After School Enrichment Management Tips You Must Use

We’ve put together after school enrichment management tips to help grow your program . You may be a school administrator, company owner or just an instructor that runs a couple classes weekly. No matter who you are or what your position is, these tips will maximize enrollment for your after school program.

After School Management Tip #1: Uniform Pricing

It may not seem like a big deal, but uniform pricing can have a huge impact on registration for your after school program. Not only is it nice to keep prices consistent for all classes, it keeps you sane when programs don’t reach the minimum and you have to switch kids into other classes. When parents are looking at class options, they take price seriously. So, it is possible that the higher cost classes may get fewer signups. Of course some classes may have a higher price point due to extra or more expensive materials, but if possible, try to keep pricing close together or consistent throughout. When you cancel classes due to low enrollment, it becomes difficult to switch parents into new classes – because you now have to recharge them or refund them depending on the difference in the class cost. Depending on how you price your classes, you can either have an easy time or more of a challenging time managing your program.

Pick a dollar amount per class/per student that’s fair for everyone. Make sure you can cover your costs and have a decent margin. If your class cost is on the lower end, but you have high enrollment numbers, everyone is happy. Current industry standards range form $12-$18 per class based on the quality of the class, material cost, location, and so on.

After School Enrichment Management Tip #1: Establish Program Policies

This is often overlooked in an after school program. Creating a professional program means that you have to put policies in place. When can students drop the class? Refund the class? Is it too late to add? Setting exceptions from the get go is important. If parents know what to expect, you can save yourself a lot of headache in the future. Some sample policies are:

-Registration Deadlines

-Refund and Cancellation Policy

–Behavior Policies

-Liability Waiver

After School Enrichment Management Tip #1: Single Payment Option

If you want to be disorganized and create clutter, offer parents multiple ways to pay for programs. I.e. checks, credit cards, cash, IOUs, and so on. It may seem like it is beneficial to allow multiple payment gateways, but it’s not. It’s just the opposite. It creates confusion on both sides. Parents don’t know how to pay and you don’t know who paid.

Collecting credit card payments has proven to be the most efficient and effective method for collecting enrollment fees. With the majority of users having a credit card or debit card, this payment method is now the most common for after school classes and camps. Cash is often lost or the incorrect amount is given. Checks get lost, get made out to the wrong person or company, bounce and are often the wrong amount. It is also difficult to track these types of payments and paper receipts need to be created. It creates more of a liability and creates clutter with an excess of forms, waivers, and so on.

This is why we offer simple credit card processing, with emailed receipts and instant roster updates. When parents register through our system, everything is documented and instantly updated on your end. Parents receive their receipt and you receive payment and confirmation.

After School Enrichment Management Tip #1: Class Promotion

The most successful after school classes are promoted correctly. Your goal is to get the word out. We have found the most effective promotional tools to be the following:

-Flyers – The simplest way to promote your program is to send flyers home with the kids and post them on the school bulletin. The flyer should include information like Class details, registration deadline, and where to register.

-Putting Details Online – Hopefully parents are active on your website. Putting the session details online and giving them a link to register will help spread the word and increase enrollment.

-Demos and Assemblies – Get the kids excited about class options! Parents are interested when their kids are interested. The best times to demo classes are snack, lunch or during an assembly.

Promoting your program will lead to higher enrollment. This will allow you to add more classes in the future and keep your parents very happy.