Research shows that SMS open rates are as high as 98%, compared to just 20% of all emails. And, on average, it takes 90 seconds for someone to respond to a text and 90 minutes to respond to an email.
Because of this, we send out time sensitive information via our Parent Alert System, which is part of our Emergency Alert System.
From our alert system:
Selecting the Emergency option will override Family Individual Preferences.
Parents who have replied “STOP” to a text sent by the school have blocked messages with their cell provider and will not receive texts.
Please note that regular Parent Alerts are sent with reminders, school closings, inclement weather, and traffic advisories that may be time sensitive and get buried in email. Please be sure your settings allow for these alerts. We all check our texts faster than email
We will NEVER send an Emergency Alert for weather, traffic, or closings, only for actual EMERGENCY situations.
To check/change your settings, login to the Family Portal and follow the following steps:
Pull down the FAMILY menu on the left
Select FAMILY HOME
On the right look for Family Alert Cell Phone and it should say YES. If it does, there’s no need to do anything else.
If it says NO, select the EDIT pen.
Select the appropriate parent name(s)
Change from NO to YES.
Be sure to SAVE the changes.
1. Pull down FAMILY menu 2. Select FAMILY HOME.3. If circled region says YES, you are good 4. If not, select the EDIT pen5. Select appropriate parent(s)6. Change from NO to YES 7. SAVE
To be considered for financial assistance other than the Georgia Special Needs Scholarship (SB10) for the 2020-2021 school year, there is a 2 step process:
the FACTS Grant & Aid on-line application must be completed, including submission of all financial aid documents from all custodial, non-custodial and step-parents (including uploaded 2018 Federal Tax Returns, all supporting schedules and forms, and W-2’s or 1099’s).
You can complete the Grant & Aid application through the application/ enrollment process OR you can complete it HERE. You do not need to complete it twice. There is a $35 charge to file the Grant & Aid request that is a one time fee for all FACTS schools for the academic year. Visit our Financial Assistance Page for more details.
THIS MUST BE COMPLETED NO LATER THAN APRIL 1, 2020.
Financial aid is reviewed annually, requiring all recipients of past aid awards to re-apply for the 2020-2021 school year. Please note this is NOT necessary for the SB10 Scholarship but is required for the Georgia Tax Credit Scholarship (APOGEE) or other available assistance.
It is the responsibility of the parent(s) to track the financial aid application from start to finish. Failing to provide the required information, not following the guidelines, or missing the April 1, 2020 deadline may result in not be considered for assistance.
Brookwood Christian is in the process of implementing several services to make things easier for our families, students, staff, and to consilidate & minimize redundancy in the office.
Features to look for: -Premier Billing (FACTS Tuition & SIS merge) -Grant & Aid Applications -Online Application and/or Reenrollment -Giving
PREMIER BILLING
As many of you know, in Fall of 2017 we began utilizing FACTS Tuition to reduce the amount of time spent in the office dealing with bookkeeping and deposits. Within 3 months, the only regret we had was not doing it sooner!
During the Spring of 2018, McGraw-Hill announced that Engrade would no longer be an option for Student Information Systems (SIS) and Report Cards, so the logical step was RenWeb, a “sister company” of FACTS, both of whom have been leaders of these services for private schools across the U.S.
During the Fall of 2018, FACTS & RenWeb formally merged into one company and as we learned this summer at the FACTS conference, many changes are coming that will make things easier for both our families and staff.
The biggest one, which we are in process of implementing, is having FACTS Tuition and FACTS SIS system integrated into ONE easier to use system, Premier Billing. Below are some of the benefits for our families:
Simplified Enrollment
FACTS offers a faster, easier way for parents to enroll using Premier Billing. Parents simply select a payment plan as part of their enrollment/re-enrollment process.
Re-enrolling parents can pay registration fees using the stored bank account information in FACTS and view their enrollment fee payment in their FACTS financial activity.
Easy Login
Parents can view academic information and pay tuition and fees from any device with one username and password.
Premier Billing allows parents to access correspondence and account details, add funds to their prepay accounts, and make payments on tuition and bills from a single login.
Information Security
Your family data is kept under digital lock and key with the highest security standards in the industry.
GRANT & AID
This service will streamline applying for scholarships and aid (excluding the Georgia Special Needs (SB10) Scholarship). With a true, independently determined need of our families, this can not only make it possible to find other sources of funding, but also give a clear picture of need for other funding and grant writing.
Easy online application guides families through the entire process.
With one application and a single application fee, families can apply for aid at multiple FACTS schools.
All required verification documents are easily uploaded.
Families are alerted of their award status via email and can accept or decline online.
FACTS offers in-house customer service center staffed with best-in-class live agents and web chat.
Accessible through all modern internet browsers with a responsive design that gives families access through their preferred device, from desktop to tablet to phone.
FACTS provide the highest security standards in the industry when it comes to the collection and storage of financial and demographic data.
ONLINE APPLICATION & ENROLLMENT
Using a cost-effective school enrollment solution allows us to go paperless and view applications and enrollment packets as they are completed – saving time, resources, and making school budget projections more accurate. Benefits for families include:
Easy applications. School admissions solutions shouldn’t be complicated. Responsive application design and pre-populated demographic fields make admissions and enrollment a breeze.
Quick and simple. Families can sign up for payment plans during enrollment or re-enrollment.
No paper needed. No more leaving work early to turn in school paperwork. Parents can make their application fee payment on the go and send/receive referral forms online.
Access from anywhere. Parents can complete application and enrollment packets with any device – from laptop to smartphone.
FACTS GIVING
This service will make it easier for people to donate. Whether it’s our families, our alumni, or the broader community, this gives us the flexibility to create various appeals and events, and offers donors the ability to give via online gifts, text, pledges, event registrations, and more.
Donors can easily donate from any device via credit card, debit card, or ACH.
Text-to-give capability makes giving easy and convenient for our donors and for fundraising events.
Progress tracker updates, so donors can see their immediate impact on a project’s goals.
Donors can choose to cover transaction fees.
Supports one-time gifts, recurring donations, and pledges.
Email and text receipts make it easy to track individual giving and organize information for tax purposes.
No worries about payment or demographic information thanks to FACTS’ industry-leading security standards.
All four of these services are currently in the implementation process. We will let you know once they are available for your use.
Thank you so much for your patience and understanding during this process, we are confident that once implemented this will make things so much easier for all of us. If you have ANY questions, Ms. Tammy will be available during Sneak-a-Peak, Wednesday, August 7th from 1-3pm.
Follow the instructions using the email address that received setup email or it will not recognize you as affiliated with the school. It may take 10-15 minutes to get the reply email with the link for password selection. If you did not receive a setup email please contact the office.
Please note that your password must be 6-8 characters using at least one letter and one number and NO special characters. If you go over, it will not let you know, and you will have to contact FACTS to reset, so be careful!
Once you have completely registered, you should be able to login. On the menu bar at left you should see a link for “Web Forms”. When you click on that it will take you to a list containing “Family Demographic Form” which will display 6 forms that need completing at your earliest convenience.
Some information may already be complete, but please review for typos and transmission errors. We realize that some of this is the same information on your registration paperwork, but there is no other way to get it uploaded in a timely manner. Once this is completed, you will not have to do this again, other than address/phone#/email/etc changes as they occur. Items in brackets are optional [optional]
For each form, once you are finished, click “Save” at the bottom, then “Return to main form” up top to get to the next form.
Do not use “quotes” for any field. Doing so will invalidate that field and we will not see the information.
Please note that we will not allow your child to leave campus with anyone that is not
CUSTODIAL PARENT,
EMERGENCY CONTACT, or on the
APPROVED TRANSPORTATION LIST!
FORMS:
Student Demographic Form:
Correct legal First, Middle, Last, plus Nickname, birthday, gender, ethnicity
Mailing address where student resides
Main Parent Contact as Home or Cell (depending),
email is for student school email, if applicable, otherwise leave blank
[Religious Affiliation]
Student Medical Form:
Physician & insurance Info – Please make sure Permission to treat is on correct preference and Insurance information is correct.
Please complete the medication list, using notes to tell us administration times at school, along with medical conditions & allergies.
Include anything you would want emergency responders to be aware of.
Be sure to check “yes” for permission to treatif you wish to have emergency responders/hospital treat you child in the event of an emergency. The default for this is “no” and without permission they will not be able to until you are able to be contacted to give permission.
Custodial Parent Form:
Name, phone number(s), email(s), and address(es) [birthday] [religious]
For each parent, the bottom there are buttons to select if and where you want alerts. Set those to your desired settings.
If a parent on birth certificate is not allowed custody of child, we need a copy of court order in office file and we will also set an alert in SIS.
Emergency Contacts:
You can list up to 20 people who we should contact in an emergency
DO NOT LIST ANYONE YOU DO NOT WANT TO PICK UP YOUR CHILD IN AN EMERGENCY,
Please list in order of how you want us to contact (hopefully we’ll never need these)
Approved Transportation Form:
Please list thoseALLOWED TO PICK UP YOUR CHILD FROM SCHOOL.
Any regular pick ups please put in notes, i.e. ‘Suzy rides home with her Aunt Mary every Friday’ in Aunt Contact
In preparation for the upcoming school year we are making plans for improving the content and quality of our programs while increasing the efficiency in the office. In a review of our operations, we have been studying our method of handling tuition payments. Continue reading “New Tuition Payment System”→
