In This Article:

• Overview
• How it Works
• Access & Permissions
• Canceling a Section
• What Learners Experience
  • Cancellation Email
  • Learner Dashboard
  • Catalog
  • Enrollment Status in Admin Grids
  • Instructor Notification
  • Email Template Names
• Refunds
  • Configuring a Separate Cancellation Refund Fee 
• Waitlist Members
• The Cancellation Report
  • How to Access
  • What the Report Shows
• Canceling Sections via CSV Import or API
• Troubleshooting
• Best Practices

Overview

Section cancellation gives administrators a formal way to close a section that can no longer run. When you cancel a section, the system automatically drops all active enrollments, issues full refunds, notifies affected learners, and removes the section from the catalog - actions that previously had to be completed one at a time.

A Canceled section is distinct from an Archived section. Archiving is reversible and can happen for any reason - the section passed, it is no longer relevant, and so on. Cancellation is intentional and permanent. It signals the class cannot run, triggers learner-facing consequences, and cannot be undone. Once a section is canceled, its status cannot be changed.

How It Works

When you cancel a section, the system runs the following actions automatically:

1. The section's status changes to Canceled. This is irreversible.
2. All active, future, and blocked enrollments move to a Canceled enrollment status — distinct from Dropped.
3. All pending registration requests and pending drop requests are canceled.
4. A 100% refund of the amount each learner actually paid is issued to their original payment method.
5. Wait list members are removed from the wait list. Those who pre-paid are refunded automatically.
6. A cancellation email is sent to all affected learners and to the section's instructor.
7. The section is immediately hidden from the learner catalog.

Completed enrollments are not affected - learners who already finished the course keep their records intact.

After cancellation, the section's edit page is fully locked. All fields are disabled and cannot be changed. Enrollment history, attendance records, and audit logs remain accessible for reference.

Note: A canceled enrollment is distinct from a dropped enrollment. The Canceled label in enrollment grids and history indicates the organization ended the section - the learner did not choose to leave.

Access and Permissions

The ability to cancel a section is controlled by a dedicated Sections - Cancel permission in your organization's role management settings. Users with an Admin role have this permission by default. Other roles can be granted Sections - Cancel (Manage) access in the role management configuration area.

Canceling a Section

Navigate to the section's detail page in the admin portal. On the Section Information page, scroll to the bottom of the Section Information panel and click Cancel Section.

⚠ Warning: Cancellation is permanent and cannot be reversed. Once you confirm, all enrollments are dropped, refunds are issued, and emails are sent to learners. The section status cannot be changed back to Active or Archived.

A confirmation modal opens, showing a real-time impact summary:

• Number of active enrollments that will be dropped
• Number of pending requests that will be canceled
• Number of learners who will receive a refund

To complete the cancellation:

1. In the Cancellation Reason field, enter the reason for cancellation. This field is required. The reason is stored for internal records only and is never displayed to learners.
2. In the confirmation field, type cancel and refund (not case-sensitive) to activate the Confirm button. For free sections where no money was collected, type cancel instead.
3. Click Confirm.

The system immediately begins processing. For sections with many enrollments, the cascade may take a few minutes to complete.

What Learners Experience

Cancellation Email

Every learner with an active enrollment receives a dedicated cancellation email. The email includes the section name, dates, and instructor name. The cancellation email is a separate template from standard drop and enrollment notifications — its content and tone reflect that the organization ended the section, not the learner.

Learner Dashboard

The canceled section remains visible on the learner's Active Courses tab with a distinct Canceled label for 3 days, then is removed automatically. No action is required from the admin. Learners can open a detail panel to view the cancellation and can optionally hide the section from their own dashboard before the 3-day window expires.

Catalog

The section is hidden from the learner catalog immediately after cancellation, the same as an archived section.

Enrollment Status in Admin Grids

The learner's enrollment record shows Canceled — not Dropped. This distinction is meaningful for reporting and auditing.

Instructor Notification

The section's instructor receives a separate email confirming the cancellation. The instructor email does not include any learner refund information.

Email Template Names

The three cancellation emails use the following system template names. You can find and customize these templates under Administration > Email Templates:

• AUTO_SECTION_CANCEL_LEARNER — sent to all enrolled learners
• AUTO_SECTION_CANCEL_INSTRUCTOR — sent to the section's instructor
• AUTO_SECTION_CANCEL_WAITLIST — sent to wait list members

Refunds

When a section is canceled, the system issues a 100% refund of the amount each learner actually paid. The standard refund parameters your organization has configured - including refund percentage and drop grace windows - do not apply. When your organization cancels a section, learners receive a full refund of what they paid out of pocket, regardless of those settings.

Configuring a Separate Cancellation Refund Fee

By default, section cancellations use the same refund fee as standard learner-initiated drops. If your organization charges a different fee (or no fee) for admin-initiated cancellations, you can configure a separate Cancellation Refund Fee in Administration > Parameters. When set, this value applies only to section cancellations and does not affect the standard drop refund fee.

Waitlist Members

When a section is canceled, the system handles the waitlist automatically:

• All waitlist members in Waiting or Offered status are removed from the waitlist.
• Any open offers to join the section are closed.
• Waitlist members who pre-paid when they joined the waitlist receive an automatic refund.
• All affected waitlist members receive a cancellation notification email.

The Cancellation Report

After a section is canceled, you can run the Section Cancellation report to see a full summary of what the cancellation touched. The report is a system report automatically available to Admin roles — no additional setup is required.

How to Access

Navigate to Reports > Run Reports. Locate Section Cancellation in the list, enter the Section ID, and run the report.

What the Report Shows

The report returns two types of rows, identified by the Record Type column:

• Enrollment — one row per canceled enrollment, showing the learner name, email, enrollment status, cancellation date, and refund outcome.
• Waitlist — one row per wait list member on the section at the time of cancellation, showing wait list status and offer state.

The Refund Status column on Enrollment rows shows one of the following values:

Note: The report runs per section. To review multiple canceled sections, run the report once for each Section ID.

Canceling Sections via CSV Import or API

Setting a section's status to Canceled via the Section CSV Import or the public API triggers the same full cancellation cascade as the admin portal — enrollments are dropped, refunds are issued, and notification emails are sent. Because this is irreversible, use this path with care.

Key behaviors when canceling via import or API:

• The full cascade runs the same as a portal cancellation: enrollments dropped, refunds issued, emails sent.
• Re-importing an already-canceled section is a no-op.

⚠ Warning: Cancellation via import or API is irreversible and can affect large numbers of learners at once. Confirm a recovery plan is in place before running any bulk cancellation.

Troubleshooting

Best Practices

Review the impact counts before confirming: Review the impact counts before confirming.

The confirmation modal shows real-time numbers pulled at cancellation time — active enrollments, pending requests, and learners due refunds. Review them carefully before typing the confirmation phrase. There is no undo.

Write a meaningful cancellation reason: Write a meaningful cancellation reason.

The reason is internal only, but it becomes part of the audit trail. Include enough context to explain the situation to someone who was not involved.

Notify internal stakeholders before acting: Notify internal stakeholders before acting.

The system automatically emails enrolled learners, but your instructor, administrators, and support team may need advance notice — particularly for large or high-profile sections.

Plan for check and cash refunds: Plan for check and cash refunds.

Learners who paid by check or cash do not receive an automatic financial refund. A credit entry is created in their ledger, but your team will need to communicate with these learners about how and when they will receive their funds.

Use CSV/API cancellation with caution: Use CSV/API cancellation with caution.

Cancellation via import or API is irreversible and can affect large numbers of learners at once. Always confirm a recovery plan is in place before running bulk cancellations.