---
title: How Course Enrollment Works
description: The ways students can join a course in Edvello—public enrollment, invite links, direct add, and paid access—and what happens once they are enrolled.
---

Enrollment is how a student becomes a member of a course group and gets access to lessons, exercises, and the LMS. Edvello supports several enrollment paths. Which ones are available depends on your course price, publish status, and settings.

This page covers **how** a student joins. For the settings that decide **who is allowed** to join, see [Control Who Can Enroll](/manage-students/enrollment-access-control).

## Enrollment paths at a glance

| Path                       | Who initiates it                  | Typical use                                                                                     |
| -------------------------- | --------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Public self-enrollment** | Student                           | Open free courses on your landing page                                                          |
| **Email invite**           | You (admin)                       | Enter email addresses; Edvello sends each recipient a unique enrollment link                    |
| **Direct add**             | You (admin)                       | Pick existing students from a list; they are enrolled instantly with no action needed from them |
| **Paid enrollment**        | Student (after payment) or invite | Courses with a price set                                                                        |

All paths end at the same place: the student is added to the course **group** and can open the course in the LMS.

## Public self-enrollment (free courses)

On a **free** course (`cost` is 0) with **Students can enroll themselves** enabled, anyone who finds your course landing page can enroll:

1. They open the course landing page on your academy
2. They click **Enroll**
3. They sign in or sign up
4. They land on `/course/[slug]/enroll` and click **Join course**
5. They are enrolled and redirected to the LMS

No invite token is required. This is the default for free, published courses.

:::info[Students can enroll themselves]
In the course dashboard, go to **Settings** and find **Students can enroll themselves**. When enabled, anyone can self-enroll from the course landing page. When disabled, the public **Enroll** button is hidden and open self-enrollment is blocked — but **course invite links** and **People → Add people** still work.
:::

## Email invites

From **People → Add people**, you enter one or more email addresses and Edvello sends each recipient a unique enrollment link. Each invite can have:

- An **expiry** (e.g. 24 hours, 7 days)
- A **max use** count (one-time or reusable)
- **Allowed emails** or domains (optional restriction)

When a student opens the link, they sign in (or sign up) and click **Join course**. Edvello validates the token, expiry, and usage limit before enrolling them.

For step-by-step instructions, see [Invite Students](/manage-students/invite-students).

:::info[Email invites work on closed courses]
You can switch **Students can enroll themselves** off and email invites still work. The toggle only blocks unsolicited self-enrollment from the landing page; it does not block people you explicitly invited. Invites do require the course to be **published**, so unpublishing a course stops outstanding invite links from admitting anyone.
:::

## Direct add (People)

If a student already has an account, you can add them to the course directly — no email, no link, no action needed from them. They appear in the course immediately.

From the course dashboard, open **People → Add people**, select the students you want, and confirm. They are enrolled right away.

This does **not** require **Students can enroll themselves** to be on. Use it for closed courses where you control exactly who gets access.

:::note[Already enrolled students]
Revoking an invite or turning off public enrollment does not remove students who have already joined. It only blocks future enrollments through that path.
:::

## Paid courses

When a course has a **price** set, open self-enrollment from the landing page is blocked unless the student pays or uses a valid invite (depending on your setup). Visitors who open the enrollment page without payment or a token see a message that they need to pay or be invited.

Paid courses are useful when you want to prevent casual sign-ups on a free landing page while still selling access or issuing invites to specific buyers.

## People and membership

When a student enrolls or you add them from **People**, they become a member of the course **group** right away. They do not need to open a lesson first.

| State             | What it means                                                |
| ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Active member** | Linked to a profile; appears in **People** with full details |
| **Pending**       | Added by email before they sign in or finish onboarding      |

The **People** tab in the course dashboard is the source of truth for course membership.

:::info[People vs Compliance status]
**Compliance** courses also track completion status (for example **not started**). That is separate from membership. A student can appear in **People** as soon as they are enrolled while still showing **not started** on the Compliance dashboard until they begin the course.
:::

## What students see after enrolling

Once enrolled, the course appears in the student LMS (home/dashboard). They can open lessons, submit exercises, and download materials according to course settings (for example, lesson download or certificate rules).

If a student follows an invite or enrollment link while logged out, Edvello sends them through sign-in or sign-up first, then returns them to the enrollment page so they can finish joining.

## Related guides

- [Control Who Can Enroll](/manage-students/enrollment-access-control) — course and org settings that decide who may join
- [How to Invite Students](/manage-students/invite-students) — create, send, and revoke course invite links
- [Customize the Welcome Email](/manage-students/welcome-email): the message students get when they enroll
- [Roles and Permissions](/organization-and-team/roles-and-permissions) — who can create courses and access the admin dashboard
- [Student Dashboard](/reference/student-dashboard) — Home, My Learning, Explore, and Cohorts
- [Set Up a Custom Domain](/publish-and-brand/custom-domain) — org URLs used in enrollment links
- [Create a Course Landing Page](/publish-and-brand/course-landingpage) — pricing, publish state, and what prospects see before enrolling
- [Create Your First Course](/get-started/create-first-course) — create and publish a course