We need to send a big tuition check from our credit union, and these seem to be the options:
I’m leaning toward #3 but would love to know what others do!
Our college does electronic checks so that is what we do.
We do an electronic check through the college websites for our kids’ tuition
We set up direct deposit.
I have the 529 plan mail a check payable to the university but mailed to me that I then turn around and mail to the university with their remittance form. I have never bothered with certified mail.
I have paid in various ways. Sometimes we have entered an installment agreement with the U, so we can pay a semester in 5 smaller payments instead of one huge one. Sometimes I have paid in one lump sum per semester. I have tried to use our CCard because I liked getting cashback from the CCard and there was no extra charge for it.
Online
Both my kids schools had a procedure for direct electronic payment from our bank. Seems the easiest and most reliable way to do it.
@HImom
Nice if they let you use a credit card! Do you get cash back or miles?
I have the 529 plan folks send a check directly to the college.
Online through the schools’ billing/payment sites plus direct payment from the 529 Plans. If I were sending a large physical check, I would use UPS/Fedex or some other express service that tracks the package with confirmation of receipt at the destination.
We just do direct electronic payments. Works great!
Update! You guys got me exploring and I figured out how to do an electronic transfer after all – the college pulling from our credit union account.
Done and done!
Direct deposit from your bank would be best option. For 529 plan redemption, you can ask them to mail the check to the university directly or you could get the check and mail it yourself. Do confirm the Bursar’s office before sending, as our university has a specific PO box for paper checks and cannot send via Express/Certified mail.
We got cash back ususally but sometimes miles. Some Us charge you a %, making it not worth it to use CCards. Our U it was the same price-/cash or CCard. When the kids were in campus housing, that was part of the sum we could put on CCard.
We mail a personal check via first class mail for our two in two different colleges.
It’s a no-brainer if a college accepts credit card payment without fees. With high interchange fees charged by banks and AmEx in this country, few colleges are willing to eat up the cost these days.
With our situation, if you paid with a credit card, there was a % fee charged. That fee negated any potential points we could get by using a credit card.
That said, I saw a FB post recently where a parent did like 20 transactions, and somehow got CC points.
Both schools allowed payment by credit card without fees the first year, and in fact one school encouraged it at orientation. That school changed it without notice the second year and charged a 2.5% fee. Luckily, I didn’t owe that much because she’d moved off campus so could pay that online with an ACH bank transfer. After that first year, usually the school owed a refund because of scholarships and loans.
I would not mail a check to daughter #2’s school. Their mail room was AWFUL for both students and to get mail to faculty or staff. I sent in things a few times and it took WEEKS to reach the person. Three times they told us they didn’t get her hs transcripts which had been mailed in. I sent gifts to 4 kids in different colleges at the same time and the other 3 got them on a Mon/Tues and this kid got hers on Friday, at the mail room, not delivered to her. I started sending stuff to her boyfriend’s apartment.
If the only way to pay is by mailing a check, I’d mail it to the student and have her take it to the bursar’s office.
Even with fees (generally 2-3%), it sometimes still make sense to use a credit card. Banks/AmEx generally offer signing bonus for new credit cards with some minimum spend over a period of 3-6 months. Some even offer special spending bonus for existing cards (typically during shopping seasons). Some cards also offer additional bonuses if you meet certain annual spending minimum.