Paying College Tuition bills

[msp2mco]

I am glad that schools charge a credit card fee. Otherwise, part of my payment is going to the credit card company. I want every dollar I am putting toward college to be going toward college.

 

[Kitten]

I am glad that schools charge a credit card fee. Otherwise, part of my payment is going to the credit card company. I want every dollar I am putting toward college to be going toward college.

I am in total agreement with this...I was shocked when we made the first tuition payment and realized there was no service charge. But I got the feeling that the university did not care where the money came from, just that the bill was paid. Luckily we put everything on the credit card and then paid that off with our savings.

 

[westjones]

I am glad that schools charge a credit card fee. Otherwise, part of my payment is going to the credit card company. I want every dollar I am putting toward college to be going toward college.

I understand that...but it is frustrating when we have to pay all of these fees for things my kids won't use. Like the Health Center fees. They won't be using that (since they are commuters, they will go to the doctor the same way they always have). And there is a fee to cover the cost of printing out papers....they won't be doing that, they prints stuff at home. And just a lot of fees to cover a lot of things. So it would have just been nice to be able to pay online with a credit card without an additional fee. A lot less hassle for them not to receive payments in the mail and then taking the check to the bank.

But oh well.....sounds like our college is not the only one, and it is only twice a year so we will deal with it. Just really was hoping for those Disney Reward points

 

[HM]

I am just curious....we have twins who just started college this year and I thought one 'perk' from this expense would be racking up Disney Reward Points. But then I find out that their college charges a service fee if you pay by credit card. So we wrote out checks instead because the service fee was 2.5% (so there would be no 'rewards' benefit to that).

Is that typical for colleges to do that? The bookstore didn't do that, so we at least got to earn some reward points on that expense. But for the tuition we won't at all.

Same at my son's school. We move money online to pay for his tuition and fees before the semester starts. No rewards.

 

[sammielynn]

We can pay tutiton with a credit card, but DS had a 529 account and I haven't had to pay much out of pocket. I was hoping to pay his rent with my Disney Visa, nope, they charge a fee! He is in off campus housing.

 

[westjones]

We can pay tutiton with a credit card, but DS had a 529 account and I haven't had to pay much out of pocket. I was hoping to pay his rent with my Disney Visa, nope, they charge a fee! He is in off campus housing.

Wow...that's a bummer too! I guess at least we can charge for their books. I am assuming that is the case for most people also. Bookstores take credit cards?

Oh well.....there went my dreams of more Disney Rewards points. I am really hoping to have enough in March 2013 to be able to take them to Disney and let them invite a friend each and stay in a 2 bedroom with our DVC points and pay for all of the food with our Disney Rewards. Then we would just pay for gas for our van to drive there and all the friends would have to pay for is the tickets to get in.

If I had more reward points, I would consider offering to buy tickets, but I can see that I won't have enough based on what I am charging each month.

 

[Mary Anne]

For once I was on the right side of the credit card. No fee from college, one son's too Am Ex and one my Disney Visa. Got frequent flyer miles from Am Ex and I think we've gotten at least 2 DVC annual passes from my disney pts.

 

[disneyeveryyear]

My DS18 is a freshman at an Illinois State School (SIU-C).

I was able to pay his full bill (tuition, fees, room & board) on my Disney Visa with no fees charged.

I charged it all and will take it out of savings and pay the bill next week. The check from his 529 plan was written out to us and we put it in the college savings account just waiting to pay the visa.

A couple hundred Disney Dollars every year is nothing to sneeze at!

 

[IUTBAM]

My DD goes to a state university here in CO and there is no additional charge for using a CC. I love the cashback rewards!

 

[Belle & Ariel]

Our third child is at a 5000 student private university in TN and we paid with Discover with no fee. Our other two went to 2 other public colleges and we always paid by credit card online and never had a fee.
I think the fee the schools pay to get the money now offsets carrying a balance and sending monthly bills.

 

[westjones]

My DD goes to a state university here in CO and there is no additional charge for using a CC. I love the cashback rewards!

You are very Lucky!!!!! haha I am still so sad not to get those reward points.

 

[momxx5]

Tad off topic, cannot remember poster,

You should not have to pay for services not being used like the Health Center, etc. You should be able to decline any services offered.
I guess if it comes within a package with other services it may need to be included.

 

[westjones]

Tad off topic, cannot remember poster,

You should not have to pay for services not being used like the Health Center, etc. You should be able to decline any services offered.
I guess if it comes within a package with other services it may need to be included.

There was an all inclusive fee that is for the health center, recreation center, sporting events, psychological services, shuttle buses, many entertainment programs, computer labs, and so on. It is just a general fee that has all of those things included.

 

[keishashadow]

Tad off topic, cannot remember poster,

You should not have to pay for services not being used like the Health Center, etc. You should be able to decline any services offered.
I guess if it comes within a package with other services it may need to be included.

bingo! For commuters, often if you live X number of miles from campus and commute you can request that some fees be waived (the activity one comes to mind)

that said, the college my youngest attends in PA charges a 3% CC fee. I'm all about running expenses thru a CCthen paying it off but it's not fair if the school would absorb the cost and pass it along to everybody...whether they're using a CC or not.

 

[momxx5]

WestJones,

I was kinda thinking that was the way it worked.

You can look at it like an "umbrella". Its there and hope you never have to use it!!!

 

[marko]

I was also looking forward to some extra big rewards, but there would have been a 2.7% fee. I was so disappointed.

 

[dcfromva]

I am just curious....we have twins who just started college this year and I thought one 'perk' from this expense would be racking up Disney Reward Points. But then I find out that their college charges a service fee if you pay by credit card. So we wrote out checks instead because the service fee was 2.5% (so there would be no 'rewards' benefit to that).

Is that typical for colleges to do that? The bookstore didn't do that, so we at least got to earn some reward points on that expense. But for the tuition we won't at all.

We were able to get points from charging room and board on our CC for DS's first couple of years, but then they changed the policy and added in a service fee if you used a CC --so we went back to using checks. It was great while it lasted...

 

[pyrxtc]

you all know that you can get a check from Chase Visa for your Disney Visa to get points (most other companies will give you a check too) and send that in to pay whatever. I just got checks from Visa in the mail again yesterday and it was no fee to use them and sometimes they say 0% financing on whatever we paid for with those checks for 6 months or so.

We haven't used them yet but I'm sure we will someday.

 

[chisnpeke]

you all know that you can get a check from Chase Visa for your Disney Visa to get points (most other companies will give you a check too) and send that in to pay whatever. I just got checks from Visa in the mail again yesterday and it was no fee to use them and sometimes they say 0% financing on whatever we paid for with those checks for 6 months or so.

We haven't used them yet but I'm sure we will someday.

These give you points as well? I always thought that using the checks did not give any sort of reward.

 

[Arielle22]

DD just started at MCLA in MA. I paid her tuition and dorm with my AMEX. I checked first with the school and was surprised there was no fee.

My coworker thought they just wanted the money and the fee charged the school was similar to a pay in full discount.

I pointed out to DH that the amount we paid for one semester was more than what we paid for our first several cars combined.

When we went to the bookstore on campus the store didn't take AMEX so I used a Visa I get points with. I figure it is an outside company running the bookstore.