How to create a Religious Education Registration form with payment

When creating a form for Religious Education Registration it's important to answer a few questions before you begin.

1. Will this form be to register a single student, or multiple students at once?
2. Will this form be for the registration for a single class or multiple classes?
3. Will there be any special pricing for those who register early?
4. Do I want an email notification every time someone fills out this form?
5. Do I want an email confirmation to go to any person who submits this form?
6. Do I want my registrants to be able to pay only on the form, or also have the option to stop by the office with a check?
7. Am I offering the option to pay in installments?
8. Are there any special parental permissions to be obtained prior to the start of the Religious Education or Faith Formation year?  Are there additional release forms they need to sign?

Once you've answered these questions you can begin to build your form.

This article demonstrates how to create a Religious Education or Faith Formation Form with the following:

• Multiple Classes
• A specific number of spots available per class
• Multiple Registrations
• Email notifications to Admins
• An email confirmation to Parents filling out the form
• Option to pay on the form, stop by the office with a check or pay in installments
• PDF release form for photos included

The Form

The Form we are going to build through this article will be set up for multiple students, 6 classes, special permissions for the use of pictures taken, email notifications when someone registers (along with the information they filled out on the form), and the option for registrants to pay in the church office with a check, and installment options.

1. Begin by following the instructions in the article, How to create a new form from scratch.
2. Start by making a few changes in Form Properties like changing the form name and adding fields.
   
   
   • In the General Info tab of the Form Properties page, change the name of the form and add a form description. Use the Form Description to give the Parishioners some instructions about the form. For the Religious Education Registration Form, here are some ideas for Form Name and for Form Description.
     • Form Name: ParishSOFT Religious Education Registration 2020 - 2021
     • Form Description:

       • The grade level the student is entering and exiting
       • Emergency Contact Information
       • List of medication and allergies (food allergies included)
       • Students T-shirt size(s) for events and field trips

       • In this description, include the photo release for minors, which can be filled out and emailed into the office, or printed out and returned physically to the Parish.
       • Example Description: Please fill out the Photo Release for Religious Education found here. Either email REoffice@parishsoft.com or print, fill out, and return the form to the office.
3. Next, still in Form Properties, click the Submission tab to edit the options for the form submission. 
   • Notice you can change the text for the Submit Button to something like Register for Classes.
   • You may enter an active date range. This will ensure that when registration is closed, no one can continue to use the form past the end date.  
   • Update the Preferred Message that displays after the form is completed to include a message about the Religious Education program. For example, "You have successfully completed registration for the 2020 - 2021 Religious Education School Year."
4. Once you're finished making changes, click the OK button on the bottom right of the Form Properties window and you will be ready to add fields to the form.

Adding Parent/Guardian Form Fields

1. First, before adding form fields, save the changes, and publish the form. 
2. To learn how to add fields for parent/guardian contact information when these individuals are not also registering, see the article, link How to add contact fields for the parents or guardians who are registering their students.

Adding Student Registration Fields

1. To create a fieldset for students go to the Field Menu and click Person in the FIELD SET options.
   
2. A new properties window will display where you may define the fieldset.
   • To ensure this field set counts towards the total registration number for the form, check the box Count Towards Total Registrations.
   • Allow this field set to be duplicated to allow for multiple Registrations by checking the box, Can be Duplicated.
   • Update the Name of the field so that you can control how it displays on the form.
   • Edit the Duplicate Action Text so it reads, "Add another Student."
   • To allow multiple students to register, but limit how many can register on one form, select 6 in the Total Allowed drop-down field. 
   • Click Ok.
     
3. Your Field Set will now show as below.  You will need to drag fields into it in order to gather the information you need for a student, just as you did for the parent information.
   
4. Drag the Dropdown field from Basic Fields section.  You can rename the field in General Info.
   
5. Go to the Options tab in the field properties and populate it with two options of either Male or Female, and/or Other if desired.
   
6. Add the following field types for the Student Info section:
   • Date: Rename it "birthdate" and use it to record the Student's Birthday.
   • Dropdown: Rename it "Last Grade Completed" to record the last grade the student attended prior to the RE school year.  Then, you may list all the previous grades your students may have attended under the options.
   • Radio Buttons: Rename this field "Does your child have any allergies or special considerations?"  and then add an option for "Yes" and "No."
7. Add the Long Text field that will list any allergies the student has.  After dragging it into the student info section, add some conditions.  This field should only display if someone says "Yes" to the previous question about allergies or special considerations. The conditions should look something like this:

Adding Payment Fields for Classes (and how to control class size)

1. Add a payment field so the form knows how much to charge for each student.  Since we need to control how many students register for each class, use a Calculated Amount field.  And since we have 6 classes available for this school year, add six payment fields. Each one will need conditions so they only show up when a certain prior grade is selected on the student registration.
   • Start with the Kindergarten class, which will be triggered by any student selecting Pre-K as their last grade completed.  In the General Info tab, rename the field, change the item name to Seats, and set the total amount of items as well as the item price (in this case $0.00) and quantity limits per person.
   • Since this is a payment field, scroll down in the General Info Tab and choose a fund for the field's payments.
   • In the Validation section, choose Required.
     
   • Click Conditions and add in the condition under which this field will show.
2. Add the prices for the class as an Amount Button field with conditions.
   • Drag an Amount Button field to the section just below the Calculated Amount field.
   • Rename the field as needed and set the amount for the registration. Since all the classes in this form have different registration amounts, add an Amount Button field for each one.
     
   • Select at least 3 columns from the line items dropdown.
     
   • Add 3 line items: one for the Full Tuition amount, one for Partial (for installments), and one to Pay in Office.
   • Make it required.
     
   • Click Conditions and define the conditions for the field so that it only shows up when the student has attended the grade just before it.
3. Now that you've added in a Calculated Amount Field and an Amount Button field for one class,  repeat the process for the others until you're done.

Limiting Submissions to the Form

1. Go back to Form Properties then click the Submissions tab.
   
2. Enter the total number of students who can be registered for the school year (our classes are set for 175 students in total).  Leave the maximum number of submissions blank for the moment.
   

Enabling Scheduled Payments to the Form

1. Next, go to the Payment tab and check the box for Enable Member Portal.
   Do the following in this section:
   • Check the box for Enable Member Portal (so that people can sign in to the form and use pre-saved payment methods)
   • Check the box for Enable Recurring Payments (so that people now have the option to set up two payments for the installment plan option). Also, mark the number 2 as being the max amount of payments allowed.
   • Check the box for Enable Convenience Fee so that we can have a donor covers fee option enabled for the transaction fees.  Set it to 3% of the total transaction to help offset the cost of transaction processing.  Make this percentage required by checking the box labeled Required, but we can also uncheck that box at any time.
   • Scroll down farther on the Payment section to find the Accepted Payment Types area. Since there already is a "Pay Later" option on the form for each grade, leave that box unchecked, but make sure to check the box for ACH.
   • Choose to which fund all the proceeds from this form are going using in the dropdown for Total Amount Fund.

Adding Email Notifications for Admins and Parents

1. Lastly, go to the Email section of form Properties to add the email notifications for Admins and Parents.
2. Click Add Email to create the first notification.
3. The first Notification will go to the Parents filling out the form, so add a field that will pull their email information from the form.  In this case, use the billing email field.
   To get the placeholder code, click on the placeholder you wish to use.  Then copy and paste it into the TO field for the notification. This is who the email will go to whenever someone registers on the form.
4. Continue writing your email to the RE parents using the placeholders to pull information from the form as needed.
5. Once you're finished with the first notification, scroll down to the bottom of the Email section and click Add Email again.
6. This next email notification will be going to the Parish Admin, specifically the head of RE.
   
7. Once all of the information is entered for the new Notification, click OK at the bottom right of the screen.
8. Lastly, go to the bottom right of the form and Save Changes. Choose to Publish to save the last changes on our form.

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April 17, 2023 17:56