Registration & Enrollment - Let's Put the Pieces Together

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.

What is Registration?

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:

Students can be enrolled in classes during the registration process. When applicable, Registration Fees can be set to post to the new family's account automatically.


What is Enrollment?

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:

Expand your enrollment options by booking Appointments for private lessons, evaluations, and more - right alongside class and event enrollments.


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:

Need inspiration for creating a smoother enrollment process? Check out our blog Streamlining Your Enrollment Process With Jackrabbit Class Online Tools to see how small changes can make a big impact.

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.

 We recommend you review these checklists for additional information: Online Registration Form - Checklist for a Successful Rollout and Parent Portal Setup - Checklist for a Successful Rollout.

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 Datemm/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
Feeling anxious about opening Online Registration all at once? Consider starting with a soft launch (quiet roll-out). This approach can be applied to the Online Registration Form for new families and/or the Parent Portal for existing families. See our article Hold a Soft Launch for Your Online Registration Form for more information.

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): 

  • Post registration fees automatically during Online Registration and with Parent Portal enrollments (defined in Post Registration Fees).
  • Post annual fees to existing families from the Transactions menu > Post Transactions > Annual Fees.
  • Post to an individual family. See our help article Post Other Fees for details.
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:

  • Post fees to a group of families using the Post Annual Fees function.
    NoteAnnual fees are not currently able to be posted through the Parent Portal.
  • Post fees to an individual family from a Family record, All Families, or from the Transactions menu > Post Transactions > Make Sale/Post Fees. See our help article Post Other Fees for details.
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.

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