Online (Re)Enrollment Improved Features

Overview

One of the goals of the Online Enrollment system is to make the enrolling and re-enrolling process as smooth as possible for parents and the school. Part of this involves clearly communicating where the parent is in the enrollment process and what they still need to accomplish. This will, in turn, help schools make sure all the data they need for finalizing a parent’s contract is captured. In response to these goals, a number of new updates were made in the Summer of 2013 to the Online Enrollment system to prepare schools for the ORE 2014 season. These updates improve parent workflow through the enrollment process, allowing schools to capture additional data such as requests for financial aid, contract enhancements, and more.

The following provides an explanation of the new features available to your school during the 2014 Online Enrollment implementation.

Enrollment Portal Homepage

Distinct Homepages

Separate homepages can be configured for Online Re-Enrollment and Online Enrollment using the “Online Enrollment Config” or “Online Re-Enrollment Config” links located under the Core Configuration section on the Online Enrollment homepage. Separating the configuration process for these two contexts of online enrollment allows schools to target a specific audience when starting re-enrollment/enrollment. Now when configuring Enrollment Checklist items, schools may check whether this item applies to newly enrolling parents, re-enrolling parents, or both.

Note: although the homepages have been separated for each enrollment context, the contract remains the same for each.

Homepage Sections

The Enrollment Portal is divided into sections with each section either representing an enrollment checklist item a parent must complete or communicating important enrollment information. Two new sections have been added to the homepage options.

• Enrollment Incomplete section
  If a parent has not completed the enrollment process for one or more of their children the Enrollment Incomplete Banner will appear at the top of the ORE landing page. Each child with an incomplete enrollment is listed in the banner. This section alerts parents if they have incomplete payments even if they have already submitted the contract.
• Financial Aid
  Schools who are interested in tracking Financial Aid can add a Financial Aid section to the ORE homepage that indicates whether the parent is requesting Financial Aid. This is a read-only box that summarizes information entered by the parent on the Enrollment Intentions form.

Contract Enhancements

Amendments

Parents and schools can now make changes to the contract after it has been finalized by adding amendments. A contract amendment allows schools to submit the changes and parents to sign the amendment without starting the contract process all over again. Amendments are added from the Person Enrollment detail record for the particular student’s contract. When the amendment is added, parents can view the change in the Contract section on the Enrollment Portal and sign-off on the change. Once an amendment has been published, the school cannot change it.

Auto Re-Direct

Schools may optionally choose to auto-redirect parents to the payment deposit screen or back to the ORE homepage after they have signed the contract. This configuration is available through the “Online Enrollment Config” or “Online Re-Enrollment Config” links on the Online Enrollment homepage in Axiom. Schools can select a “Contract Redirect Action” option indicating if the parent should be redirected (i.e. never, always, or only on last contract) and then set a redirect location (i.e. contract status, home, or deposit)..

Publishing Status

Schools can now manage the review process of ORE checklist items to ensure all required information is accurately captured. When changes are made by parents the publishing status of that particular homepage section changes to “Needs Review.” Schools can then review the changes and update the “Publishing Status” to disabled, needs review, approved, or approved + locked. The approved + locked publishing status locks the homepage section from being changed by others.

The same “Publishing Status” options are also available for reviewing contract sections. Schools can change the publishing status of each section after a change to the contract language has been made. This ensures that no changes to the contract are made after it is launched to parents.

Percentage Item Basis

Schools have control over the cost basis for each fee type such as Tuition Refund Insurance. A drop-down menu option now exists on each fee type record that allows schools to pick what amount the percentage is calculated against. Percentage Item Basis options include base tuition, tuition + fees, net tuition, tuition balance, or “eligible for premium” items.

Financial Aid Integration

For schools tracking financial aid information in Veracross, new functionality has been added to tie this process into the online re-enrollment process.

Financial Aid Awards Import

Schools may import the Financial Aid Award Package Amounts from the Financial Aid module into ORE as amount items.

Lock-out Enrollment Contract

Schools may enable a new enrollment checklist item with the system type “Financial Aid Complete.” Marking this checklist item as a “contract pre-requisite” will automatically lock parents from editing the contract until their financial aid application is submitted. Parents will still be able to view the contract, but not edit or sign.

Locking the contract from being edited ensures parents have submitted all necessary information schools need for awarding financial aid before the contract is finalized. Schools now have time to award financial aid amounts and have those amounts reflected in the contract before parents sign the final contract. Once the financial aid process is finalized, the contract will be open for parents to edit and review final amount information.

Veracross Accounting Enhancements

Charge Items

For schools with Veracross Accounting (VCA), by default after a parent completes the contract a student charge item is created automatically in the system for the transaction. Schools now have control over this process and can choose whether or not student charge items should be created automatically. For non-VCA schools, charge items are never created.

Schools can also decide whether they would like multiple student charge items created for tuition and deposit or a single charge item created for “tuition less deposit.”

Simple Receipts

Simple receipts are now created for students and also by credit GL accounts. Schools can allow different simple receipts to go to different GL accounts per student.