Re-Enrollment Campaign for Private Schools: A Week-by-Week Calling Plan for January and February

What is a re-enrollment campaign?

A re-enrollment campaign is the few weeks between contracts going out and deposits falling due, when a private school finds out which families are coming back next year. Most schools run it by email: the contract goes out, a reminder follows, and the business office watches the signed count climb.

The families who matter most are the ones who stay silent. A family that hasn't signed might not have seen the email, might be waiting on a financial aid answer, or might be quietly looking at another school. An email can't tell those apart. A call can. And the stakes are large: one school-marketing agency estimates a structured retention plan "can reduce attrition by 2+ percentage points, saving six figures annually in tuition and acquisition costs" (Cube Creative).

When do re-enrollment contracts and deposits fall due?

Across the schools checked, the calendar is narrow and close to universal:

• Contracts go out in mid-to-late January: "Re-enrollment contracts for the 2026-2027 school year will be emailed to families on Wednesday, January 21, 2026 and are due with a 5% deposit by February 4" (Shipley School).
• Deposits fall due between 4 and 28 February: "Re-enrollment contracts and deposits are due no later than Friday, February 12 to secure your child's place for next year" (University School at Nova).
• Deposits range widely: a $100 fee at Lutheran High, $350 at Waldorf San Diego, $500 at Chicago Waldorf, or 5% of tuition.
• So the calling window is two to four weeks long, from late January through February.

Why do re-enrollment emails get opened and ignored?

• January inboxes are full: the contract arrives with the new term's newsletters, sign-ups and reminders.
• The email asks for a decision and money at once, and families put off decisions that involve both.
• Silence isn't a no: many families intend to return and simply haven't got round to it.
• Worries stay private: a family worried about tuition rarely replies to a mass email to say so.
• The office can't tell the difference between "haven't seen it" and "leaving" until the deadline has passed.

The email stays. The campaign adds what happens when the email is ignored.

What does a week-by-week re-enrollment calling plan look like?

Using a school that sends contracts on 21 January with deposits due 4 February as the example:

1. Early January, before contracts go out: clean the family list. Current families, siblings, separated parents with two households and two numbers, and anyone who asked not to be called.
2. Week one (21 to 27 January): the contract email goes out as usual. After three or four days, families who haven't signed get a call: "Did next year's contract reach you?" No answer means a voicemail in your head of school's own voice and a text with the contract link.
3. Week two (28 January to 3 February): a second pass to families still unsigned, asking whether they have any questions. Financial aid questions go to your business office by name, the same day.
4. The last 72 hours: a reminder text, then a final call to anyone left, with the deposit link.
5. After the deadline: families who never answered get a personal call from the head of school or admissions director, using the list the campaign built.

A school with a 28 February deadline runs the same plan over four weeks instead of two, with one more pass in the middle.

Which families should get a call first?

• Families who haven't opened the contract email: the simplest win, because many of them intend to return.
• Families who applied for financial aid: they are often waiting on an answer before they sign.
• First-year families: it is their first re-enrollment, and they may not know how the process works.
• Families with more than one child: a decision about one sibling often decides the other.
• Families who have gone quiet: missed conferences, skipped events, slow to reply all year.
• Separated parents: the call goes to whichever parent your records say signs the contract.

What should a re-enrollment call say?

• Who is calling, first: your school's name, on behalf of the head of school or admissions director.
• Why, in one sentence: next year's contract and the deposit date.
• The easy next step: "Can I text you the link to the contract?"
• An open door: "Is there anything you'd like to talk through with someone at school?"
• No pressure, ever: no "your place is at risk." Families who feel pushed tend to leave.
• A clear handoff: questions about tuition go to the business office by name; a family thinking of leaving gets a call back from the admissions director personally.

What should the morning list show the business office?

Every morning of the campaign, your office gets one plain list, sorted by what each family needs next:

• Signed or signing today: nothing to do but check the contract came in.
• Will sign by a date: a reminder text on that date, not another call.
• Tuition or aid question: goes to the business office by name.
• Thinking about leaving: goes to the admissions director for a personal call, with the reason if the family gave one.
• A concern about their child: goes to the division head.
• Wrong number or remove me: fixed or removed the same day.

What if your school runs continuous enrollment?

Then the question on the call changes. Under continuous enrollment the contract renews on its own: "Unless the school receives an opt-out form by February 15, 2026, the deposit will be billed" (Holy Trinity Academy).

• There is no "have you signed?" call, because nobody needs to sign.
• The first call becomes "are you still planning to return?" to find families drifting toward opting out before the deadline.
• The second call is about payments: a deposit that bills automatically can still fail, and the family may not know.

Which families need a person, not a call?

Some conversations should never be automated, and the school-marketing world says so clearly: "Email automation isn't about removing the human touch from admissions. It's about removing the administrative busywork so you can focus on actual relationships," with "tours, phone calls, relationship building" named as the human work to protect (Cube Creative).

• Families considering leaving: the admissions director or head of school calls.
• Families in financial difficulty: the business office calls, privately.
• Families with a concern about their child: the division head or teacher calls.
• Families who have had a hard year: someone who knows them calls.

The campaign's job is to find those families early and put their names in front of the right person.

How do FACTS, Finalsite and Veracross fit in?

Your school's systems stay exactly where they are. The campaign works alongside them:

• FACTS takes the deposit: at many schools "the required enrollment deposit will be paid through FACTS - our online tuition management system." The call texts families that exact link.
• Finalsite runs the checklist: "All FinalSite enrollment checklist items must be complete" before a place is secure, so the call can remind families which items are still open.
• Veracross lets the school decide: it "offers an open API that schools can provide to additional partners of their choosing" (Veracross).
• AutoCallFlow integrates with all of them: FACTS, Blackbaud, Finalsite, Veracross and Ravenna. We connect your family list for you during setup, so the calls start from the same records your contracts came from.

Email only vs. staff calls vs. a calling campaign

Most schools use the first two today. Here is what each covers in a two-to-four week window.

What does a calling campaign cost next to one lost family?

• Parent campaigns run on the $60/month plan and up, which includes outbound calling and 220 minutes, then $0.20 a minute. Most schools run a heavier January and February and drop back afterwards.
• One family that re-enrolls instead of drifting away is a full year of tuition, often for more than one child.
• Count results, not calls: contracts signed, deposits paid, aid conversations started and families moved from "unknown" to a clear answer.
• Don't compare it to a broadcast: "A platform advertising '$0.05 per call' may actually cost more than one advertising '$0.03 per minute' depending entirely on how long your calls are" (RoboTalker).

What should a school set up in the fall?

The calling window opens in about four months, which makes October and November the time to prepare. A summary of public regulatory material, not legal advice.

• Add a consent line to your enrollment forms: AI and prerecorded voice are both regulated under the TCPA (FCC 24-17), and most parent numbers are mobiles, which need consent.
• Don't count on the nonprofit exemption: it covers up to three calls in 30 days to residential lines, and not mobiles.
• Register your texting number now: carriers have blocked unregistered business texting since 1 December 2024, and approval takes weeks.
• Record the voicemail early: the head of school records one short message in December, before the rush.
• Agree the handoffs: who takes aid questions, who calls families thinking of leaving, and how fast.

How do you measure a re-enrollment campaign?

• Signed contracts by the deadline, against the same date last year.
• Deposits actually paid, not just promised.
• Families with a clear answer: returning, leaving, or undecided with a named reason.
• Undecided families reached by a person before the deadline, not after.
• Aid conversations started in January instead of February.
• Records fixed: wrong numbers, changed custody arrangements and new addresses.

See how re-enrollment calls, voicemails and texts run for a school: visit the private schools page.