# Creating a school and its plan

## How to create a school

1. Open the project and go to the "Online schools" section.
2. Click "Create".
3. In the "Create an online school" form, enter a name in the "Name" field — for example, "Daisy Floristry School".
4. Click "Create".

Above the form is the "Build a course with AI" block: you can describe the course in words, and the AI will create the school, the curriculum and the lessons. See the [Building a course in the AI chat](https://support.watbot.org/schools/ai-builder) page for details.

![The online school creation form with the "Build a course with AI" block](https://support.watbot.org/_media/en/07-schools/_images/create-ai.webp?v=1791781230)

The school opens on the "Courses" section. The platform builds the student portal address from the name itself — you can change it in the [settings](https://support.watbot.org/schools/settings).

Limits:

- one project can have no more than 100 schools;
- you can create no more than 20 schools per day.

## The list of schools

In the project's "Online schools" section, schools are shown as a list or as cards — switch the view with the "List" and "Cards" buttons above the list. A card shows the student portal address. Change the order of schools by dragging the handle on the left.

![The project’s school list](https://support.watbot.org/_media/en/07-schools/_images/list.webp?v=1791781230)

In a school's "⋯" menu:

- "Rename" — change the name;
- "Move to ..." — move the school to another of your projects. Only the project owner sees this item;
- "Delete" — delete the school together with its courses.

Inside a school, the name and logo at the top of the menu act as a switcher: use it to go to another school in the project without returning to the list.

## The school plan

A school has its own plan and does not need a Pro subscription. The plan sets two limits:

- **students** — how many people can be registered in the student portal;
- **disk** — how much space the school's materials take: images, videos, homework files.

Courses, lessons and quizzes are not limited by the plan. Plan prices and discounts for paying for several months are on the [Prices of additional services](https://support.watbot.org/billing/services) page.

The plan is activated separately for each school, in the "Plan" section of its menu. At the top of the page you see the name of the current plan and its term, and below — how many students and how much disk space are used out of what is available. If the school has videos, the space they take is shown under the disk bar.

> [!NOTE]
> A student who has signed up but has not confirmed their email takes a seat only for the first 24 hours.

### Trial period

While the school has not paid for anything, the plan page has a "Try for free" block. It shows how many days the trial lasts and what student and disk limits apply. No payment is needed.

Click "Try for free" — the line "Trial until …" appears under the plan name.

The trial is given once per account: if you have already turned it on in another of your schools, the block will not be there.

### How to pay for the plan

1. Open the "Plan" section.
2. In the "Billing period" row, choose how many months you are paying for: 1, 3, 6 or 12. Longer periods show their discount next to them.
3. In the card of the plan you need, click "Switch to this plan".
4. In the confirmation window, check the amount and the date until which the plan will be valid, and click "Pay".

The money is debited from the account balance of the school owner — even if a team member pays. If there is not enough money, you will see the message "Not enough funds on the balance" with the missing amount: top up the balance and try again. How to top up the balance is described in the [Account and projects](https://support.watbot.org/account) section.

The school owner and a team member with the "Edit online school" permission can pay for and change the plan.

### Renewing and changing the plan

- **Auto-renewal.** A paid plan renews itself for the same period: under the plan name it says "Renews on …". The money is debited from the account balance.
- **Renew early.** In the card of the current plan the button is called "Extend". The new term is added to the end of the paid one — the remaining days are not lost.
- **Change the plan.** Click "Switch to this plan" in another card. The unused remainder of the previous plan is credited toward the price of the new one — the credited amount is shown in the confirmation window. If the remainder is more than the price of the new plan, nothing is debited, and the surplus extends the term.
- **Turn off renewal.** Use the "Turn off renewal" button next to the plan name. The school keeps working until the end of the paid period, and the line changes to "Works until …". To bring auto-renewal back, click "Turn renewal back on"; you do not need to pay again for this.

If there was not enough money on the balance on the renewal day, renewal is turned off and the owner receives a notification. The school works until the end of the paid period.

## What happens without a plan

When the paid or trial period has ended, the plan name is replaced with "No plan". Courses, lessons and students stay in place, but the school freezes:

- new students cannot sign up — they see "Registration is temporarily unavailable. Please contact the school.";
- images and videos cannot be uploaded — neither by you nor by students in their homework;
- paid courses are not sold: a student sees "Payment is temporarily unavailable. Please contact the school.";
- guests who are not signed in cannot see the school page and the catalogue, even if the school is open;
- signing in with a platform account does not work.

To make the school work again, pay for the plan.

> [!WARNING]
> The materials of a school without a plan are kept for a limited time. The date is shown in the warning on the "Plan" page: "We keep the school materials through …". After that date, courses, lessons, videos and student data are deleted permanently. The owner receives an email and a notification in advance. Issued certificates remain available at their links.

## If something does not work

| Message | Cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| When signing up, a student sees "Registration is temporarily unavailable. Please contact the school." | The school has as many registered students as the plan allows, or no plan is active | Switch to a higher plan or pay for the plan |
| "Plan limit reached — no more than … GB of disk space" | The materials have used up all the space the plan allows, or no plan is active | Delete videos you do not need or switch to a higher plan |
| "The trial period is available once per account and has already been used." | The trial was already turned on in this or another of your schools | Pay for the plan |
| "The plan has expired, it needs to be paid again." | You are turning on renewal for a plan whose term has already ended | Pay for the plan again |
| "You can create no more than 20 online schools per day." | The daily limit has been reached | Create the school the next day |