How Hillcrest Christian College built trust and transparency with the Feesable School Fee Calculator
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One question I rarely get is “how much are your fees?” because they’ve already gone and done the Fee Calculator.
Emily Savery
REGISTRAR
As a school that values integrity and respect, Hillcrest was drawn to Feesable’s solution as it provided a simple and transparent way to provide prospective families with the information they needed to make an educated decision about enrolment.
Hillcrest Christian College is an independent, co-educational school in Reedy Creek, next door to the Gold Coast’s stunning beaches in Queensland. Initially founded in the late 1970s with a mission to provide a holistic Christian education to the surrounding community, the college now has around 1,550 enrolled students from Pre-Kindy to Year 12.
After searching for a way to help families work out school fees, Hillcrest Christian College partnered with Feesable to provide a customer-focused solution.
Challenges
Families need a simple and transparent way to calculate and forecast school fees
Inflation, rising interest rates, and the soaring cost of living is forcing families to cut and reprioritise spending — and private education is feeling the pinch!
As the college’s Registrar, Emily Savery witnesses the hard decisions families need to make first-hand. Emily explains that before partnering with Feesable, there was no simple way to provide families with complete transparency around school fees as they make decisions about schooling. She identified the need for families to calculate and plan for education expenses to ensure the college is the right fit for their budget, now and in the future.
“We wanted to make sure we were really open and transparent from the very beginning. It’s heartbreaking to see a child that wants to be a part of our community — or is already here — needing to withdraw because their parents can’t afford the fees.”
– Emily Savery, Registrar
Potential enrolment enquiries were slipping through the cracks
Aside from the need to manage expectations and provide complete fee transparency, the college’s Marketing Director, Andrew Cockburn, identified that the existing fee page, before the Feesable Fee Calculator, was missing opportunities to capture valuable enrolment enquiries.
Andrew says he was searching for a way to convert anonymous website clicks and PDF downloads into high-quality enrolment leads — without clicking off the webpage or adding extra steps.
“Families were just downloading fee information and making a judgement about the school without gaining any real value. So you want to change that and make it a value exchange.”
Andrew Cockburn
MARKETING DIRECTOR
SOLUTION
Feesable delivered a customer-focused solution, custom-built around Hillcrests’ fee structure
After trying various solutions but finding none were built specifically for schools, Hillcrest was introduced to the Feesable School Fee Calculator. Working closely with Emily and Andrew, Feesable delivered a customised fee calculator based on the college’s specific fee structure to offer accurate fee estimates for both prospective and current families.
“I was really excited about Feesable – for families to be able to see, even forecast, what their commitment looks like before I even engage with them.”
– Emily Savery, Registrar
Once embedded on the college’s website, prospective families could request an instant, upfront fee calculation — helping to build trust and remove hidden costs from the enrolment journey.
As a result, Emily says families are now empowered to make a confident decision about enrolling their children at Hillcrest Christian College. “I put the link to the calculator on my offer email, so when we’ve offered them a position, they can double check before they confirm that this offer is feasible for them”, says Emily.
The Feesable School Fee Calculator also ticks all the boxes from a marketing perspective by offering a meaningful customer experience and importantly, a valuable exchange: simple and transparent fee information in exchange for contact details, which ultimately serves the customer with further useful information to help inform their decision.
Interested families can request a follow-up call or email from the college’s enrolment team — helping to convert more anonymous website clicks into high-quality enrolment leads. Andrew says this feature is invaluable in empowering parents and building trust.
“From a service perspective, it really empowers people. It makes them think – I’m willing to give you my details because you’re doing something valuable for me. They can engage in a way that provides them with the information they want.”
– Andrew Cockburn, Registrar
Impact
Enhanced the customer experience, streamlined enrolment processes, and boosted enrolment enquiries
Since discovering the Feesable Fee Calculator, Emily says she can spend more time doing what she loves about her role – connecting with prospective families and learning about what excites them most about enrolling at Hillcrest Christian College, rather than discussing fee information.
Thanks to the Feesable School Fee Calculator, Hillcrest Christian College has achieved its objective of providing families with a simple and transparent fee experience that builds trust. College staff are no longer wasting precious time and resources on back-and-forth fee discussions, and they now have a simple (and highly effective) way to capture more marketing-qualified leads.