You must complete Stripe onboarding before any family can pay. This applies to every Homeroom account. Estimated time: 10–15 minutes.
⚠️ Do not send registration links to families until your Stripe account is fully connected and verified. Families will see an error at checkout if payments aren't enabled.
Before you start — have these ready
Your school's legal business name (exactly as registered with the IRS)
Your school's EIN (Employer Identification Number / Tax ID)
Your school's bank account number and routing number
Name and date of birth of a school administrator for identity verification
Your school's phone number and website URL
Step 1: Start Stripe onboarding
In Homeroom, go to Settings → Payment Tools
Click Connect Stripe Account
You'll be redirected to Stripe's secure onboarding flow — do not close the browser tab during this process
💡 Tip: Homeroom uses Stripe Connect, which means payments go directly into your school's bank account. Homeroom never holds your funds.
Step 2: Enter your business information
Enter everything exactly as it appears on your IRS documents:
Business type: Select Non-profit or Company depending on your school's structure
Legal business name: Your school's full registered name
EIN / Tax ID: Your 9-digit employer identification number
Business address: Your school's physical address
Phone number and website
⚠️ Important: If the name you enter doesn't match IRS records exactly, Stripe verification will fail. Use your full legal name — not a nickname or DBA (e.g., "The Brookside Academy Inc." not "Brookside Academy").
Step 3: Verify a representative
Stripe requires verifying the identity of one school representative — typically the business manager, CFO, or head of school.
Enter their first and last name, date of birth, and the last 4 digits of their SSN (for US identity verification)
Confirm their job title and whether they are a beneficial owner of the organization
💡 Tip: This is standard banking compliance. The information is encrypted and used only for identity verification — it is not stored by Homeroom.
Step 4: Connect your bank account
Enter your school's bank routing number
Enter your bank account number
Confirm the account type (checking is most common)
Stripe will send 2 small test deposits to your account within 1–2 business days to verify ownership. You'll confirm those amounts in Step 5.
⚠️ Important: Use a dedicated school program account if possible — not a personal account. All enrollment payment deposits will go to this account.
Step 5: Complete verification
Stripe reviews your application — this usually takes a few minutes but can take up to 2 business days if manual review is needed
Stripe will email you when verification is complete. If additional documents are needed, you'll see a banner in Settings → Payment Tools
Once the test deposits arrive, return to Settings → Payment Tools and confirm the two deposit amounts to fully activate your bank account
✅ You're done when: Settings → Payment Tools shows a green "Connected" status with your school name. You're ready to accept payments.
Step 6: Understand payouts
Once connected, here's how money flows:
Families pay at enrollment via credit or debit card
Stripe batches transactions daily and deposits the net amount to your bank account, typically within 2 business days
Stripe's standard processing fee is 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction, deducted from each payout automatically
View all transactions, payouts, and fees anytime at dashboard.stripe.com
💡 Tip: For bank reconciliation, run Reports → Deposit Report in Homeroom and cross-reference with your bank statement. The net deposit amounts will match exactly.
➡️ Next step: Return to your program guide (Enrichment, Camp, or Extended Care) if you haven't finished setup, or go to Going Live: Invite Families to send your launch email.