Contributor(s): Amber Smith, Cay Carlson, Jorine Jones
We compiled suggestions to help you outline your registration process to ensure your registrations are received, enrollments are correct, and fees and payments are processed.
There are multiple ways for customers to register/enroll for classes - from your website/online (new customers only), through the Parent Portal (existing customers), in person, or on the phone.
How can you prepare for registration?
- Open Priority Enrollment for returning students. Email your existing families to let them know they when they can enroll through the Parent Portal.
- Adjust the policy agreement date for your Parent Portal to the current date so all existing families must re-agree to policies, keeping agreements (legalese) up to date.
- Add class listings tables for your next session to your website. Your classes will be available on the date you have set for registration.
- Display signage for those visiting your facility.
- Set up temporary stations with tablets and or laptops, ready for walk-in registration.
- Staff up! Encourage potential clients calling in to visit your website to register at their convenience. Existing customers can enroll through the Parent Portal.
Is Everyone in the Right Class?
You have promoted and opened your classes for registration and now you are overwhelmed - where do you begin? Watch your Jackrabbit Dashboard! As enrollments come in, your dashboard numbers for Web Registrations and Parent Portal enrollments will begin to rise. This area gives you a real-time count at your fingertips. You will also receive email notifications when someone registers/enrolls.
If your classes are based on age or skill requirements, take a peek at each student's registration to ensure students are in the right class. Jackrabbit can filter by age, however, parents have been known to 'work the system’. Jackrabbit does not have the ability to filter by skill level.
If a student is not in the right class, you may have to remove the student from the class and contact the parent.
Posting Fees
Check each registration as they come in to verify the account is correct - make any adjustments to fees as needed. Depending on how your Online Registration is set up, you may have registration fees set to post automatically. Registration fees for Parent Portal enrollments must be posted by a Jackrabbit user after the enrollment is complete.
If your database is setup for Class Based Billing, you have the option to turn on auto-posting of tuition fees for Online Registrations and Parent Portal enrollments.
If your database is not set to automatically post fees, you can do this in one of two ways:
- Manually post the fees per family as each registration comes in.
- At the end of the day, post by batch using duplicate detection. Check out our Help section on how to Post Tuition using Class Based Billing.
If you are setup for Student Based Billing, you will need to assign the tuition rate that applies to the student and manually post the tuition fees that apply to the enrollment(s) received.
Process Payments
Once fees are posted, you can process payments. This is as easy as running a batch if you are set up for ePayments with Jackrabbit. For more information, check out our Help article on Processing Batch ePayments.
If you prefer to run each card as they come in, you can certainly process individual payments as well.
The Communication That Follows
Jackrabbit sends a summary email to each family after they register online or enroll through the portal.
Once registration has quieted down, you can email families their student's schedules. It's also good practice to direct parents to the Parent Portal to view and print their student’s schedule.
Registration Checklist
Online registration is a great tool to help grow your business. The registration process looks different for each business. Use these suggestions to devise the best registration checklist that works for you and your staff.
Check out our sample registration checklist below!
