Case Studies
How 3 Community Education Providers Are Boosting Enrollment and Student Satisfaction With CourseStorm
Many organizations offering non-credit courses struggle with a clunky registration system. These systems are often designed for for-credit classes and don’t meet the unique enrollment and payment needs of non-credit education.
Community college workforce training programs, community health education programs offered by hospitals and healthcare organizations, enrichment classes, or other types of adult education programs often have registration processes that just aren’t user friendly.
These types of classes come with unique registration needs because:
- Enrichment classes or courses to learn new skills typically don’t require prerequisites
- They don’t earn participants credit hours or credentials
- Non-credit courses are usually open-enrollment self-paid programs
So they don’t need a complex registration system like for-credit degree programs require. But manual processes aren’t a good solution, either.
Some community ed programs require people to register in person or by phone during certain hours. This can be a big deterrent for busy working adults.
Some noncredit programs may require people to register in person or over the phone during certain hours, for example, which isn’t possible for a lot of working adults. This also requires time, effort, and even unnecessary frustration for the program’s administrative staff. A poor registration experience can be a big deterrent for busy adults.
That’s where CourseStorm comes in. Designed specifically for noncredit providers, like those serving adult learners, CourseStorm allows people to register and pay online at any time it’s convenient for them.
One non-credit course provider, in the first 6 months of using CourseStorm, processed almost as much revenue in registrations as the previous 2 years combined. Another customer added an online registration option through CourseStorm and increased enrollments by 316% in the first year.
In this post, we’ll look at how non-credit course registration software like CourseStorm can grow enrollments while improving student satisfaction and automating manual administrative processes. We’ll explore three real-life CourseStorm customers offering adult classes that have used the features of our non-credit course registration software tool to:
- Offer convenient online registration and payment so people can register whenever is best for them — a must for busy adult learners
- Improve user experience to reduce registrant complaints, encourage returning students, and keep programs growing
- Increase awareness of their many course offerings without endless scrolling to ensure students can easily find what will pique their interest
- Reduce the administrative burden on staff caused by in-person or phone registration and other manual processes
Is your registration system for non-credit courses complicated and time consuming for students and program staff alike? See how CourseStorm’s impossibly simple online registration software can streamline signups and payment. Try it today!
Features of non-credit course registration software: What community education programs love the most
At CourseStorm, we work with a lot of organizations that offer non-credit adult classes. Many come to us because:
- Their current registration system is clunky and inconvenient for working students to access outside of standard business hours
- Students and administrative staff complain about the course registration experience
- People in the community aren’t aware of their program or able to browse their classes easily
With simple online registration and accessible course listings, here’s how CourseStorm solved their problems and boosted enrollments.
Increased enrollments for non-credit education with online registration: Manchester Community College
Like many community college programs, Manchester Community College’s Workforce Development and Community Education program struggled with a clunky registration system designed for credit classes. It did not meet the unique enrollment and payment needs of non-credit classes. Because of this, the MCC program didn’t use any formal registration system before CourseStorm. Students were required to register in person and pay by cash or check during daytime office hours.
This was a problem, since their target audience was either busy job searching or looking to improve their skills in a current job. Not allowing students to register for classes outside of business hours and conveniently pay online affected the program’s growth.
“When you looked at our audience who were either looking for work or trying to improve their work skills, it just wasn’t convenient for them to have to come to our office to register for a class. Because of this, we missed a lot of people,” said the program director.
MCC realized they needed a system geared toward non-credit classes if they planned to grow their enrollments.
Since switching to CourseStorm, students are now able to view classes, register, and pay online whenever it’s convenient for them. The system is more user-friendly for administrators, too, saving them both cost and time.
MCC has been using CourseStorm to manage its online catalog and registration system for several years now. The program has increased the number of overall registrations and early enrollments. These features also helped increase student satisfaction — giving MCC a strong positive presence in their New Hampshire community.
Improved customer satisfaction and freed up staff time: Shasta College Community Education and Business Training Center
Managing non-credit class registration was a challenge for Shasta College in California. They offered a diverse catalog of community courses, but it was difficult for learners to find classes — students had to scroll and scroll until they found a class that was of interest.
The college got complaints from frustrated customers that they couldn’t find the courses they wanted to register for. These calls were time-consuming, and disheartening, to staff. “Last year I had one customer call and complain that our registration system was so difficult to use that she said, ‘Now I remember why I quit taking your classes.’ It wasn’t the only complaint, and it’s what prompted me to seek out a new system,” said the program coordinator.
Additionally, with no way to add images to grab a student’s attention, their online course catalog felt plain, uninspiring, and unwelcoming. Another administrative hurdle was that instructors had to rely on program staff for access to information.
Implementing CourseStorm has helped streamline Shasta’s entire class registration process. The image-rich online catalog allows students to browse and find classes of interest effortlessly, and its three-click registration is quick and straightforward, so fewer students call with issues. Unlimited admin user accounts, improved data entry, and instructor accounts are just a few of the things making life easier. And CourseStorm’s customer success team is available to answer questions and provide assistance whenever it’s needed.
Within the first few months, Shasta College Community Education and Business Training Center noticed a big difference in the amount of time they saved not having to help students with registration via phone and manually entered registrations.
Instructors are now able to self-manage their classes, cutting out the middleman and freeing up admin staff to focus on more significant projects, like program growth and innovation. Overall, managing registrations, classes, and students is much more streamlined with CourseStorm.
Increased awareness and enrollments to save a struggling program: Sacopee Valley Adult Ed
The Sacopee Valley Adult Ed program is located in a small, rural community in Maine. The dedicated staff provides a variety of non-credit adult and community education opportunities to a large district, but before CourseStorm the program was struggling and considering closing.
Without a website or online course catalog, it was difficult for Sacopee Valley to promote upcoming classes — the team had to rely on printed brochures and word of mouth. The program was struggling with low (and sometimes no) enrollments.
Like many non-credit course providers, Sacopee Valley also struggled with an inefficient registration system that was inconvenient or even inaccessible for interested learners. For years, students had been required to register in person and pay by cash or check.
A large part of a non-credit education program’s success is based on its online presence. Even though some skeptics were unconvinced that the smaller, more rural community of learners at Sacopee Valley would respond to online registrations, they were mistaken. The adult ed program built an online class registration site using CourseStorm with a user-friendly, online interface for both registrants and administrators. It was an easy transition, and in only one year, the program saw results.
Even if learners are not tech savvy, CourseStorm is easy for them to use and has helped increase student satisfaction. Half of their learners have used the website to register for classes and enrollments grew over 316% that first year. CourseStorm’s streamlined online payment system gives students convenience and more options when it comes to paying for courses, like friends and family signups, promo codes, and early-bird discounts.
“CourseStorm helped our program survive,” said the director of adult ed. “It really gave our program a new lease on life.”
See What CourseStorm’s Non-Credit Course Registration Software Can Do for Your Adult Education Program
Many programs offering non-credit courses, such as community colleges, adult education or continuing education programs, struggle with registration. Maybe students and staff are frustrated and overwhelmed by manual processes like in-person and phone registration. Or programs are trying to make a system intended for credit classes work for non-credit offerings like continuing ed and enrichment classes.
For non-credit course providers that want to give learners a streamlined registration experience, CourseStorm is an ideal solution. Automated registration and payment functions empower registrants to sign up when they want, taking the burden off program staff. And user-friendly features like attractive online course listings, payment plans, waitlists, promo codes and more make CourseStorm a win-win for both students and program administrators.
Is your registration system for non-credit courses complicated and time consuming for students and program staff alike? See how CourseStorm’s impossibly simple online registration software can streamline signups and payment. Try it today!
Abigail Green
Abby has overseen content development for higher education degree programs related to education, technology, business, and healthcare. One of her first jobs after college was working with children’s programs for the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland. She is an experienced and versatile writer and editor whose work has been published by Johns Hopkins, the University of Baltimore Alumni Magazine, and The Chicago Tribune.