Reimagining Family Registrations: Transforming the parent experience at Harper College

Who Does Harper CE serve?

In addition to serving working adults looking for credentials to help them progress professionally, Harper’s Division of Workforce Solutions (Harper CE) also serves  Workforce Solutions (Harper CE) also serves prep courses, science enrichment programs, summer camps and more. 

CHALLENGE : TRACKING UNIQUE NEEDS

While every type of learner wants an intuitive customer-centric experience, there are unique challenges associated with enrolling youths. Schools need to collect specific information, but what really changes the customer experience is the fact that the customer is the parent, not the learner.

Parents often want to enroll multiple children in programs and camps. They also need to be able to centrally manage their interactions with the school so that they can update their contact information, pay invoices and manage applications from one place for all of their children. “Imagine having four children and having to log in four different times to register your kids,” said Mark Mrozinski, Assistant Vice President of Workforce Development and Executive Dean (now retired) of Community Education at Harper College.

SOLUTION: SIMPLIFYING REGISTRATION

Harper CE is using the Lifelong Learning Customer Lifecycle Management software platform across the department to launch programs, convert prospects, serve learners and improve efficiency across their operations. Part of the application allows for group and family registrations, taking the burden off busy parents as they try to sign their children up for programs through Harper CE. 

Much like any other course or program, Lifelong Learning gives staff an intuitive interface to set up new offerings and provides best-practice workflows to shave months off the traditional approval process. It then automatically populates the course catalog and website to start taking registrations right away, while reporting in real-time so staff always have access to the business insights they need.

However, youth programs have requirements beyond those of continuing education or workforce development programs.

Lifelong Learning is able to meet youth program needs in four main ways:

1. Most of the time, higher education registration systems are built to enroll one learner per transaction, but parents are used to shopping for all of their children in one swoop, no matter what they are purchasing. Harper CE now offers parents a family checkout option so that they can put as many courses or programs into their cart as they want and provide the requisite information for each learner all in one easy online transaction.
2. Lifelong Learning goes beyond family checkout to ensure Harper CE is able to maximize enrollments and upsells in youth programs. It allows the school to issue discount codes that price-conscious parents can apply to their purchase. It also lets staff suggest contextual add-on items—from calculators to camp t-shirts—that parents may want to add to their cart. 
3. Completing and submitting paper-based applications can be a cumbersome task for any parent, especially if they have multiple children who each need their own form. With Lifelong Learning, parents are able to manage applications centrally and completely online. They can start filling them out, and even save them to finish later before submitting. Parents can also upload supplemental documents instead of mailing them. Staff can customize each application so that it fits with the precise program needs and even set up conditional questions based on prior responses. In addition to being convenient for parents, staff no longer have to chase paperwork and manually re-enter information. 
4. Rather than having to log into multiple interfaces or remember a password for each child, the self-service family portal gives parents one place where they can manage all of their interactions with the school, and all on their own schedule. They can look at past enrollments, pay down invoices, update contact information and check on application status, all from one easy-access online portal. 

RESULT: IMPROVING CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Harper CE has transformed the way it manages registrations for its summer camps and youth programs. By reducing the barriers to enrollment and improving applications management, the division is able to provide parents with an experience they have come to expect from any leading services provider. 

“It’s all about allocating resources to the things that matter: You can afford to do whatever you want, so long as you make it a priority,” said Mrozinski. “Nothing will grow unless you resource it. We chose to prioritize Lifelong Learning over other initiatives because we felt that the time was right to position ourselves for growth over for the next decade.”