Once you find a class that works best for your schedule and location, you can register your student on the website. After registering, you will receive an invoice to pay for the course. After the invoice is paid, you will receive an informational email with instructions to begin the online course. There are two components to completing driver’s education. The first is the online classroom portion, and the second is the 6 required in-person behind the wheel driving lessons with a certified instructor. About a week before the course start date, you should receive a detailed email about a scheduling meeting and setting up drive times for your student. At the scheduling meeting, your student will be paired up with a partner and all times will be coordinated and scheduled. The classroom portion due date will be listed on the website along with the course dates.

Our primary source of communication is email. Parents and students will receive an email about a week before the course dates listed on the website. This email will contain a class list, a scheduling meeting date, drive time options, the online classroom due date, and student expectations. (This info could be sent to your spam/junk folder so please keep an eye out for this info about a week before the course start date.) Parents and students are responsible for monitoring the email entered into the registration form.

If a student has a pre-determined partner he/she wants to drive with, parents may coordinate and communicate those drive times after receiving the drive time option email. We will then pair them up with their 6 drive sessions. Once we have collected partnered drive times and conducted the scheduling meeting a finalized master schedule will be sent out via email and that drive schedule will be what we follow throughout the duration of the course. Students cannot be added to the master schedule once it has been released.

Students must KNOW their work, sports (games & practice) academic, and personal obligations/schedule prior to sending in drive times or attending the scheduling meeting.

Students are encouraged to acquire a learner’s permit on their 14th birthday. Students who have attained a learner’s permit are eligible to take driver’s ed. All students are required to have a permit by the 1st day of the course. The state of Iowa requires an instructional permit be held for at least 6 months prior to upgrading to a school license or 12 months before receiving an intermediate license at the age of 16.

Once your student has completed and passed both the classroom portion and the in person driving lessons, certificates are uploaded digitally to the Iowa DOT portal and will remain there permanently. Please check with your teen if the online portion has been completed by the due date. We send a general email communicating certificates have been uploaded. However, if the online portion is not completed or any outstanding balance is due, the completion certificate will not be uploaded. Once the completion certificate is uploaded to the DOT and students/parents are free to set an appointment to upgrade their license.

If a student completed a course in another state, a public or licensed or private provider of the Iowa-approved course may issue the form for the student if the provider determines that the out-of-state course is comparable to the Iowa-approved course.

• 30 hours of classroom instruction
• 6 hours behind-the-wheel
• 4 hours of instruction concerning substance abuse
• 20 minutes of instruction concerning railroad crossing safety instruction relating to becoming an organ donor.

• The name of the school and state where the driver education class was held
• The grade for the class
• Number of hours of classroom instruction
• Number of hours behind-the-wheel
• Copy of the course outline

• $65 per hour fee for an additional private driving lesson. (2 hour minimum)

• $50 fee for a missed driving lesson.

• $49 fee for a 3-day online classroom extension. (certificate uploaded with current class)

• $59 re-enrollment fee. Allows an additional 21 days from the original due date to complete online classroom portion (no certificate upload with current class)

• There is a $45 transfer fee to move classes. Parent/student must communicate a class enrollment change 30 days prior to the start of the registered course to avoid tuition forfeiture.

• Regardless of transfer payment, tuition credit cannot be extended beyond the next available course.

• Tuition and fees are nonrefundable. If you’re unsure of your student’s basic driving skills or ability to prioritize the course, please consider postponing your enrollment. (Students need to complete 6-10 hours with a parent/guardian before starting the driving portion of our course). Please have the required instructional permit before registering.

Our primary source of communication is email. Parents and students are responsible for monitoring correspondence to email including messages that may have fallen into a junk/spam folder. Open Road is not responsible for emails that are misspelled or contain typos. Please monitor possible updates or course date changes via our website at openroaddriving.com.

Course requirements for both classroom and driving must be completed within the designated course time frame posted online.

About a week before the course start date (listed on website) parents and students will receive a detailed email. This email will contain a class list, a scheduling meeting date, drive time options, the online classroom due date, and student expectations. (This info could be sent to your spam/junk folder so please keep an eye out for this info about a week before the course start date.) Parents and students are responsible for monitoring the email entered into the registration form.

If a student has a pre-determined partner he/she wants to drive with, parents may coordinate and communicate those drive times after receiving the drive time option email. We will then pair them up with their 6 drive sessions. Once we have collected partnered drive times and conducted the scheduling meeting a finalized master schedule will be sent out via email and that drive schedule will be what we follow throughout the duration of the course. Students cannot be added to the master schedule once it has been released.

Please check your schedule obligations twice before coming to the meeting or submitting coordinated partner drive times. Students must know their work, sports (games & practice) academic, and personal obligations/schedule prior to sending in drive times or attending the scheduling meeting. These meetings are often crowded. Therefore, you will not have time to look up schedules on your phone while keeping others waiting to schedule, so please come prepared.

We highly recommend students complete the online classroom portion early or on time. Those who complete their work after the due date will be subject to a 3-day late fee/extension of $49. If the online classroom portion is completed within 3 days of the due date, the completion certificate will be uploaded with the current class. However, online classroom coursework completed beyond 3 days of the original due date will need to pay a classroom re-enrollment fee of $59. This allows 21 days from the original due date to complete the online classroom portion. However, re-enrollment may lead to delays in certificate upload, especially upon completion of our Spring, Summer, Fall and Christmas seasons as Open Road ceases services various times throughout the year.

Upon successful completion of the online course, driving sessions and all fees paid, certificates are typically uploaded within 24 hours of the last driving day of the course.

Students who cancel, change, or don’t show for a driving lesson are subject to a $50 “no show/change” fee. If a student incurs two “no shows/changes”, he/she will be dropped from the course with no refund. If a student does not show up for a driving session, fails to communicate and/or is unreachable via phone or text, the student is dropped from the course with no refund.

Students must bring their permit to every driving session. Tuition payment must be made online unless other arrangements have been made. Reduced fee students (approved through the school district) can pay cash or money order at the drive time scheduling meeting. However, all payment must be made prior to students scheduling driving sessions. No completion certificate will be issued without full payment.