One-Stop Course Signup for Continuing Education
As Americans seek more flexible and affordable educational opportunities, continuing education and workplace training programs are growing in popularity.
These learners participate in individual classes, seminars, or workshops that don’t grant credits toward a degree or certificate program, but help them stay up to date with in-demand skills.
For both students and institutions, continuing education and workforce development programs thrive when enrollment and registration are simple and accessible. Yet, many trade and technical schools still require students to complete lengthy admission applications, even for short-term or noncredit courses.
Campus Cafe solves this problem with our new continuing education course storefront, which lets students register for classes without requiring admission. It’s a one-stop registration process that lets students sign up, pay and start learning without encountering administrative roadblocks.
Why Class Registration Without Formal Admission is a Lucrative Opportunity
More Americans than ever are polishing their skills or learning new ones through continuing education programs. The U.S. continuing education market was valued at $66.9 billion in 2024 and is projected to hit $95.9 billion by 2030. In response, institutions large and small are rapidly increasing their program offerings.
Continuing education courses offer greater flexibility to meet Americans’ busy work and family lives, as well as options to acquire new skills or deepen their learning without the commitment to longer certificate or degree programs.
To meet demand, many higher education institutions, including nonprofit colleges and universities, career schools, technical colleges and trade schools are expanding their offerings.
Registering for a continuing education course or workforce development class is a different process than traditional college admissions or even many trade and career certificate programs.
Instead of a lengthy application process that involves filling out forms, gathering personal and financial information, answering questions, submitting an application fee, and then waiting for an answer about acceptance, most continuing-ed courses require a simple sign-up and payment to participate.
Allowing learners to enroll in courses without going through the admissions process has multiple benefits, especially for non-traditional learners and first-time students:
Lower Barrier to Entry
Students don’t have to gather documents, complete applications or pay application fees.
No Long-Term Commitment
Classes operate independently and for shorter periods than degree and credit-based programs.
Reduced Financial Investment
Students pay per class and are not subject to application fees or costly tuition.
More Flexibility
The classes can accommodate learners’ personal or professional obligations.
Course enrollment without an application process is also a benefit for schools:
- Easy sign up encourages participation, with the possibility of converting to enrollment.
- Lower administrative costs allow schools to offer more class options.
- Reduced workload for admissions and enrollment staff due to less paperwork.
- Increased revenue with online payment processing.
How the Continuing Education Storefront Works
Campus Cafe’s storefront registration option is designed to make it as quick and easy as possible for a prospective student to enroll in a continuing education or workforce development class.
Instead of a typical college or certificate application, which asks for detailed personal, educational, and professional experience, one-stop continuing education registration is akin to an online transaction – something most Americans are familiar with and comfortable completing online.
The registration page is a signup form that is easy to navigate and features a clean design that’s simple to complete, increasing accessibility for users. Students do not need to fill out an application, log in to the Campus Cafe system or even have a school account.
The form creates an admissions profile for the student in Campus Cafe’s integrated CRM and registers that student for the specific course (or courses) they want to take.
Payment is similarly easy. While credit-bearing and certificate programs may require students to access a student portal to view and pay tuition, Campus Cafe’s registration storefront integrates payment directly in the process. Schools can choose from several online payment options, including automatic bank withdrawals (ACH) or credit card transactions. Here’s how it works:
Fast Enrollment
- Students select a course from the catalog and drop-down menus.
- No admission or SIS login required.
Easy Payment Collection
- Integrated with Authorize.net, PayPal or Stripe.
- Automatic billing rules apply to tuition and fees.
Built-In Safeguards
- Requires course to exist in catalog and be assigned to semester.
- Seat limits respected (no over-enrollment).
- Prerequisites enforced when applicable.
How Registration Without Admissions Benefits Trade, Career and Technical Schools
Many trade, career and technical schools are expanding their continuing education and workforce development offerings to accommodate students’ interest in shorter and more specific learning opportunities.
Campus Cafe’s continuing education storefront simplifies the enrollment process, improves the student experience, and facilitates more efficient administration and billing.
Campus Cafe is built to meet the unique needs of career, trade and technical schools.
Reduced Workload for Staff
Admissions and registrar teams avoid processing unnecessary applications. With fewer administrative tasks, staff have more time to support the student experience. And course enrollment is easy to manage through a dedicated module.
Increased Revenue Potential
A streamlined enrollment process helps generate more registrations and tuition. An improved student experience encourages repeat enrollment, which increases revenue.
Student Access to Essentials
Registered students can be granted permission to view schedules and grades. Students can easily view and register for the type of workforce development classes they want, rather than searching through all offerings.
Benefits of Using the Continuing Education Storefront for Nonprofit Universities and Colleges
Alongside credit-based degree programs, many two-year and four-year universities and colleges are broadening their continuing education offerings. These courses cater to adult and college students, working professionals, community members, alumni, or individuals interested in expanding their skills and knowledge in a specific area.
While universities and colleges have admissions staff and processes in place, Campus Cafe’s continuing education storefront promotes efficiency, streamlines continuing education registration, and encourages future enrollment. These noncredit class signups offer several advantages:
Our platform helps tackle the operational challenges that are holding colleges and universities back.
Dedicated Enrollment System
The online course registration operates independently from the admissions systems, simplifying operations.
Easy Course Management
Quick signups allow staff to monitor enrollment and payments in real-time.
Fast Payment Collection
Students pay per course via integrated online payments (Stripe, Authorize.net, Paypal, etc.)
Positive Student Experience
The easy-to-navigate system encourages more students to sign up for courses, thereby increasing revenue.
Real-World Applications
As more Americans seek to expand their skills, enter new careers, or explore their passions and interests, short-term and noncredit courses are a pathway to advancement.
Nonprofit universities and colleges, trade and career schools, and community organizations have responded with a broad menu of classes to meet that demand.
Popular options for continuing education include medical administration and services, hospitality, technology, home services, language acquisition, and food and beverage industries.
Courses typically fall into four categories:
- Continuing Education: Night and weekend classes for working adults furthering their education.
- Workforce Development: Industry certifications or reskilling programs.
- Community Training: Short-term, noncredit workshops.
- Special Interest Workshops: Project-based learning tied to skill or passions.
How the Storefront Integrates With the Campus Cafe Platform
The continuing education storefront is designed to simplify enrollment and administration for both students and school staff. Current Campus Cafe customers can access the feature at no additional cost.
Information and documentation on how to access and operate the feature are provided in the Knowledge Base, and Campus Cafe’s in-house technical support team is available to help your school get started.
The continuing education enrollment feature integrates seamlessly with other Campus Cafe modules, reducing administrative workloads while increasing efficiency and accuracy.
- Enrollment automatically populates student records.
- Payments, billing and reporting sync with existing workflows.
- Advisors, registrars and finance staff work from a single system of record.
- Integrates with third-party LMSs.
- The student portal provides access to payments, records and account services.
Get Started With Campus Cafe
For nonprofit colleges and universities, trade schools and technical colleges, removing barriers to enrollment is key to serving more students and meeting workforce demands. From noncredit classes to workforce development classes, continuing education is more popular than ever.
The continuing education storefront simplifies and streamlines the discovery, sign up and payment process, encouraging more students to click “enroll.”
With Campus Cafe, students can now register for classes without a formal admissions process, making continuing education and workforce development programs more flexible, accessible and efficient. Simplify registration, boost enrollment and free your staff to focus on student success.
Ready to simplify class sign-ups? Request a personalized walkthrough.
