Build Your Application Form
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The form is what families actually fill out when they apply. Lazarus starts you with the essential contact fields and lets you add your own custom questions on top. This guide covers the default fields, the custom field types available, and how to decide whether a question is asked once per family or once per student.
Where to Build Your Form
On the Application forms tab, open the menu on your application's card and choose Edit form. This opens the form builder, where you'll see the default fields already in place and can add your own.
Default Fields
Every application automatically collects a standard set of contact and address details, so you don't have to recreate them:
- Email address
- Full name
- Phone number
- Street address, and suite or apartment number
- City, state, and ZIP code
These default fields are always part of the form and can't be removed or rescoped — they're what Lazarus needs to create family and student records from a submission. You add everything else as custom fields.
Adding a Custom Field
To add a question, choose a field type, give it a name (the question families see), and set whether it's required. You can also add help text — a short line of guidance shown beneath the question.
The available field types are:
- Text — a single line of free text.
- Email — a text field validated as an email address.
- Phone — a text field formatted for phone numbers.
- Date — a date picker.
- Number — numeric input only.
- Dropdown — a list families choose one option from. You'll enter the options when you create the field.
- Multiple choice — a set of options presented for selection.
- Yes or No — a simple yes/no toggle, good for consent and eligibility questions.
- Textarea — a larger box for longer, paragraph-style answers.
- Upload — lets families attach a file, such as records or documentation.
Required Fields and Help Text
Turn on Required for any question a family must answer before they can submit. Use it deliberately — every required field is one more thing standing between a family and a completed application, so reserve it for information you truly need up front.
Help text is the place for instructions, examples, or context ("Enter the name exactly as it appears on the birth certificate"). It keeps your question label short while still guiding families.
Per-Student vs. Per-Household Questions
Each custom field has a scope that controls how often it's asked:
- Per Household — asked once for the whole family. Use this for anything that's the same across all their children, like how they heard about your school or a household agreement.
- Per Student — asked once for each student on the application. Use this for anything specific to a child, like grade level, allergies, or a prior school.
Choosing scope thoughtfully saves families from answering the same per-child question at the household level, or repeating a household answer for every student. Note that the default contact fields have a fixed scope and can't be changed.
Editing and Reordering
You can come back to the form builder any time to edit a field, change its help text, or remove a custom question. Changes apply to the form going forward.
Tip: Keep your first version short. It's tempting to ask everything up front, but shorter forms get finished more often. You can always follow up with accepted families for additional details once they're enrolled.
With your form built, the next guide covers your settings and the emails families receive.