Preparing For The Contract Season – 5 Helpful Tips

Keeley Nutile

There’s no shortage of notable quotes from Abraham Lincoln. Indeed, a quick Google search makes one realize that there is an insightful quote for almost any situation. And without fail, I recently came across a quote that resonated with me as I thought about the amount of time schools spend carrying out a successful enrollment and re-enrollment contract season: “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” 

So even though the school year just started and the contract season is months away, now is a good time to begin thinking about how to prepare for it. And here are five things you can add to your fall to-do list that can ultimately save you time when the hectic contract season sneaks up on you:


 

1. Outline a communication plan. It’s important that you educate families about the online enrollment and re-enrollment contract process. Start by making a list of everything you need to tell families (e.g., deadlines, eSignature requirements). Then for each communication, determine how and when you will communicate.
   
    
2. Verify the responsible signers. Each candidate and student must have at least one relative who is designated as their responsible signer. And in order to access the contract forms, the responsible signers must have parental access. Use the available lists and reports in the “ON” Products to review each family’s relationship settings and make any necessary adjustments.
   
    
3. Build your contract forms. It’s never too early to start building your contract forms. Add your policy text, tuition, fees, and payment options as soon as you have them. Just make sure that you set the contract form status to inactive, so you don’t accidentally publish them to families before you’re ready.
   
    
4. Create your lists. You already know that you will need to see which families have an assigned contract form, which families have paid their deposit, and which families are on hold. Why not create these lists (and more!) now and save them for future use?
   
    
5. Register for the Blackbaud University course, K–12 onBoard: Effective Contract Forms. If you’re looking for additional information about creating, generating, and processing contract forms, this class can help! Learn to successfully manage contract forms in onBoard so your school can increase efficiencies and streamline workflows.
   
   Good news for Blackbaud Learn® subscribers! If you have a Learn More or Learn Everything training subscription, this class is included. Not a subscriber? Find out how a Learn subscription can help develop your efficiency and ongoing skills.

These five tips are just a few of the ways you can prepare for the contract season ahead of time. Let us know in the comments what else your school does to prepare (or, let us know your favorite Abraham Lincoln quote)!