Providing Enrollment Contract Instructions to Parents

Karla McNamee

We have been using Blackbaud's enrollment contracts for several years now and every year no matter what we do we have to reach out to tons of parents to tell them we don't have their contract because it's missing a signature (we require both parents to sign) or they didn't follow the very detailed directions and enter the deposit information. They either both signed and didn't click submit or they didn't enter the deposit info because they aren't ready to pay, even though it says in several places to complete the information even if they are paying on a later date.

I continually change the instructions in the email (highlighting, bolding, marking “Important” beside required steps, screenshots) thinking maybe it will help but it never does. We are a small school so we can give families the personalized attention of contacting them but we are also a small office and it is very time consuming.

We know that parents just don't read sometimes, they admit this, but there has to be a better way. Our office is at wits end with this issue.

I wish there was a place to have directions on the online contract as parents are completing it that wouldn't print on the contract. It would also be great if parents didn't HAVE to complete the deposit section unless they are paying the deposit at that time.

Does anyone have a good suggestion to improve this?

Paul Mawyer

@Karla McNamee

We just rolled out BB contracts for the first time this cycle. I'm dealing with the same issues.

I wanted to say that there is a way to allow parents to complete the contract without paying the deposit immediately. If you set up the Deposit block settings to allow for in-school payment, they can complete the contract and submit it (assuming all signers have signed, etc.) without having to enter payment info.

Karla McNamee

@Paul Mawyer

Yes, we have that option set up. The issue is that even though we tell them MANY times throughout the instructions that they don't have to pay the deposit at the time of submission, that they can just select “in school payment” to pay later, they still don't do it and the contract just sits there.

Michaela Murphy

@Karla McNamee
I'm new to Accounts Receivable and using BB. We're having contracts come through no problem and parents are paying but they are not coming into Tuition Management. We cant find the payment anywhere and we are still waiting for BB Support to find it for us as well. Question for you guys, is it normal that an existing family enrolls a new student, that you have to manually add them in? They are adding in this current school year and we had to manually add them in in TM and then go to the 2024-2025 school year and manually add them in as well. Just curious if this is normal? Thats what I am being told by the person training me.

Ash Smelkinson

@Karla McNamee
Yeah, people just don't read. You can take a horse to water, but you can’t make them just log into the system and type their name.

I always put in a ton of directions for everything, but in the end, it's more so I have something to point to when they complain that they don't know what to do.

Honestly, what I've found is that people are more successful at submitting the contracts on time and actually like it more if they have fewer decisions and there’s a sense of urgency.

We used to have 4-5 items that were needed for a student to be enrolled, like the two signatures, the deposit, a financial aid agreement signed, and other paperwork. People would have 3-5 items in different combinations and trying to keep track of it all was difficult.

I've worked over the years to make the contracts completely binary- either the contract has everything it needs (deposit included) or it just isn't possible for it to be submitted. They are either completely re-enrolled, or not.

We also have it set up so that only one parent has to sign. There’s an “electronic signature agreement” that they submit as part of the application process, whether they end up enrolling or not. We’re looking into better ways to do this, because online signing has been A Thing for a while, but it has worked for us.

If we don't have it by the due date, people get continuous official notes or e-mails reminding them that their payment plan options are becoming more limited, their financial aid is in danger of being withdrawn, and they are in danger of losing their spot. The flag stays up with they log into the system.

You can have internal exceptions, and make individual arrangements, but it's best to seem like you're going to stick to deadlines. That sense of urgency actually makes the school look better- parents think “oh wow, they have all these people trying to get in, I better be sure of my spot.”

If you want to see a version of our contract, or have me look at yours, please reach out- I’ve been doing online contracts with Blackbaud since they rolled out in 2013, and integrated contracts the last two years.

Karla McNamee

@Ash Smelkinson it sounds like we are all having the same issues in the end.

Our school attorney states we have to have both parents sign for legal reasons, so that both can be held accountable should we need to send them to collections etc. We do use the electronic signature, which also throws parents off because they freak out that they are agreeing to the contract amount before seeing everything even though we tell them otherwise.

We also require both parents to sign because they are then acknowledging that they have both read the handbook and agree to abide by it along with our right to terminate the contract for various reason including treating employees or faculty disrespectfully (which we have had to do).

We send continuous email and put it in our weekly newsletter reminding parents that contracts and deposits are due and that they may lose their space. Again, some just don't read.

Ash Smelkinson

@Karla McNamee
I like that you have the handbook bit in there! I'll bring that up as something we should add to ours.

When you say they freak out over the pricing before seeing everything- do you include financial aid separately? And are your contracts integrated with Tuition Management?

Marisa Phirangee-Gentles

@Karla McNamee

They just don't read…our instructions are included in reminder they get every day, plus there is a late fee involved. We also send a pushpage with instructions the day contracts go live.

Eileen Grabowski

@Michaela Murphy Hi Michaela, If your school's enrollment contracts are integrated with Tuition Management, there should only be rare occasions that you might have to manually add a student. Something is definitely off with your set-up. If customer support isn't able to help you, I suggest you request to have your case elevated.

Coco Parham

@Karla McNamee We started using Tuition Management 3 years ago. We require the deposit to be paid at the time of submitting the contract (with some exceptions). If a parent wants to pay outside the system, then I have to wait for the payment, zero out the deposit and email them to submit the contract. Then the Business Office needs to add the payment on the back-end.

In our automated reminder email we say they need to submit by this date to secure a place for their son in the coming school year. Hopefully that helps to think they might lose out on a spot.

Mostly it is working but some parents require prodding to get it done. I create a list of contracts due and our Communications dept sends out emails to them to keep after them.

I sometimes think parents expect multiple reminders before they have to do it. This year we gave parents a shorter window to return the contracts and it seems to be working!

Karla McNamee

@Ash Smelkinson
Parents freak out signing the electronic signature agreement because it appears before they see the financial amounts and therefore they are worried they are agreeing to the contract before knowing their financial obligation.

Our financial aid awards appear on our contracts. This is the second year that our contracts are integrated with Billing Management.

Karla McNamee

@Coco Parham

We send re-enrollment contracts out at the end of December and don't require the re-enrollment deposits until March 1st. This helps us with numbers for new enrollment and it helps parents financially if they are using our 10 month payment plan. Some parents do pay right away though when they submit the re-enrollment contract so we offer the option to pay at time of submission or to send it in later.

It's the hand holding that has to be done to remind them that is frustrating.

Karla McNamee

@Michaela Murphy

We don't use Tuition Management but we do use Billing Management which I'm sure works about the same way. In my mind it would defeat the purpose if you had to manually enter the student information so I am sure something is not working right in your system.

Coco Parham

@Karla McNamee I totally get it. People get so many emails and texts and it becomes easy to tune it out and stop paying attention.

Ellen Gershman

@Karla McNamee
I have links at the top of our contracts for instructions. The documents are stored in my Google Drive.

Karla McNamee

@Ellen Gershman but do they read them? I have very detailed instructions in the contract email but they don't read them so I'm not sure that having them another place will even help us.

The perfect solution would be to have instructions right there on the contract while they are completing each section. But there is no way to do that without it printing on the contract.

Lauren Marcus Eisenberg

@Karla McNamee Yup! Every year I get a couple of frantic parent calls along the lines of “can't see the contract” because they see the popup first.

Ellen Gershman

@Karla McNameeUnfortunately you can't get parents to read instructions. I give them many places to access them, but still they don't read. It's an ongoing joke we have in Admissions. My directions include screenshots and detailed steps, but still I get emails and phone calls. Just put the instructions wherever you can.

Karla McNamee

@Ellen Gershman same!!!!!

I find myself replying with “as it states in the instructions…”?

Chrystalle Kiefer

@Karla McNamee
What about including an image of the instructions for that page at the top? If you keep them pretty basic and just for that current page it might help? I'm pretty sure images don't print out….at least that was what I found when I tried to include an image of a fee table last year.

Karla McNamee

@Chrystalle Kiefer it's worth a try!