> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://educontroldoc.pixelspectivetech.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Fee items

> Defining what you charge for — tuition, PTA dues, ICT levies — and the two flags that decide how each one behaves.

A fee item is one thing you charge for: Tuition, PTA dues, an ICT levy, a maintenance fee. Fee items are defined **per term**, so each term's charges are set deliberately rather than inherited by accident.

The item says *what* you charge for. The [fee matrix](/docs/fees/fee-matrix) says *how much*, per class.

## Money is in pesewas

Every amount in EduControl is a whole number of pesewas. GH₵ 250.00 is stored as `25000`. This is deliberate — it means a fee, a discount and a payment can never disagree by a rounding fraction of a pesewa.

The screens show you cedis. You only meet pesewas if you export the data.

## The two flags

Each fee item carries two switches, and together they decide how it behaves for every pupil billed.

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Optional" icon="circle-question-mark">
    An **optional** item is not billed to everyone automatically. Use it for things a family chooses: a school trip, an extra-curricular club, a uniform item.

    Items are compulsory by default — leave the flag off and every enrolled pupil in the class gets the charge.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Discountable" icon="badge-percent">
    A **discountable** item can be reduced by a pupil's fee category — the staff child on 50%, the scholarship pupil on 100%.

    Items are discountable by default. Switch it off for charges a discount should never touch: an examination fee you remit to GES, or a levy collected on somebody else's behalf. A scholarship pupil still owes those in full.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

<Warning>
  The discountable flag is where most fee-grid mistakes live. A 100% scholarship applied to an item you remit to a third party means the school absorbs that cost silently. Check the flag on every levy you do not keep.
</Warning>

See [Discounts and fee categories](/docs/fees/discounts) for how the reduction is actually calculated.

## Archiving an item

A fee item you no longer charge is **archived**, not deleted. Archiving takes it out of next term's grid while leaving every invoice that already carries it intact and readable.

<Warning>
  Keep fee item names stable within an academic year. A payment directed at "Tuition Fee" is matched to invoice lines by name, so renaming an item mid-year splits a family's payment history either side of the rename. If you must rename, do it between academic years.
</Warning>

## Feeding is separate

Meals are not a fee item. They have their own rates, plans and invoices so that tuition arrears and meal arrears never get confused with one another — see [Feeding rates](/docs/fees/feeding-rates).

## Who can edit it

The `edit_finances` permission.