Help a student who can't access your course

In this article: How to diagnose and fix the most common reasons a student can't get into your course — from wrong emails to failed payments to access settings. All Plans

"I can't access the course" is the most common message course creators get from students. The good news: most issues resolve in under 5 minutes once you know where to look.

This guide walks you through each possible cause, one at a time. Start at Step 1 and work down until you find the issue.

Step 1: Confirm the student is enrolled

Go to Manage Course → Students and search for the student's name or email.

If you find them: Move to Step 2.

If they don't appear in your list: The student never completed enrollment. This usually means:

• Their payment didn't go through (card declined, checkout abandoned)
• They used a different email address than the one they're searching with (see Step 2)
• They haven't accepted a free invitation yet
• They enrolled in a different course than the one they're looking for

Ask the student to check their email for an enrollment confirmation from Ruzuku. If they don't have one, the enrollment didn't complete. You can send them a free invitation to enroll directly, or ask them to try the checkout process again.

Step 2: Check which email they're using

This is the single most common cause. Students often have multiple email addresses and sign in with the wrong one.

Your student list shows the email address tied to each enrollment. Compare it to the email the student says they're using to sign in.

If the emails don't match: Let the student know which email is on their enrollment. They need to sign in at courses.ruzuku.com with that specific email address.

If the student wants to switch to a different email: They can update their account email by going to Account → Email after signing in with their original address. Or you can ask support@ruzuku.com to help merge accounts if they have two separate Ruzuku accounts under different emails.

Step 3: Check their access toggle

Even if a student is enrolled, their access might be turned off. This can happen if you (or another instructor) previously removed their access, or if a subscription cancellation triggered an access change.

1. Go to Manage Course → Students and click on the student.
2. Check the Access toggle in their detail panel.

If access is toggled off: Switch it back on. The student regains access immediately.

Step 4: Check payment status

A failed payment can block or remove access, especially for students on payment plans or subscriptions.

1. Click on the student under Manage Course → Students.
2. Open the Payments tab.
3. Look for failed charges, expired subscriptions, or canceled payment plans.

If a payment failed: The student needs to update their credit card. They can do this from their course preferences page, or you can point them to Update or cancel a course subscription.

If a subscription was canceled: You have two options — re-invite the student with a free invitation, or ask them to re-enroll through your sales page.

Step 5: Check if the course is open

If you closed signups or archived the course, students may not be able to access it.

1. Go to Manage Course → Course Settings.
2. Check whether the course is set to Open or Closed for signups.
3. Check whether the course has been archived.

If the course is closed: Closing signups prevents new enrollments but shouldn't block existing students. However, if the course is archived, all access may be restricted. Unarchive the course to restore access.

Step 6: Check price point restrictions

If you've restricted specific modules to certain price points, students on a different price point won't see those modules.

For example, if Module 3 is restricted to the "Premium" price point but the student enrolled through the "Basic" price point, they won't see Module 3 at all.

1. Go to Manage Course → Modules & Lessons.
2. Check whether any modules have price point restrictions set.
3. Compare the student's price point (from their Payments tab) to the restricted modules.

If this is the issue: Either remove the price point restriction from the module, or explain to the student which content is included with their enrollment level.

See Restrict modules to specific price points for more on how this feature works.

Step 7: Try basic troubleshooting

If everything above checks out, the issue might be on the student's end:

• Try a different browser. Some browser extensions or settings can interfere. Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge all work with Ruzuku.
• Clear browser cache. Old cached data can cause display problems.
• Try an incognito/private window. This rules out extension conflicts.
• Check their internet connection. A slow or intermittent connection can prevent pages from loading.

You can also share the student-facing troubleshooting guide: Fix course access issues. It walks students through the same checks from their perspective.

Still stuck? Contact support

If you've worked through all the steps and the student still can't get in, email support@ruzuku.com with:

• The course name
• The student's email address (the one on their enrollment)
• What the student sees when they try to access the course (error message, blank page, course not listed)
• What you've already checked from the steps above

The support team can investigate from the backend and usually responds within a few hours (M-F 10am-6pm ET).

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Need Help?

Email us at support@ruzuku.com — we typically respond within a few hours (M-F 10am-6pm ET).