There’s no doubt, it’s often the hard part of the conversation for schools – this is how much it will cost to send your child here. Oh and by the way that’s plus levies, plus excursions, plus text books, plus uniforms… plus, plus, plus. But don’t worry, we offer a nice discount for siblings… you can work that part out yourself…
Of course, not all schools are like this and may have ‘all inclusive’ fees, but we are thinking about it from the parents perspective and it’s the pointy end of the decision making where they are genuinely considering if a school offers the right kind of value – do the fees match the promise? And it’s impossible to avoid this part of the conversation – even if a family has already decided to enrol, they will still need to know what it costs at some point.
But the conversation about school fees doesn’t have to have a sting in the tail.
Fee Transparency is key to positive engagement for schools
It really all depends on how a school delivers the fee experience for parents – from how your fees are presented, what level of information is offered about the fees, and how complex the fees are to understand or work out for parents. Transparency is a great starting place for schools to deliver a meaningful fee experience for parents – displaying fees and all associated costs in a clear, concise and simple way.
In addition, the ever expanding realm of digital interaction and engagement means that current and prospective parents expect to easily access information and get to know anything about the school, all with a few clicks and from their chosen device. So offering a modern digital solution that is easy to use will go a long way to meeting or even exceeding those expectations, resulting in great brand experiences.
Use school fee conversations to engender trust
Transparency builds trust. Being clear and upfront about school fees and providing an engaging experience for parents to explore fees builds immediate trust. This shows that the school has nothing to hide and therefore is more likely to deliver on their promises
Trust is critical to any brand experience and schools are no different. Establishing trust early on for a prospective parent through a positive and transparent fee experience could be the difference in the enrolment decision.
Furthermore, building trust in current parents through smart digital tools and great experiences will boost retention and turn the current community into brand advocates for your school.
Be confident in your fee offering
Confidence in your fees shows confidence in your school brand – that you can live up to your promise, uphold your values and deliver on your vision and mission. That’s worth paying for.
Transparency breeds confidence. If there’s some ‘hidden levies’ not on your fee schedule or hidden in the fine print, then you will always be nervous about parents finding these out. Fact is that they will eventually, and it’s rarely received well. If everything is laid out upfront and explained clearly, you will be more confident in your fee experience and parents will have no surprises.
Confidence also takes the focus off your fees. If you are clear, transparent and confident in your fee offering, it will leave very little ambiguity, create less questions and help parents focus on the more important aspects of your offering such as academics, curriculum, community and student wellbeing.
Use every opportunity to engage
Tuition fees play an important part in the decision-making process for parents in choosing a school. This is evidenced by the fact that the fees page on school websites is often one of the most visited pages. That means there is a rich, potentially untapped well of opportunity to engage with parents on this fees page.
Traditional methods of a PDF fee schedule or contact forms are useful, but in today’s interactive, digital culture, people expect more. By offering a more meaningful and interactive experience you can engage parents more effectively, provide more relevant and transparent information and set your school apart.
The Feesable Fee Calculator offers a simple experience to help parents clearly understand school fees without the need to download, print, or make calculations themselves. Providing clarity, transparency and simplicity for parents in their fee research.
Turn those sensitive conversations about fees into a positive experience for parents – get in touch with Feesable today and let us help your school make every enrolment enquiry count.
