<p>Has anyone heard of Tuition Management Systems? Came across it when looking into certain schools tuition/financial aid webpage. I know it's not financial aid but a pay per month tuition
payment plan. Some of the colleges my S is looking at have this option. Any good/bad experiences with it?</p>
<p>Great experience with it in high school…small annual fee; spread payments over 10 months…</p>
<p>We used Tuition Management Systems for many years. Easy to set up the account and we did auto transfer from our bank account.</p>
<p>I have used it for the past 3 years for S’s COA. It’s been great. I believe the charge is flat (say, $30) and it spreads the cost, as Rodney indicated, over 10 monthly installments.
Never a problem.</p>
<p>Use it at D2’s university. Annual small registration fee (I think it’s $25) and each semester’s tuition, fees, r & b spread out over 4 months. </p>
<p>Used a similar system at D2’s private high school too. (Different provider, worked the same but spread payments out over 10 months.)</p>
<p>For those using TMS and have 529 accounts, how do you handle the 529 distributions? Our 529 accts will only distribute checks to parents or directly to school, but not the TMS. I read conflicting reports that this may cause problems with the IRS since there is no direct link that the 529 distribution is solely used for college cost.</p>
<p>Hmmm…why wouldn’t you just have the 529 paid directly to the college and use Tuition Management for any balance YOU need to pay.</p>
<p>I can’t quite remember the reasons why I ended up not going to TMS. Probably because I was under the impression that it’s all or nothing deal, did not realize it can be split payment. Or at the time, I was going to let 529 account recovere a bit and have it reimburse to us at year end. But did not want to hassle with potential extra IRS paperwork.</p>
<p>We did TMS for #2 child and are now using it for #3. It’s very straightforward. We do 10 payments - the school decided the start date and it’s automatically deducted from our checking account. Don’t know about the 529.</p>
<p>Thank you for responses! Would make me feel more confident to use it!</p>
<p>We used TMS (with a 529). I thought TMS was a great deal, essentially a fee of about $50, and the payments could be spread out until about February of the school year. This is a MUCH better deal than my kids’ private high school offers for payment over time.</p>
<p>I had the 529 payment sent in a check to me (the parent), and I paid the college bill with a personal check to the college. You just want to make sure it stays in the same calendar year (getting the payment and when the college posts your payment). The 1099-Q the plan sends is in my name, college sends their form in my kid’s name, but Turbotax had a way to handle that so I could show the 529 withdrawal and the associated expenses (it was new in Turbotax this year, before that it was a hassle). If you use an accountant for your taxes, they will be able to handle it. Also be sure that the expenses you are withdrawing for are covered (for example, D studied at a program abroad where she enrolled directly in the foreign unversity and did not pay her US college for that semester; those costs could not be paid for from the 529 --but that was a pretty unusual circumstance).</p>
<p>We use TMS. I pay monthly for 10 months, it is automatically withdrawn from my checking account, and there was no fee. Maybe different colleges have different agreements with TMS if some are charged a fee. </p>
<p>Our son’s private high school used FACTS. It was pretty much the same thing, only over 11 months and a $60 yearly fee.</p>
<p>intparent - thank you for your post. I am intrigued that Turbotax can handle it. We use the software to prepare our annual tax return, I will have to play with a hypothetical case this year to see how it works. Sounds like careful document keeping and cross referencing is required, just in case the IRS comes calling.</p>
<p>TMS is great. Used it for DS’s high school and will again when the 529 disappears - which will be the end of this year! Just be sure to check out tuition insurance plans as well - esp as they related to TMS or any other like service.</p>
<p>We did partial payments thru tms for our daughters, we decided amounts for each and it worked great</p>
<p>When we used TMS, we were able to choose the number of payments we wanted to make per year…(there were several choices). We chose the 10 month plan.</p>
<p>Used another tuition management company last two years with no issues. Used Tuition Management System this year and made a mistake on second payment in the way I set it up. It looked like the payment cleared, then it was assessed a return payment fee of $30 and a $40 late payment fee as well. The late payment fee was assessed each month due to a partial payment being assigned to the account as part of the payment was paying these late fees and return check fees. Also, the total overdue amount is higher than the fee amounts by $6. In all, I will have paid $211 in fees for this account. This is a high management fee for a simple error. There is absolutely no grace in this system. $40 is a premium late fee and there is no reason for TMC to make people aware of this policy of late fees and cont. of late fees if you under pay the next month. I had to dig to find the info. They don’t market to the student or family really. We are told by the college what company to use and further…? is each deal different with the various colleges? It appears they might be…</p>
<p>Used TMS for 4 years with D1. Currently on year 2 with S1. No problems. Set up 12 month plan (there were several choices) and the payment is deducted directly from my checking account. Love it.</p>
<p>I used them with both son#1 and son#2. Never had any problems. We could choose between several different payment plans and it was very easy to enroll.</p>
<p>Always straight forward answers. Has worked A+ --and that is not a thing I give out easily.</p>