Overview
The Other Programs Registration module allows schools to manage extracurricular activities for students and/or outside community members, and to offer online registration for families to sign up for those activities. In order to offer online registration, schools will need to make several decisions about how to design the programs and registration form. The following article provides a list of supported features for handling program enrollment and describes each area of potential configuration.
Configuration Options
Household vs. Person
The Other Programs Registration Form supports either household- or person-centric registrations. Typically, the Household registration form is used when parents will be registering on behalf of their children. If a school is using the Household registration form, a parent can log in and see all of his/her children who are eligible to enroll in programs. From this screen, the parent can select a child and register that child for available programs.
The Person registration form is used if adults (or perhaps Upper School students) are registering for themselves. If a school is using the Person registration form, the user can log in and see only the programs available to him rather than all programs available to his family members.
With either the Household or Person registration form, eligibility for program enrollment is dependent upon Allowed Roles, which are configured on the program registration form detail screen.
Household
Person
Public and Private
The Other Programs Registration Form supports both public and/or private registration.
Public registration means that community members who are not current parents, students, or faculty at the school can register for programs. If public registration is allowed, schools will need to collect family demographic information through a web form for registering families. This web form creates household and person records in the database and assigns Program Student and Parent of Program Student person roles. In addition, a user account is created for the person filling out the form, which provides the user with the ability to log in and select programs for the appropriate people.
Private registration means that only those with existing user accounts can register for programs. Users do not need to fill out a web form, but instead can use their credentials to log in and select programs.
When configuring the registration form for a program, both public and private options will be available. The school will need to decide which option is best suited to their course offerings and then select the corresponding registration link for use. Learn more about configuring Other Programs Web Registration Forms.
Extended Care vs. Other Programs
The Other Programs Registration Form supports both the Extended Care and Other Programs module.
Other Programs classes are set up so to meet on specific days for a set period of time. When registering for the class, the registrant signs up for the class as a whole. For example, a school might offer an after school art class for lower school students that meets on Tuesdays from January 1st through March 1st. Parents register their children for the entire class, and the children are expected to be present every day that the class meets.
Extended Care classes are set up with a daily schedule for a set period of time. When registering for the class, the registrant has the option to select only some of the days that the program is offered. For example, a school might offer after school care on Monday through Friday for the spring semester. Parents register their children for the class only on days when after school care is needed (i.e. Monday and Tuesday).
Internally, Extended Care and Other Programs courses are identified by the Course Type assigned to the course. Learn more about course configuration for Extended Care vs. Other Programs.
Payment Methods
Other programs registration supports four payment methods per Registration Form.
- Online Payment Only: If a payment is required, the registrant will be prompted to pay for those classes via Online Payment Checkout. This is the default payment method.
- Cash Payment Only: If a payment is required and the school does not accept online payment, schools have the option to allow only cash or check payments. All payments received are tracked manually by the school.
- Online & Cash Payments: If a payment is required and the school would like registrants to choose to pay online or offline, schools have the option to offer both online and cash payments. Registrants will be prompted to choose an option on the checkout summary page.
- No Payment (Free): If program classes are free and no payment is required, schools can choose the No Payment option. This option removes all references to amounts from the registration process. Please note: this option overrides any fees that are configured on a class.
Online Payments
The Other Programs Registration Form supports online payments.
Note: If online payment is to be utilized, the charge item date must be on or after the program registration “Open Date”. Charge items prior to the registration “Open Date” do not appear online, because they may be “old”, and no longer relevant, pertaining to the previous registration, and not the current registration.
If a registration form is configured to support online payments, the option of allowing credit card and/or ACH is available. In order to have payments configured, the school must have an account with a supported third party payment provider integrated with Veracross.
Learn more about Veracross Checkout.
Learn more about Payment Providers.
Learn more about integrating Veracross Checkout with Other Programs Registration.
Availability Methods
For each program class, schools can choose the Program Registration Availability Method. This field controls when seats are considered taken and ultimately how the waitlist is calculated.
- All Registrations: Any registrant that has selected a class and has confirmed their selection will be considered as a taken seat (even if the registrant has not yet completed payment).
- Paid Registrations: Only registrants that have selected a class, confirmed the selection, and completed payment will count toward seat taken.
Program Enrollment Strategy
There are three different ways to configure how class enrollment records are created in the system for Other Program registrants:
- All Registrations: This is the default Enrollment Strategy. When the Confirm Registration Selections button is clicked, a class enrollment record will be created for the registrant regardless of whether or not the class fee has been paid.
- Paid Registrations: The system will create a class enrollment record for the registrant only once the class fee has been paid. If there are unpaid fees, no class enrollment record will be created.
- Do Not Auto Enroll: With this option, class enrollment records will never be created automatically. Instead, the school will need to manage enrollments manually.
Fees and Discounts
Fees
The Other Programs Registration Form supports late fees and other kinds of automated add on fees. All automated fees need to be configured by an engineer and will incur extra cost to implement.
Discounts
There are two available types of discounts. Discounts that can be configured using catalog items and discount codes are not extra cost. However, automated discounts will require configuration by an engineer and are subject to extra cost.
Learn more about configuration of fees and discounts.
Veracross Accounting Integration
For any school who uses Veracross Accounting, additional configuration should be considered.
If General Ledger accounts are associated with the program registration configuration record, then simple receipts will be created after the person registering finishes payment. Simple receipts will not be generated if this configuration is avoided. A Veracross Accounting Account Manager can help get this configured.
Supported Features
Conflict Checking
The Other Programs Registration Form supports conflict checking when selecting courses. Once a program class is chosen on the registration form, the system will not allow the user to select other classes that conflict with the time that the selected class meets. The conflicting classes will be grayed out on the form and a message will display indicating a conflict.
Learn more about configuration of classes to support conflict checking.
Waitlisting
The Other Programs Registration Form supports the ability for registrants to be put on a waitlist for a class. If waitlisting and displaying waitlist length are enabled, the form will indicate that there is space for the “Waitlist only” and will provide the registrant with the waitlist length after the class has reached the max number of students. Users will still be able to sign up for the class, but payment will not be required at the time of registration. If a registrant is removed from the waitlist, the school will need to notify the family that any fees are due and should manage the payment manually.
Learn more about waitlist configuration.
Multiple Registrations
The Other Programs Registration Form supports launching multiple program registrations at the same time (e.g. After School and Summer Programs). Each program has its own configuration record which are therefore controlled and configured separately.
Learn more about configuring registrations and creating multiple registrations.
Phased Registrations
The Other Programs Registration Form supports rolling out registration in phases. This option enables the school to limit the number of initial registrations and subsequently open it for more at a later date. For example, a school might only allow registrants to select two classes until all registrants have two classes. Once everyone has the allotted number of registrations, the school allows registrants to sign up for additional classes.
Learn more about how to configure the form to allow phased registration.
Confirmation Email
The Other Programs Registration Form supports an automated confirmation receipt email. The email is sent to the email address entered on the final page of registration.
Learn more about how to configure an automated confirmation email.
Integration with Portals
Veracross also supports Other Programs portal integration. When a parent logs into the Parent Portal, he/she can click on the Other Programs Registration form link and begin registration without having to re-enter a username and password. To enable this option, check the box next to Append Hash Auth when configuring the associated Portal Link. This checkbox will add a username and key to the URL for automatic authentication.
Learn more about how to configure the portal links.
Collecting Shirt Size During Registration
Veracross currently supports collecting a registrant’s shirt size during the registration process. Please contact your Account Manager to have this option enabled.
Single Payment for an Entire Household
Veracross offers registering families the ability to pay all enrollment fees for a household through a single payment screen.
Not Yet Supported
- Veracross does not currently support the ability to prevent users from enrolling in additional classes after they have completed the registration form once.
- Veracross does not currently support the ability for registrants to sign up for optional extras, such as book fees, lunch fees, or transportation fees during registration.