Impress Your Parents with our Independent School Offer-Contract module!

Geoff Corbie

Published in Applicaa | November 8, 2022

Contract offer
In most businesses, customer expectations are higher than the service they actually get. In my experience, that is often true for parents when they are applying for a place (for their child) at school.

Schools work hard to ensure the expectations of parents on the admissions journey are met but does your school delight and exceed their expectations?

Our new Offer-Contract module enables schools to give parents the modern online experience they expect following the Admissions+ enquiry and application process.

At Applicaa, we know you work hard to give parents positive first impressions with friendly welcomes and well-organised open days and we have worked hard to ensure that Admissions+ is a positive experience for both parents and the school.

Our complete admissions system includes automated personalised communications and clear signposting of the next steps and status of every application. Schools and parents will no longer be at the mercy of the postal system. From a turnaround of days from making an offer and processing the contract, it can be as little as 20 minutes.

Parents will have a clear personalised offer detailing fees, concessions, and guidance about what to do moments after you make it. You will always know how parents are progressing with their acceptance. You will have more time to engage with them and support them along the way. The parent now views the school as modern and efficient.

The new offer contract module is available now!

It can be configured to your needs and schools can create ‘offer lists’ to manage the applications and rank them using assessment, other data, or a combination of both. The school can prepare offers and then release the offer to parents in bulk at a click of a button. This will send an email to all contacts with parental responsibility, inviting them to view and accept the offer.

The initial template for parents to follow contains all the options available but many can be switched off if they are not wanted. When the parents click on the link in the email they will be given these steps:

  1. An online personalised offer – this is created from a template that can include feedback on concessions and awards
  2. Questions to check the student’s eligibility to study in the UK using our legally approved process
  3. Confirm who is going to pay the bills, entering percentage splits for each billpayer
  4. Enter bank details with a modulus check on the details entered
  5. Direct debits can be set up using our approved Direct Debit forms (and submitted directly to BACS or to your fees team depending on your preference and your BACS bureau)
  6. Pay the deposit
  7. View terms and conditions and digitally sign

Once parents complete the steps and accept the place, the system will generate a contract which is stored, sent to all interested parties and synced to your MIS.

Our solution is live with a few schools and many more are lining up. It has been rigorously tested internally and with pilot schools prior to going live. If you choose the full direct debit option, you will need to provide parents with an estimate of the fees that they will be paying. Our system can take your existing fees and apply concessions to give parents an annual or termly estimate of the fees.

If you do not want to do direct debits you can still collect bank details and these can be synced to your MIS.

For the first time, schools have the opportunity to give parents a fully online and digital admissions journey from making an inquiry to signing a contract. All through one online portal and one online connected system. Our sister product Bursary+ enables parents to apply for a bursary in a way that can feed directly into Admission+. The bursary decision can in turn feed into a bursary concession that is picked up in the offer contract module. A Post Acceptance module is also available for parents to enter details once they have accepted the offer. Typically asking for consent and more detailed medical information. Admissions+ is truly an integrated solution from inquiry through to the student starting at school.

For more information please visit www.applicaa.com or email [email protected].

Geoff Corbie
Geoff Corbie

Hi, my name is Geoff Corbie. I am a Product Development Manager. I help to influence and define the improvements to Admissions+ for Independent Schools in particular, as well as Bursary+. I have worked in IT and Education all my working life. I joined Applicaa in November 2021. Prior to that, I was working for a large trust of schools that wanted to embrace the vision that Applicaa has and exploit the value that our products offer. I encountered the energy and friendliness of the Applicaa staff firsthand and wanted to be a part of it! Having made the move to the “other side”, I now enjoy the contact I have with school staff and helping them to do their job more efficiently, listening to their ideas and combining them with our own to create better products. It is great being part of a motivated, talented, and forward-thinking team with a common goal to make the best systems for our new and existing customers.