

While the account is waiting for your transfer, the payment page shows the same details each time you open it, and offers no other way to pay. After the time under Valid until, it offers the ways to pay again, unless the time to pay for the place has ended.

When the option is not offered

Pay by bank transfer appears only when Paystack can take a transfer for this payment. It is not offered for an amount under ₦100, which Paystack does not accept by transfer. When it is missing, use Pay online instead. If you try a transfer the amount does not allow, the page says "This amount is below the minimum for a bank transfer. Pay by card instead."

Paying the academy directly

Some academies accept a transfer straight into their own bank account, outside Alethris. Arrange this with the academy first, because Alethris does not show an academy's own bank details.

When you pay this way:

• The transfer must cover the full amount due for your place.
• The academy records your transfer with its bank reference, and someone at the academy confirms it against the bank statement. Until it is confirmed, your place still shows as waiting for payment.
• Your place is still released at its hold date if the transfer has not been confirmed by then, so pay in good time and tell the academy when you have.
• Once confirmed, the payment appears like any other, with the method Recorded by the academy and a receipt, and your place is set up.

If the academy cannot take payments on Alethris at all, the payment page says so: "Academy has not set up online payment yet, so this place cannot be paid for here." It asks you to contact the academy to arrange payment before the date your place is held until.

When it does not work

• The transfer has not been confirmed after a while. Check that you sent the exact amount to the account shown, before it expired. If you did, contact the academy with your bank's reference, or raise a case with Alethris Support under Learner payment.
• You sent money to an account that had expired, or the wrong amount. Contact the academy with your bank's reference.

An academy can give you a discount code that reduces the fee for a place. You enter it on the academy's apply or enrol form, before you send your application or take your place, and the form shows what it takes off. The payment page cannot take a code, so enter it on the form.

Academies can also run a discount that applies on its own, with no code. A programme page shows it beside the fee, with its name and, where it has one, its end date. A discount kept for learners new to the academy is not shown on the page, but applies to your place when you qualify. Once you are signed in, or have confirmed your email address to apply without an account, the form shows your own fee: when a discount the page shows is not available to you, Discount reads "Not available on your account", or "Not available to this email address", and the fee beside the form and on the button is the one you would pay.

Enter a code

1. On the apply or enrol form, choose Have a discount code?. It appears only when the place has a fee.
2. Type the code into Discount code. "Capitals do not matter."
3. Choose Apply, or press Enter.

The form checks the code for your account, or for the email address you confirmed when you apply without one, and shows the result in place of the field: "CODE is applied: amount off the fee." The fee beside the form changes to the reduced fee, and so does the Enrol and pay button on an enrol form. Remove takes the code off again.

If you type a code but do not choose Apply, the form checks it when you send your application or enrol. On an enrol form, if the code changes the fee, the form shows you the new fee first, and you choose the button again, now showing that fee, to take the place at that price.

Which discount applies

Only one discount ever prices a place. When more than one could apply, the one that leaves the lowest fee wins; when two leave the same fee, your code wins. If your code is valid but another discount takes more off, the form says "CODE is valid, but discount takes more off, and only one discount applies." The payment page repeats it: "Your code CODE was not used: discount takes more off, and only one applies." A code that cannot be used at all is refused with its reason, as below, even while another discount is running.

A discount can take the whole fee. The place is then free, and there is nothing to pay.

Codes on an application

When you apply, the code is checked as you send the application, and held with it, beside any discount that took more off. Your application's page then shows Fee if accepted with that discount. Nothing is charged and no discount is used up until the academy offers you a place. The discount is then applied to the offer if it still can be: it is honoured even if its end date has passed in the meantime, but not if the academy has archived it. If its uses have all been taken, the code you typed is tried instead. If neither can be applied, the offer is made at the full fee, less any discount the academy is running.

Your offer, and later the payment page, show the fee, the discount by name with the amount it takes off, and To pay.

When a code is refused

The reason appears under the field:

• "A code is letters and numbers, with no spaces. Check it and try again." The code is not in a form any code takes. Check it against what the academy gave you.
• "That code is not in use here. Check that it is typed as the academy gave it." No live code matches at this academy. It may be mistyped, finished, or not started yet.
• "That code does not apply to this cohort." or "…this programme." The code is for other programmes or cohorts.
• "That code has been fully taken up." Every use of the code has gone.
• "Your account cannot use that code. It is for learners new to this academy, or you have already used it." The code is limited to new learners, or to a number of uses for each person, and you hold another place at the academy or have used it already. A place that was cancelled, or that expired unpaid, gives its use back.
• "Your session has expired. Sign in again to use a code." Sign in again.
• "That was tried a few times in a row. Wait a while and try again." Wait before trying again.
• "This is no longer open, so the code cannot be checked." The cohort or programme has stopped taking places.
• "The code could not be checked just now. Try again in a moment." Try again shortly.

When you apply without an account, the refusals that concern your email address are listed in Apply without an Alethris account.

A code cannot be added once the place exists. If you forgot to enter one, contact the academy.

Every payment you make on Alethris has a receipt, issued by Alethris for the academy you paid, and every refund paid back to you has a refund receipt of its own. Your whole payment history, across every academy, is on Payments in the Alethris Hub, and each programme's Fees page lists the payments for that place. Receipts stay on your account, even if you later leave the academy.

Your payment history

In the Alethris Hub, open Payments. Under Payments made, each payment shows the programme, the academy and cohort, the amount, and a line such as "Paid 2 Sept 2026 by card". If part or all of it was refunded, the line adds the total paid back to you or "fully refunded".

Each payment carries a status:

When your payments have more than one status, tabs above the list filter it by status.

Beside the list, Paid in followed by the year totals what you have paid this year, less anything refunded to you, and How payments work sums up the rules: payments go through Paystack straight to the academy, receipts stay on your account, and refunds are the academy's decision.

Open a receipt

Choose a payment to open its receipt. The page is headed with the amount and its status, and the academy's card shows:

• Receipt number
• Paid, the date of the payment
• Method, such as Card, Bank transfer, USSD or Recorded by the academy
• Refunded, the total refunded, when there has been a refund
• Reference, the payment provider's reference, or Payment ID where there is none, to quote if you ask about the payment

"Issued by Alethris for the academy. It stays on your account." View enrolment opens the programme's workspace. Any refunds are listed below the card under Refunds: "Refunded date" for one paid back, or "Requested date" for one still on its way, the amount and where it stands, and "Reason:" with the academy's words. A refund paid back has a Refund receipt button.

Download a receipt

1. Open the receipt from Payments.
2. Choose Download receipt.

The receipt downloads as a PDF document you can keep or forward. You can also download it from the programme's Fees page: each payment there has a Receipt button, and shows the receipt's number as its Reference.

A payment receipt records refunds too. Once a refund is paid back, the receipt is issued again: it lists each refund paid back under Refunds, with its date, amount and reason, then Net paid, and its footer reads "This receipt records one payment and the refunds made on it." A refund still on its way is not listed. If you downloaded the receipt before a refund, download it again.

A payment the academy reversed has its receipt issued again too, with Reversed on the date and nothing as Net paid.

Download a refund receipt

A refund receipt records one refund that has been paid back, separate from the payment's receipt. To download it, choose Refund receipt beside the refund on the payment's page in the Hub, or under the refund on the programme's Fees page. A refund still on its way has no refund receipt.

The PDF is headed Refund receipt, and its number begins ALE-R-, where a payment receipt's begins ALE-. It shows Amount refunded, whom it was refunded to, the programme, Refunded on, and Paid back: "To your original payment method, via Paystack", or "By academy directly" when the academy paid you itself. Under Original payment are the payment's receipt number, date and amount, and under Reason the academy's words.

Payments for one programme

Inside a programme's workspace, Fees & payments opens the Fees page, which lists only that place's payments, each with its date, method, Receipt button and any refund with its reason and, once paid back, Refund receipt. "Your payment went to academy and the academy issues your receipt."

When something is wrong

• The amount, programme or method is not what you paid. Beside the receipt, under Something wrong?, choose Ask about this payment to raise a case with Alethris Support about it.
• "Your receipt is still being prepared. Try again in a moment." A new receipt takes a moment to prepare. Choose Receipt on the Fees page again shortly.
• "The receipt could not be prepared. Try again in a moment." on a receipt in the Hub, or "The receipt could not be opened. Try again." on the Fees page. Try again shortly.
• "Your refund receipt is still being prepared. Try again in a moment." or "The refund receipt could not be prepared. Try again in a moment." Choose Refund receipt again shortly. On the Fees page, "The refund receipt could not be opened. Try again." means the same.
• No Refund receipt button. The refund has not been paid back yet.
• "This payment does not exist, or it is not yours." You are signed in with a different account from the one that paid. Sign in with that account.
• "No payments yet". You have not paid for a place on Alethris. A sponsored or free place has no payment of yours to show.

A refund is the academy's decision. Each programme states its refund policy before you join, and the academy refunds you in line with it or, outside it, at its discretion. There is no button to request a refund on Alethris: you ask the academy, and once it records the refund, its progress and the reason the academy gave show on the payment it belongs to. A refund paid back has its own Refund receipt.

The refund policy

The programme page states the policy under Refund. It reads, for example, "Full refund within 14 days of paying, and none after that", "Full or partial refund within 14 days of paying, and none after that" or "Non-refundable". Free programmes have none.

Once your place is open, the Refunds panel on the programme's Fees page repeats it: "A full refund is in policy within n days of payment. After that, a refund is at the academy's discretion." A programme without refunds says "This programme does not offer refunds."

Ask for a refund

Contact the academy, say which payment you want refunded and why, and quote its receipt number or reference. The Refunds panel on the Fees page says "To ask for one, contact your academy", and names the cohort group as the quickest place where your cohort has one.

How the money comes back

The academy chooses how to refund you:

• Through Paystack. The money goes back to the card or account that paid.
• Directly. The academy pays you back outside Alethris, by bank transfer or in cash, and records that it has.

A refund can be the whole payment or part of it.

What happens to your place

When it records the refund, the academy also decides what happens to your place. You may keep your place and carry on learning, or your access may end once the refund is paid. If it ends, the programme's workspace says "Your access has ended" and "The academy refunded amount on date.", with the reason, View payment, which opens the payment in the Hub, and Refund receipt. Your progress and completed work stay on your record. A programme you have already completed is not affected by a refund.

Where a refund shows

A refund shows in these places, with the reason the academy gave:

• Payments in the Hub. The payment's status becomes Partly refunded or Refunded, and its line adds the total refunded, or "fully refunded". On the payment's page, Refunds lists each refund: "Refunded date" once it is paid back, or "Requested date" before then, the amount and its status, then "Reason:" and the academy's words.
• The Fees page. Under the payment: "Refund", the amount and where it stands — requested, in progress, paid back with the date, or "could not be paid back — contact the academy" — then the reason. Once money comes back, the summary at the top reads Refunded or Partly refunded, says how much came back and when, and adds "Your place stays open." when you keep your place.
• Email and your inbox. "Academy has refunded amount of your fee for programme. Contact the academy if it has not reached you." The email also gives the reason.

A refund Alethris made itself, because your place could not be set up after you paid, gives the reason "Your place could not be set up, so your payment was returned."

Your refund receipt

A refund receipt is a PDF of one refund, separate from the payment's receipt. Each refund that has been paid back has one: choose Refund receipt beside it on the payment's page in the Hub, or under it on the Fees page. It shows the amount refunded, the programme, the date, how it was paid back — "To your original payment method, via Paystack" or "By academy directly" — the original payment's receipt number and amount, and the reason.

A refund still on its way has no receipt yet. Once one is paid back, the payment's own receipt is issued again to list it, with the net amount paid: download it again.

Refund statuses

Alethris does not set how long a refund takes to reach you. A refund through Paystack is In progress until Paystack confirms it, then Refunded. One the academy pays directly stays Requested until the academy records that it has paid you.

When it does not work

• The refund shows Refunded but has not arrived. Contact the academy with the receipt number, as the email suggests.
• "Your refund receipt is still being prepared. Try again in a moment." Choose Refund receipt again shortly. The Hub says "The refund receipt could not be prepared. Try again in a moment."
• The academy has refused a refund. Refunds are the academy's decision. If the payment itself is wrong — the amount, the programme or the method — open it in the Hub and choose Ask about this payment to raise a case with Alethris Support.

Not every place is paid for by the learner. A programme can be free. A sponsor, such as an employer, can fund your place by arrangement with the academy. And the academy can set up a place for you directly, for example when you have settled the fee with it another way. In each case there is nothing for you to pay on Alethris, and your place is set up as soon as you take it.

Free programmes

A free programme's fee reads Free on its page, and where the page describes the fee, it says "No fee for this programme." Its enrol form has no discount code field and ends with Enrol rather than a fee: "Your place is created as soon as you enrol." By application, the offer you receive shows the price as Free, and "Accepting reserves your place. This programme is free."

A free programme you joined yourself has no Fees & payments page in its workspace, because there is nothing to show.

A discount can also take the whole fee. Your place is then free in the same way, and its Fees page shows Free: "Your place is free: discount took the whole fee off. There is nothing to pay."

Sponsored places

A sponsor pays the academy directly, outside Alethris: "No money moves through Alethris for a sponsored seat." The academy records the sponsor when it offers you the place, invites you to take it, or creates the place for you.

• By invitation, the invitation says "Sponsor is funding this place, so there is nothing to pay." or, when it names no sponsor, "This place is funded by a sponsor".
• By application, the offer's Price reads "Paid by sponsor", with "Accepting reserves your place. Sponsor pays for it, so there is nothing for you to pay." Accepting sets up your place.
• On the Fees page, the programme's fee is shown with the status Sponsored: "Sponsor funds your place. There is nothing for you to pay." The payments list says "A sponsor funds this place, so no payment of yours is recorded here."

If an employer or sponsor will pay for a cohort you have not yet joined, tell the academy before you pay. The Fees page of a place you pay for yourself says so: "If an employer or sponsor is paying for a later cohort, the academy records that against your place."

Places the academy arranged with you

An academy can create a place for you directly, or open a place that was waiting for payment, without a payment on Alethris. The Fees page then shows Recorded by the academy: "Your academy recorded this place directly, so no payment of yours is held on Alethris. Nothing is outstanding." An invitation to such a place says "The academy arranged this place with you directly, so there is nothing to pay on Alethris." A sponsored place reads Recorded by the academy too once its sponsor has withdrawn and the academy settles the fee itself.

The payment page for these places

If you open the payment page for a place with nothing to pay, it shows Nothing to pay with the reason instead of a way to pay:

• "This place is free."
• "A sponsor covers the fee for this place."
• "The academy set up this place for you directly, so nothing is owed here."

Refunds and these places

There is nothing of yours to refund on a place you did not pay for, and the Fees page of a free or sponsored place shows no refund policy. Questions about a sponsorship, such as what it covers, are for the academy and your sponsor.

When it does not work

• A sponsored place asks you to pay. The academy has not recorded the sponsor for this place. Do not pay; contact the academy before the date your place is held until.
• The Fees page says "Not recorded". "Your place is open, but how it was paid for is not recorded here." Contact the academy.