How do registration and enrollment work in Jackrabbit? Let’s bring all the pieces together, walk through each step, and help you build a plan that fits your business and sets your enrollment season up for success.
Registration vs. Enrollment
Before you dive into setup, it’s important to understand how registration and enrollment work together in Jackrabbit.
Registration happens when a new family is first added to Jackrabbit. It creates their Family record and sets the foundation for everything that follows. Each family only needs to register once to create their account.
There are a few ways families get registered:
- Staff register new families using the Quick Registration form.
- Families register by completing the Online Registration form on your website. If you offer Trial Enrollments, new families can also sign up for a class as a trial during this step.
- Families register by completing the Event Registration online.
Enrollment happens after a family has been registered in Jackrabbit. It's the step where a student is added to an activity (e.g., class, event, or appointment).
There are multiple ways a student is enrolled:
- Staff enroll students in classes through a variety of enrollment methods in Jackrabbit.
- Staff enroll students in events from the Events menu in Jackrabbit.
- Families enroll their students in classes and events through their Parent Portal.
Optionally: Collect registration and tuition fees at the time of enrollment.
Every business has its own unique way of operating. To help you design the best process for your organization, we've compiled some tips and recommendations to ensure registrations are smoothly received and recorded, student enrollments are accurate, fees and payments are processed correctly, and families stay informed throughout the entire journey.
Plan Your Strategy
Here are some questions to ponder while planning your strategy:
- Do you need to add/update your legal policies?
-
Do you want to offer classes as a trial?
- Do you need to adjust how you post tuition fees? Do you want to automate the process?
- Do you use the Online Registration form and/or allow enrollment in the Parent Portal?
- Do you want to send a link to your Online Registration form for a specific class or offer priority enrollment to existing families?
- Do you charge fees for registration?
-
Do you offer discounts? Watch our webinar, Pay Yourself First - 5 Things to Consider Before You Discount, featuring a CPA!
- Do you have a plan for retaining families at your activity center? Watch our webinar, Do This, Not That: A Blueprint to Increase Customer Loyalty, to learn how to strengthen connections.
Get Jackrabbit Ready
With your strategy in place, it's time to set up Jackrabbit for a smooth registration and enrollment experience.
- Create and/or review your class schedule and add classes as needed.
- Transition current classes to a new session of classes.
- Make any changes to your classes as needed. Use Edit All Classes to modify multiple classes at once and exclude classes from requiring payment.
- Add Class Listings Tables to your website. Classes open for registration at midnight in your time zone based on the Registration Start Date set on the Summary tab for each class.
- Review your registration fee settings. In a Class record, Has a Registration Fee? defaults to Yes. Clear the checkbox if you do not want to charge a registration fee during Online or Quick Registration.
- When ePayments are enabled, payment can be required with a Parent Portal enrollment.
- Check to see if you need to update your Tuition Settings, including any discounting and prorating.
Communicate with Families & Staff
Communicate important dates, registration, and enrollment information to your staff and families.
- If you expect class demand to be high, email families early using the Class Registration Prep email template. Encourage families to update their payment and student information in their Parent Portal before registration opens to speed up enrollment.
- Email student schedules to families a few weeks before classes start.
- Communicate with your families through the Parent Portal.
- Use the Staff Portal News to keep your staff informed.
Open Registration & Enrollment
New families can register and enroll in classes using your Online Registration Form, while existing families can enroll through the Parent Portal.
In each Class record, review and confirm these settings on the Summary tab before opening registration and enrollment:
- Status = Active (inactive classes are not available for enrollment)
- Registration Start Date = mm/dd/yyyy (enter a date to control when registration opens or leave blank to open immediately)
- Display on Website = Yes
- Allow Online Registration = Yes
- Allow Portal Enrollment = Yes
Review & Confirm
Now that you have promoted and opened your classes for enrollment, you'll need to keep track of the online registrations and Parent Portal enrollments so they can be reviewed and adjusted if needed.
- Track real-time enrollment numbers on your Executive Dashboard! Your dashboard numbers for online registrations and Parent Portal enrollments will begin to rise as enrollments come in.
- Receive email notifications for online registrations and Parent Portal enrollments sent from Jackrabbit to the email addresses defined in your Notification settings.
- The Process Class Registrations report allows you to review all registrations and enrollments, including those made through Online Registration, from the Parent Portal, and within Jackrabbit. It also displays additions to waitlists.
Post Fees
Not all fees are created equal! Here's how each type of fee works and how they're posted to family accounts.
| Registration Fees |
Options for posting registration fees (for first-time registrations):
|
| Annual Fees |
Do you have fees that you charge annually or fees that are charged when existing families enroll in a new session? These fees can be posted individually or in groups:
|
| Tuition Fees |
Options for posting tuition fees:
Check out this blog! Tuition Tips: How to enforce your tuition policy to ensure revenue. |
Stay in Touch Throughout Enrollment
Keep families informed and engaged through every step!
- Send confirmation emails. Jackrabbit sends a summary email to each family after registering online or enrolling through the portal. This helps your parents feel confident that their child is enrolled. After you process payments, Jackrabbit will also email a receipt to each family.
- Before classes start, email families their students' schedules. If schedules change, direct parents to the Parent Portal to view and print their students' schedules.
- Follow up using the Enrollment Detail report to reach out to students who completed classes in the last session and have not enrolled for classes in the new session.
Check out this Webinar to simplify and strengthen your process! Redefining Registration & Enrollment with Jackrabbit - Online Registration.
