Rollover for Continuous Enrollment Schools – Finalsite Enrollment

Schools using Continuous Enrollment have extra workflows to consider at rollover time. This article covers two options for managing contracts after rollover, important notes about term-based fields, and ledger and deposit behavior for Billing Module schools.

💡Quick Answers

What are the two main rollover options? Option 1: roll over students, generate contracts, and let families update payment plans by a deadline, then bulk-submit the rest. Option 2: roll over and immediately bulk-submit all returning contracts, then handle payment plan changes manually or via a custom form.
Where do I bulk-submit contracts? Enrollment > Students in Enrollment. See Bulk Submit Contracts Feature for details.
What happens to term-based fields during rollover? They clear out automatically. If fields like Scholarship or Aid drive your tuition, upload the new amounts before bulk-submitting contracts.
What's the easiest way to update many students' aid/scholarship amounts? Use an import template. See Import Templates: Updating Existing Contacts.
When does the deposit post for bulk-submitted contracts (Billing schools)? On the bulk-submit date. For autopay families, it's charged on the next billing date.
Do tuition and fees follow the new term's fee rules? Yes. Returning students' new contracts use the current term's fee rules.

Managing Contracts after Rollover

Option 1: Allowing families a timeframe to go in and select a different payment plan before bulk submitting contracts.

Rollover all returning students.
Generate contracts for all students (new and returning).
Communicate to your families that the contract is an optional form for parents to fill out if they want to update their payment plan by a certain deadline.
Then, on your selected deadline, bulk submit any remaining returning student contracts that haven't been already submitted with payment plan changes.
- You can bulk submit contracts within the Enrollment > Students in Enrollment page.
- You can read more about bulk submitting contracts here.

Option 2: Bulk submit all returning contracts while giving families options to communicate payment plan changes to you by contacting the school or submitting a custom payment plan form.

Rollover all returning students.
Upon rollover, immediately bulk submit all returning student contracts using the continuous enrollment feature.
- You can bulk submit contracts within the Enrollment > Students in Enrollment page.
- You do not have to generate contracts in order to submit them internally in bulk.
- You can read more about bulk submitting contracts here.
If parents would like to make changes to their payment plan, you have two options:
- Send an enrollment email that instructs families to contact the business office if they need to make changes to their payment plan. Payment plan adjustments would then be made by an admin within the ledger.
- Add an optional Payment Plan form for returning students. This option is good for schools that anticipate a lot of payment plan changes.
  - The form would be assessable via the student checklist and set to only show for returning students. Parents would complete this form if they want to make a change to their payment plan. You would monitor the form submission so that you can go into the ledger and make the requested changes.
    - We also recommend setting up an internal automated communication plan with a trigger of this form/checklist item being marked complete so that you're notified and can update the payment plan as soon as you receive the email or notification.

Term-Based Fields and Continuous Enrollment

Term-based fields automatically clear out upon rollover.

What this means for Continuous Enrollment: If you have fields that are term based that drive your tuition, such as Scholarship and Aid, you should upload the amounts granted into the fields before checking off the contracts in bulk.

You can read more about term-based fields here.
Click here to learn more about using an import template to update current students in bulk.

Notes for Billing Schools:

Ledger Population and Payment Plans

Bulk submitting contracts will submit contracts and will automatically populate the ledger.
The tuition and fees on the returning student contracts will follow the fee rules for the current term.
Reminder: Term-based fields clear out upon rollover. Scholarships and aid in term-based fields will not carry over into their new contract and must be added to the students before bulk-submitting contracts. Click here to learn more about using an import template to update current students in bulk.

When bulk submitting contracts: Deposit Behavior

The deposit will post to the ledger on the date you bulk submits contracts, and, for those with autopay set up, it will be automatically charged on the next billing date.
Reminder: The deposit checklist item is required for contract generation if there is one present and if the ‘collect deposit’ button is checked on the deposit tab. Once contracts have been generated, there are options for hiding the checklist item for returners. Read more on this below in our recommended best practices.

Our recommended best practices for deposit management

You should bulk submit contracts in alignment with when you want the deposit collected and, ideally, this should be at least 10 days before their billing date so that parents see it when they get the automated upcoming statement and payment emails.
Options for hiding the deposit checklist item from returners as a way to prevent any confusion for your returning families regarding how/where the deposit will be paid:
- If allowing parents a timeframe to go in and select a new payment plan:
  - After the change timeframe, the deposit checklist item for that term can be hidden from all returning families by changing the checklist rules.
- If bulk submitting all returning contracts immediately after rollover:
  - After generating contracts, the deposit checklist item for that term can be hidden from all returning families by changing the checklist rules.
- Click here to read more about editing checklist items.

FAQs

For schools that use our Billing Module:

How will the upcoming year's fees be applied to individual ledger accounts for returning families?

This occurs automatically when you bulk submit contracts for your returning families.

For returning students, you should first perform rollover and then check off the contract in bulk using the continuous enrollment feature.
- Read more about that here.
This will lock families in with their payment plan selection from the previous term. This action also automatically populates the ledger with the upcoming year's tuition.

Note on contract fees: The tuition and fees on the returning student contracts will follow the fee rules for the current term.

What if the tuition needs to be grandfathered?

If the tuition needs to be grandfathered, the contract fee rules should be set up to charge different amounts by grade.

Additional Resources