Pro Tier schools can enforce capacity as part of Course Registration and other enrollment options
Course Registration can include enforcement of the maximum capacity of a course/section. This would prohibit a student from being registered for a class that is already full. Enforcing capacity would also prohibit enrollment of students using the other enrollment options available to admins.
Enforcing Capacity - Set up
Choosing to enforce capacity is done one section at a time on the Section Info page. This can be done when creating or editing the section. See the article - Creating/Editing Sections. Once you've completed that, it's all set up and will function as described below with Course Registration and the other options for enrolling students.
Enforcing Capacity - Course Registration
- When a Course Registration is submitted, a student's seat in each course is held for them. They are considered to be "Students Awaiting Enrollment." The list of students in this status can be found on the Section Info Page as well by highlighting the section on the scheduler when reviewed by the admin after the registration is submitted.
Enforcing Capacity - When do I know I'm for sure in the class?
Guardians/Students should be told (perhaps via the Course Registration instructions) that they are not definitely in the class until their enrollment is accepted by the school admin.
The steps of registration are:
- In Progress - from the start date/time until it is submitted by the Guardian/Student
- Awaiting Enrollment - admin reviews and then accepts the registration
- Enrolled - once the admin clicks "accept" the student is enrolled in each course
The Awaiting Enrollment step is crucial as the admin reviews student eligibility and prerequisites during this stage. If the student does not meet the requirements, they may lose their seat. Also, if the school uses courses for Registration instead of specific sections, the capacity is not enforced until the admin reviews the registration. See below - Courses vs Sections.
If an admin removes a course from a registration during the Awaiting Enrollment step, the seat becomes available for someone else to enroll.
Guardians/Students can confirm this on the student's school tab -
- Enrolled Sections - the courses will show here when the registration is accepted
- Course Registration - they can review the registration and see the approved date
Enforcing Capacity - Who gets the last seat?
The determination on capacity is made when the submit button is clicked. If at that moment there is a seat, then the student gets it.
How could a student lose a seat in a class during registration? During the time period when a Guardian/Student is completing the registration they can select a course with one last available seat and at the same time a second student can select that same seat, but submit their registration first. The second student gets the seat and the first student loses it. When the first student tries to submit the registration it will kick them back to the review page with a yellow triangle showing the conflict. If they click to edit the group, they will see that the course is now at max capacity and they have to pick another one.
Enforcing Capacity - Courses vs Sections
Admins have the option to use Courses or Sections for Course Registration. This is described in the article - Course Registration Part 2 - Creating/Editing Offered Courses.
Sections - capacity is enforced when the guardian/student clicks to submit the registration as described above. They have the option to make changes.
Courses - capacity is enforced during the "Awaiting Enrollment" step. The admin will see that the course is full and is given the option to make revisions. One option is for the admin to open up another section of the course.
Enforcing Capacity - other enrollment options
- Enrollment on the Section Info page
- Enrollment on the Student's School tab
- Enrollment via Quick Enroll
All three of the above enrollment options enforce capacity and admins will not be able to enroll too many students.
Enrollment on the Section Info page
Enrollment on the Student's School tab
Enrollment via Quick Enroll
Enforcing Capacity - workarounds
If you're reading this, you've probably run across a scenario where you need to workaround the enforced max capacity of a section. Here are a few options, but if we haven't covered it here please let us know if we can help you work through it.
- Adding another section - If one section is full it may be time to add another section. If you add that extra section, consider evening out the number of students. You would move enrolled students out of the original section and into the new one, then students that weren't able to get in the original section could be added manually or by revising their registration.
- Changing the capacity - if you're trying to fit a student in above the capacity (perhaps a student that wants to audit the class or a teacher's kid), one option is to add an extra seat in the class by editing the capacity of the section and increasing it. This can be done during registration if desired.
- Turn off Enforcement - if you've essentially completed registration and enrollment and need to add a student, you can turn off enforcement on the section and add one or more additional students.