<p>My daughter's school - Northeastern - just announced that it will stop accepting credit/debit cards for the fall semester for tuition payments. Glad to have gotten my cashback bonus for at least one year of college tuition. So I was wondering are there any schools out there left still accepting cards for tuition payments?</p>
<p>Yes. Lots of them.</p>
<p>Yes but we have noticed that none of our kid’s schools have taken VISA.</p>
<p>My D’s does.</p>
<p>I have noticed that the fee associated with tuition payment via credit cards can be significant.</p>
<p>Oberlin allows tuition/fee charges with a credit card</p>
<p>charges 2.99% to do so</p>
<p>Also allows payments of each semester’s bills spread over 3 months w/ no fee</p>
<p>Thankfully my grad school still does. I’d be unhappy if I had to pay that out of pocket only to get reimbursed by my employer the next month. This way, I put it on a card at the last possible time I can pay and get reimbursed right after grades are released, before I’ve accrued interest fees.</p>
<p>The credit card companies make money two ways. When you don’t pay your bill in full every month, they collect the ridiculous interest rates. In addition, they take a certain percentage from the merchant, often 2.5% up to 4% for some cards like American Express. In defense of American Express you have to pay that in full every month so they don’t make money from people not paying full so they charge merchants more to make up the lost revenue. A college which I assume gets no break from the credit card company is losing 2-3% when people pay by credit card which can be $600-$900 on a $30,000 bill. That explains why some are giving up the credit card option while others decided it is better to have the money and are willing to pay the fee…</p>
<p>I pay with credit card because I can get major reward points because it tooks looks like I’m making a major purchase and then paying it off right away. And with the points I can get free gift cards.</p>
<p>My d’s school lets you pay with a credit card but charges a percent larger than our credit card pays us, so it would be a negative endeavor. We pay by bank transfer.</p>
<p>Both our kid’s schools accepted credit cards … both with a fee that made it prohibitive to use a credit card</p>
<p>IIRC, one of the 2 schools permitted it, but charged a hefty percentage to do so, which I thought was not allowed per the vendors contract with the credit card companies. But no matter. We were not about to pay the interest rate, so didn’t use a credit card. IF they had not charged the “convenience fee” we’d have used a cr card in a heartbeat.</p>
<p>Both my D’s state flagship school and the CC where she occasionally takes classes accept credit card payments, with no extra fee involved.</p>
<p>2.5% service fee for Washington State - not worth it for our credit cards.</p>
<p>My child’s school accepts credit cards but there is a fee attached so it is not worth it - we pay by check. They also do not accept Visa.</p>
<p>My child is taking a summer class at one of our state schools. They accepted credit cards payments without and additional fee and they acted as if they prefered credit card payments over a check.</p>
<p>Does Rice win an award for the highest cc fee - 2.75% ? It’s interesting that they also will not allow visa payments (discover, mastercard or amEx only).</p>
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That’s not true. Our American Express card has the same payment options as our other cards. As far as I know, the reason they charge the merchant more is because they use the money to reward the customer. We get cash back at the end of the year from Amex and pretty hefty amounts.</p>
<p>Like other schools, our son’s will accept credit cards but there is a 2.75% fee. We have always paid by bank transfer. There is an option to pay over a few months but there is a fee, I believe $35/semester.</p>
<p>Both of our kids’ schools take Discover Card (and I assume other cards) with no fee. I usually pay the tuition bill two months after I pay the bill. Daughter is graduating next week (hopefully) and taking a break from school. Son pays his own school bills now (or his employer does).</p>
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<p>That’s probably either Blue or the old Optima cards but they make up a smaller percentage of all AE cards compared to the green/gold/platinum. They may also charge more…because they can and have for many years…</p>