---
title: Control Who Can Enroll
description: The course and organization settings that decide who may join your courses—Students can enroll themselves, publish state, price, signup rules, and Internal Enrollment Only—plus recipes for common setups.
---

This page covers the settings that decide who is allowed in. For the mechanics of how a student actually joins (self-enrollment, invite links, direct add), see [How Course Enrollment Works](/manage-students/course-enrollment).

## What students need before they can enroll

For **public** self-service paths (landing page, Explore), the course must be:

- **Published** — unpublished courses are not listed in Explore and do not accept open enrollment from the public site
- **Active** — deleted courses are blocked in all paths

**Email invites are a partial exception:** a valid invite token lets a student join a course whose **Students can enroll themselves** is off, but the course must still be published and not deleted. To build a roster before a course goes live, use **People → Add people**, which works on unpublished courses.

## Free vs paid vs closed — quick reference

| Goal                                           | Suggested setup                                                                                             |
| ---------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Anyone can join                                | Free course, published, **Students can enroll themselves** on                                               |
| Only people you email invites to               | **Students can enroll themselves** off (optional), send [email invites](/manage-students/invite-students)   |
| Only people you add manually                   | **Students can enroll themselves** off, use **People → Add people** to directly enroll existing students    |
| Paywall + optional invites                     | Set a price, send invites to buyers who should skip or supplement checkout                                  |
| Visible in catalog, enrollment closed          | Published course, **Students can enroll themselves** off, use invites or **People** to add members          |
| Only your own members can enroll, no outsiders | Enable **Internal Enrollment Only** in **Settings → Authentication → General**; non-members must be invited |

## Enrollment vs visibility

Restricting who can **join** a course is not the same as hiding it from every student view.

| Control                                 | What it affects                                                                                         |
| --------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Published**                           | Whether the course is live on your academy and eligible for Explore                                     |
| **Students can enroll themselves**      | Whether the public **Enroll** button works on the landing page                                          |
| **Email invites**                       | Who can join via a link sent to their email (works on closed courses, but not unpublished ones)         |
| **People → Add people**                 | Who you add directly, with or without an invite link                                                    |
| **Price**                               | Whether open self-enrollment requires payment                                                           |
| **Internal Enrollment Only** (org-wide) | When on, only existing org members can self-enroll; anyone else needs an invite, even on an open course |

:::warning[Explore hides courses that are closed to new students]
**Explore** in the student LMS lists published courses the student has not enrolled in yet, and excludes any course whose **Students can enroll themselves** is off. So turning that toggle off both blocks open enrollment and drops the course out of Explore. What Edvello does not support today is hiding a published, open course from _specific_ people.
:::

**Workarounds:**

- Keep the course **unpublished** until you are ready for students to discover it.
- Switch **Students can enroll themselves** off and use invites or **People** so only the people you choose can actually join.
- Unpublish the course to close every self-service path at once, including outstanding invite links.

For where students see enrolled vs available courses, see [Student Dashboard](/reference/student-dashboard).

## Organization-level access settings (separate from course enrollment)

Course enrollment is different from **organization signup**. In **Settings → Authentication → General**, you have three org-level controls that work together:

**Block all new signups** — the strictest setting: nobody can create a new account on your academy, invite links included. Existing accounts are not affected, so someone who already has a Edvello account and holds an invite to your organization can still join. Turning this on reveals a **Signup Disabled Message** field, where you can explain how to request access.

**Allow public signups** — a filter rather than a lock. When turned off, your signup page stays available but only people you have invited can use it: a new account can be created, as long as its email address has an active invite. Leave it on to let anyone register.

Both settings control who can sign up for your organization, not which courses they can join.

:::info[Inviting someone while new signups are blocked]
**Block all new signups** takes precedence over invites at account creation. If you invite an email address that has no Edvello account yet while it is on, the recipient cannot finish signing up and will see your **Signup Disabled Message** instead. To invite brand-new people, turn off **Allow public signups** instead.
:::

**Internal Enrollment Only** — when enabled, only people who are already members of your organization can enroll in your courses. Anyone else has to be invited; they cannot enroll themselves from a course page even if the course is open to new students. Members still self-enroll normally, since **Students can enroll themselves** is on by default for published courses. This is what makes an internal academy closed: pair it with **Allow public signups** off, add employees via course invite links (which creates their account as a student in your organization), and from then on they can discover and join your open courses from Explore themselves.

A student might be in your org but not enrolled in any course until you assign them or they self-enroll on a course with **Students can enroll themselves** on.

## Common scenarios

### 1. Open cohort — anyone can join

Create a free course, publish it, and leave **Students can enroll themselves** enabled. Share the landing page link.

### 2. Private cohort — only invited emails

Turn **Students can enroll themselves** off to hide public enrollment. From **People**, send email invites with expiry and optional one-time use. Only people with a valid invite link can join.

### 3. Staff-only or hand-picked list

Turn **Students can enroll themselves** off. Use **People → Add people** to directly enroll existing students, or send email invites to people who do not have an account yet. No one can self-enroll.

### 4. Paid course

Set the course price on the landing page. Students pay to enroll, or you send invites to people who should receive complimentary access.

### 5. Closed org academy — only your people, any course

Turn off **Allow public signups** and enable **Internal Enrollment Only** in **Settings → Authentication → General**, leaving **Block all new signups** off so the people you invite can still create their account. Add employees by sending them course invite links from **People → Add people** — accepting a course invite creates their account as a student in your organization. Once they are students in your org, they can discover and self-enroll in your other published courses from Explore without per-course setup, while people outside the org cannot enroll themselves at all. Courses you want kept shut stay shut: turn **Students can enroll themselves** off and members cannot join them either.

## Related guides

- [How Course Enrollment Works](/manage-students/course-enrollment) — the paths a student can take into a course
- [How to Invite Students](/manage-students/invite-students) — create, send, and revoke course invite links
- [Roles and Permissions](/organization-and-team/roles-and-permissions) — who can create courses and access the admin dashboard
- [Create a Course Landing Page](/publish-and-brand/course-landingpage) — pricing, publish state, and what prospects see before enrolling
- [Student Dashboard](/reference/student-dashboard) — Home, My Learning, Explore, and Cohorts