Secrets to maximizing your online enrollment system
Overhead for any school runs pretty high, and the only way to keep the lights on is to enroll students. That’s often easier said than done in an educational market where parents are growing more and more able to shop for schools for their children and school choice is on the rise. Your online enrollment system is the gateway between your school and parents, so it is important to put an effective system in place.
Engage Parents with a Two-Step Application Process
Parents have plenty of choices to shop around for a school where they can enroll their children, which means they won’t stick around if they think they’re wasting their time for any reason. The application process is a major roadblock here because it’s the biggest time sink they encounter while looking for schools.
A two-step application process, where parents can fill out a user-friendly application, submit the application fee, and receive an acceptance before needing to supply a full suite of admissions forms, makes parents feel more comfortable with the online enrollment process. It is also more likely to yield an increased amount of completed enrollments.
Get the Most from Your Student Profiles
An effective online enrollment system helps you organize and categorize students and applicants in a way that makes sense for your organization’s workflow. Part of this involves managing applications and ensuring that parents and students have filled out and submitted all of the electronic forms that they need to on their end, and ensuring that none of these files get lost on yours.
Marketing accurately to potential parents and students is essential. For instance, Catholic schools and other faith-based schools have a smaller market than secular schools, largely speaking, so being able to market to those who would attend a faith-based school can boost enrollment considerably. An effective enrollment system tracks students and potential students so that you can market to them in the most efficient way possible.
Eliminate Wasted Time and Effort
Web-based tools should make the job of running a school easier and cheaper, not more difficult. An effective online enrollment system shouldn’t just make things easier for applicants, but also streamline workflow by helping school administrators organize, categorize, and manage students.
Good online enrollment tools can reduce costs and work-hours spent on every applicant, but these systems are not a one size fits all kind of solution. Choosing an online registration system that fits your needs is a critical part of that. Companies like K-12 Online exist to help you tailor your enrollment systems to your needs.
