Glossary
Kids program glossary: 46 terms operators run into.
This glossary defines 46 terms that people who run camps, classes and after-school programs meet in their first year: registration and roster words, payment and pricing terms, the paperwork schools ask for, and licensing, safety and funding language. Each definition is short, plain, and links to a page that goes deeper.
Legal, tax and insurance definitions here are general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules differ by state and they change. Confirm with your state agency, your accountant or an attorney.
All 46 terms, A to Z
21st CCLC·Additional insured·Aftercare·Authorized pickup·Background check·Card processing·Chargeback·COI, certificate of insurance·Dependent care FSA·Discount code·Drop-in·Early-bird pricing·Enrichment class·enrops service fee·Facility use agreement·Host site·License-exempt program·Make-up class·Mandated reporter·Minimum enrollment·Mobile program·MOU·Out-of-school time (OST)·Pay by bank·Payment plan·Payout·Physical literacy·Proration·PTO or PTA-sponsored program·Ratio·Recorded Program·Refund·Registration·Roster·Scholarship and sliding fee·School-paid program·Sibling discount·STEAM·Stripe Connect·Substitute instructor·Term vs session·Vendor approval·W-2 vs 1099·Waiting list·Waiver·Youth enrichment
Registration and enrollment
What do registration and enrollment terms mean?
The words families and schools use when a child signs up, and the ones you need on your registration page.
Registration
The step where a family signs a child up for a specific program: they give the child's details, sign the waiver and pay. A finished registration puts the child on the roster. A form with no payment attached is an interest form.
Roster
The list of kids enrolled in one class, camp week or team, with what the instructor needs on day one. On enrops, rosters build themselves as families register, with grade, homeroom teacher and a live count of who is enrolled.
Term vs session
A term is the block of weeks a program runs, such as fall, winter or spring. A session is one meeting inside that term. Some operators say session for the whole block, so list the dates and the number of meetings wherever you show a price.
Drop-in
A single visit a family pays for without enrolling in the full term. Drop-ins fill open seats and let a family sample a class. They also make rosters and ratios harder to plan, so decide before the term whether you offer them.
Waiting list
The ordered list of families who want a seat in a full class. When a seat opens, the first family gets a set window to claim it. A long waiting list is your evidence for adding a second section. On enrops, waiting lists are set up with our team.
Minimum enrollment
The smallest number of paid registrations at which a class covers its costs and runs. Set it before registration opens, publish the decision date, and tell families what happens to their payment if the class is cancelled.
Proration
Charging a reduced price to a family that joins after the term starts, based on the meetings left. Example: a 10-week class at $240 is $24 a meeting, so a child who joins in week 4 pays 7 x $24 = $168.
Make-up class
A replacement meeting offered when the program cancels one, for weather, a closed building or an instructor absence. Put your make-up policy in writing before the term: whether you add a date, and what families get if you can't.
Ratio
The number of kids one adult is responsible for, written like 1:12. State child care licensing rules set ratios for licensed care. Enrichment programs often set their own, or follow what the host school or their insurer requires. Rules differ by state.
Payments
What do payment terms mean?
How money moves from a family's phone to your bank account, and what each step is called.
Payment plan
A way for a family to split one registration into scheduled installments. On enrops, a payment plan has the installments the business sets, with no interest, plan fee or late fee. The enrops service fee is the same as paying in full.
enrops service fee
The fee families pay enrops when they register: 3% of each registration, or 2% with pay by bank, with a $1.99 minimum and a maximum of $14.99 by card or $9.99 by bank. It is included in the price families see first, and refunded to the family whenever the registration is refunded.
Card processing
What the payment processor charges a business to run a card, debit card or wallet payment. It is separate from the enrops service fee. enrops is free for businesses, and your only cost is Stripe's standard processing.
Pay by bank
Paying straight from a checking account, an ACH debit in the United States, in place of a card. On enrops the service fee drops from 3% to 2%, shown to families as pay by bank and save. Bank payments settle more slowly than cards: up to 4 business days on Stripe.
Stripe Connect
Stripe's product for software platforms that route payments to the businesses using them. On enrops, you connect your own Stripe account during setup, so registrations are paid to your business and pay out to your bank.
Payout
The transfer of money from your Stripe balance to your bank account. Families pay first, then Stripe pays out on a schedule. On enrops, standard payouts are on the Free plan and daily payouts are on Pro.
Refund
Money returned to a family for a registration, sent back to the way they paid. Write your refund policy before registration opens and show it at signup. On enrops, the service fee is refunded to the family whenever the registration is refunded.
Chargeback
A card payment reversed through the family's bank after the cardholder disputes the charge, in place of asking the business for a refund. The business can answer with evidence, such as the signed registration, and the bank decides the outcome.
Source for pay by bank settlement timing and the description of Stripe Connect: Stripe, ACH Direct Debit payments (docs.stripe.com), checked September 17, 2026.
Pricing and discounts
What do pricing and discount terms mean?
The pricing moves operators use most, and the family-side benefit parents ask about.
Sibling discount
A reduced price for the second or third child from the same family. A fixed dollar amount is easier to budget than a percentage, because you know what each discounted seat costs you.
Early-bird pricing
A lower price for families who register before a set date. It pulls registrations forward so you can confirm instructors and sites sooner. Give it a firm end date, and know what it costs you per seat.
Discount code
A code a family types at checkout to lower the price. Operators use codes for siblings, early registration, school partners and funded seats. Discount codes are included on the enrops Free plan.
Scholarship and sliding fee
A scholarship is a seat offered free or at a reduced price, funded by the operator, a PTO, a school or a donor. A sliding fee sets the price by family income. A discount code lets a funded family register the same way as everyone else.
Dependent care FSA
A workplace benefit account that lets a parent pay for the care of a child under 13 with pre-tax pay so the parent can work. IRS Publication 503 says the cost of day camp may be a work-related expense and overnight camp isn't. Families who use one will ask you for receipts.
Source for dependent care and camp: IRS, Publication 503, Child and Dependent Care Expenses (irs.gov), for 2025 returns, checked September 17, 2026. General information, not tax advice.
School partnerships
What paperwork words will a school use?
What a principal, district office or PTO means when they ask for these. Requirements differ by district, so ask each partner for its list.
Host site
The school, community center, park or church where your program meets when you don't own the space. The host approves you, offers a room and a time, and often helps tell families. You bring the curriculum, instructors, insurance and registration.
Vendor approval
The process a school district uses to clear an outside provider to work with its schools: paperwork, insurance, background checks and sometimes a purchasing or board step. Timelines differ by district, so start well before the term you want.
MOU
Memorandum of understanding. A short written agreement between you and a school, PTO or partner that says who does what: space, schedule, registration, money, communication and what happens if either side cancels. Have an attorney review anything you sign.
Facility use agreement
The document a school or district uses to let an outside group use a room, gym or field. It covers dates, times, fees, insurance and rules for the space. Some districts charge rent, and some reduce it for programs that serve their own students.
COI, certificate of insurance
One page from your insurer showing your liability coverage, its limits and its dates. Schools, districts and PTOs ask for it before you step on campus, often with them named as additional insured. Required limits differ by district.
Additional insured
A party added to your liability policy, usually by an endorsement, so your coverage extends to them for claims that arise from your program. Schools, districts and PTOs ask to be named. Your insurance agent issues the certificate that shows it.
PTO or PTA-sponsored program
An after-school program that a school's parent group brings to campus. The PTO or PTA picks the providers, books rooms through the school and promotes the catalog to families. Some parent groups also run registration or fund seats.
School-paid program
A program the school, district, PTO or a grant pays for, so families register at no charge. You send an invoice and keep the roster as proof of service. There is no enrops service fee on $0 registrations.
Licensing, safety and hiring
What do licensing, safety and hiring terms mean?
These are legal and tax terms. The definitions are generic, the rules differ by state, and they change. Confirm with your state agency, your accountant or an attorney.
License-exempt program
A kids program that a state's child care law does not require to hold a child care license, often because of its hours, its single activity or who runs it. Every state draws the line differently. Confirm with your state's licensing agency before you open.
Recorded Program
Oregon's category for certain programs that must record with the state's Child Care Licensing Division, including school-age programs "providing youth development activities" during hours that school is not in session. Other states use other names and other rules.
Background check
A screening of an adult's criminal history before they work with kids. States, districts and host sites set their own requirements, which can include fingerprinting or enrollment in a state registry. Ask each school partner what it requires, and keep proof for every adult.
Mandated reporter
A person the law requires to report suspected child abuse or neglect. The federal Child Welfare Information Gateway notes that some states require all people to report, and many states name specific professionals such as teachers and child care providers. Learn your state's rule and train every instructor on it.
Waiver
A document a parent or guardian signs at registration that acknowledges the risks of an activity and agrees to your terms. How much a waiver protects you depends on state law, so have an attorney review yours. On enrops, families sign your waiver during checkout.
W-2 vs 1099
Two ways to pay a worker. A W-2 worker is an employee, and you withhold taxes from each paycheck. A 1099 worker is an independent contractor. The IRS looks at behavioral control, financial control and the type of relationship. States add their own tests, so ask an accountant or attorney before you decide.
Substitute instructor
The trained backup who teaches when the regular instructor is out. A sub plan names who is on call each day, where the lesson plan and roster live, and who tells the school and the families.
Sources, checked September 17, 2026: Oregon Department of Early Learning and Care, Recorded Programs (oregon.gov/delc); Child Welfare Information Gateway, Mandated Reporting (childwelfare.gov); IRS, Independent contractor (self-employed) or employee? (irs.gov).
The category and its funding
What do the category and funding terms mean?
The names for this field, and the words funders and schools use for it.
Youth enrichment
Organized, instructor-led programming that teaches kids a skill or feeds an interest outside core school instruction: after-school classes, camps, lessons, clubs and teams. A trained adult leads it, a family chooses it, and the goal is growth.
Enrichment class
A group class that teaches kids something beyond the required school subjects, such as robotics, art, chess, theater, music, dance, a sport or a language. Many meet once a week for a term, on a school campus after the bell or at a studio or community site.
Aftercare
Daily supervised care on or near campus from dismissal until a parent finishes work. States generally regulate it as child care. An enrichment class is a session a family picks for the activity itself, and plenty of kids go from class straight to aftercare.
Out-of-school time (OST)
The hours when kids aren't in class: before school, after school, weekends, school breaks and summer. Funders, researchers and school districts use the term to cover after-school programs, camps and enrichment together.
21st CCLC
21st Century Community Learning Centers, a U.S. Department of Education formula grant. The Department says it supports centers that "provide academic enrichment opportunities during non-school hours for children, particularly students who attend high-poverty and low-performing schools." State education agencies run the competitions and award the grants.
STEAM
Science, technology, engineering, arts and math: STEM plus the arts. In kids programs it means hands-on projects such as robotics, coding, engineering builds and design challenges.
Physical literacy
A child's foundation for moving well and wanting to keep moving: basic skills like balance, coordination, throwing and jumping, plus the confidence to use them. In a kids program it means meeting each child where they are and building from there.
Mobile program
An enrichment business with no storefront. Instructors travel to schools, community centers and parks and bring the materials with them. Overhead is lower than a studio, and the school relationships and logistics carry more of the weight.
Source for 21st CCLC: U.S. Department of Education, Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Centers (ed.gov), checked September 17, 2026.
Questions operators ask about these terms
What is the difference between a term and a session?
A term is the block of weeks a program runs, such as fall or spring. A session is one meeting inside that term. Some operators use session for the whole block, so list the dates and the number of meetings wherever you show a price.
What is the difference between the enrops service fee and card processing?
The enrops service fee is what families pay enrops when they register: 3%, or 2% with pay by bank, included in the price they see first. Card processing is what Stripe charges the business to run the payment. enrops is free for businesses, and your only cost is Stripe's standard processing.
What is a certificate of insurance, and why do schools ask for one?
A certificate of insurance, or COI, is one page from your insurer showing your liability coverage, its limits and its dates. Schools, districts and PTOs ask for it before you step on campus, often with them named as additional insured. Required limits differ by district.
Do I need a child care license to run an enrichment class?
It depends on your state, your hours, the ages you serve and who runs the program. Some programs are license-exempt, and some states ask programs to record or register. This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm with your state's child care licensing agency before you open.
What is the difference between a refund and a chargeback?
A refund is money the business sends back to the family. A chargeback is a card payment reversed through the family's bank after the cardholder disputes the charge. A clear refund policy shown at signup, and a fast answer when a parent writes in, help keep money questions in the first category.
Is an after-school instructor a W-2 worker or a 1099 contractor?
It depends on the facts of the job. The IRS looks at behavioral control, financial control and the type of relationship, and states add their own tests. This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Ask an accountant or an employment attorney in your state before you decide.
What does STEAM stand for?
Science, technology, engineering, arts and math. It is STEM plus the arts. In kids programs it means hands-on projects such as robotics, coding, engineering builds and design challenges.
Your next registration could open today.
Create it, connect Stripe, share the link. Families register and pay in one place, and the money lands in your own Stripe account.
Free for businesses. Live in under 5 minutes.