Instructions for paying university tuition by credit card

College education costs yes increased steadily over the past two decades, making tuition a major expense for many families.

Although many colleges and universities accept credit cards for these payments, it is not always free. If you are responsible for paying tuition, should you withdraw money? credit card rewards, Choose to pay by check or withdraw money from your bank account?

In this article we will help you answer that question.

Can you pay tuition by credit card?

It depends on your university. The first thing to do is search for “[Insert college name here] Tuition credit card.” You’ll likely see an applicable page in the first few results. If you can’t find that information online, call the finance office or the registrar’s office.

Generally, the college or university in question will fall into one of three categories:

1. Tuition cannot be paid by credit card (such as my alma mater, Wake Forest University).
2. Tuition can be paid by credit card without additional fees (eg University of Nevada-Las Vegasfrom which I earned my M.Ed.).
3. Tuition can be paid by credit card for an additional fee (such as a 2.75% fee charged by University of Florida, where I got my MBA).

With the first option, if you can’t pay your tuition with a credit card, you’re out of luck – some schools impose these restrictions. However, here’s what to do if your school doesn’t fall into that category.

Related: Can you pay your student loans with a credit card?

Universities do not charge card processing fees

If you can pay your tuition with a credit card and not have to pay additional service fees, then you should definitely do it – and be grateful that you can.

Just make sure you can pay the full amount when due, that’s our responsibility. The number one commandment for credit cards. If you can’t and have to carry a balance, any interest and financing charges will easily cancel out the points or miles you earn on your purchases.

Unfortunately, the number of schools that fall into this second category is relatively small. In fact, I went through the list of information from US News & World Reports. Top 100 national universities in the country and found only four places that allow paying tuition by credit card for free:

• State University of New York (SUNY) – Binghamton
• SUNY — Stony Brook
• SUNY — College of Environmental Science and Forestry
• SUNY — Buffalo

Furthermore, it appears that most, if not all, state universities in New York do not charge fees for card payments, so if you are considering or have attended one of these schools then you are lucky.

I found other exceptions for some classes of students. For example, part-time students at Boston University can pay for free via credit card, as can most graduate students at Northeastern.

Pay fees when using credit cards

The third category is where things get more complicated. About two-thirds of the nation’s top universities allow credit card payments, with fees ranging from 2.25% (Pennsylvania State University) to 2.85% (Brandeis University). So, is it worth paying tuition with a credit card if you have to pay fees?

Like most things we cover at TPG, the answer isn’t absolute. It’s usually worth it if the value you earn on a rewards credit card is greater than the fees charged — but that math can be a little more involved with some cards.

Let’s see where it makes sense.

Receive a welcome offer

The first situation where you should consider paying your tuition with a credit card involves the credit card welcome bonus. Many top travel rewards credit cards offer large amounts of points or miles for reaching a certain spending level within a certain time frame.

Sometimes, your usual spending may not be enough to get you there. If the only possible way to meet the minimum spending threshold required to earn the bonus is to pay a fee when paying for tuition, then it may make sense to do so.

For example, let’s say you’re interested Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and its current sign-up bonus. New cardholders can earn 60,000 Ultimate Rewards points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening. You may be wondering whether you should pay with Chase Sapphire preferred to get the sign up bonus and thousands of points on it.

If the tuition payment in question is $20,000 and your university charges 2.6%, this would cost an additional $520. However, when you do so, you’ll get a 60,000-point offer plus 20,520 points for the purchase itself (with a standard points-earning rate of 1 point per dollar spent). These 80,520 points are worth $1,651 USD according to TPG as of December 2024 valuation — more than three times the $520 fee the university charges.

Again, this logic only applies if you have no other way to spend the money needed to earn the sign-up bonus. If you can reach that threshold in other (free) ways, It’s better to do that and use another method to pay tuition without paying fees.

Related: 12 cards currently offer welcome bonuses of 100,000 points or more

Earn valuable rewards

Another time you should consider swiping your card for tuition is when the points or miles you earn are worth more than the fees you’ll incur. This is a very ambiguous area as everyone has their own way of valuing different loyalty currencies.

A good place to start is ours monthly pricing to get a playing field for how much you can get from your points and miles to help you decide the best credit to use to pay for college. However, keep in mind that these valuations generally apply to exchange points for maximum value, especially when it comes to transferable points currency, so the math may not make sense if you convert points directly.

Here are some examples of when the points or miles you earn will outweigh the additional fee:

• Pursue Unlimited Freedom® This card offers 1.5% cash back on all purchases, but if you also have a “premium” card like Chase Sapphire Reserve®, you can convert those return earnings into Full bonus points at the end. This equates to earning 1.5 points per dollar spent on every purchase. As of December 2024 by TPG valuation pegs Ultimate Rewards at 2.05 cents per point, essentially giving you a return of 3.1%. If the fee percentage for using a credit card to pay for tuition is lower than this amount, you will have an advantage by using Pursue unlimited freedom.
• American Express Business Platinum® Card: On the surface, this seems strange since Amex Business Platinum only offers 1 membership rewards point per dollar spent. However, it also gives you 50% more points on purchases of $5,000 or more (up to $2 million per calendar year). So if your tuition payments exceed $5,000, you’ll earn 1.5 points per dollar spent. TPG December 2024 valuation pegs Membership Rewards at 2 cents per person, so you’ll get 3% back on purchases worth $5,000 or more. Again, if the card usage fee is lower than this, continue using the card. As always, be sure to adjust these numbers based on your own judgment and evaluate your school’s credit card payment policy to determine whether incurring a fee makes sense.
• Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card And Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card: These cards offer unlimited 2 miles per dollar on all purchases. With TPG December 2024 valuation of Capital One miles for 1.85 cents per mile, which equates to a 3.7% profit on all purchases.

As always, adjust these numbers based on your own judgment and evaluate your school’s credit card payment policy to determine whether incurring a fee is reasonable.

Use introductory annual percentage rate (APR) offers

The last time it made sense to charge tuition by credit card, it was obviously less appealing but important.

With the cost of higher education so high, many parents cannot cover the entire semester’s tuition with cash in the bank or money from a college fund. As a result, financial aid packages have become popular, with More than 80% of college students receive some form of aid. However, student loans often come with high interest rates.

This is place one New credit card with 0% introductory APR offer may be the best credit card for tuition. These cards often allow you an initial “grace period” to pay off your purchases interest-free before they are subject to standard rates.

This can be a great option if you’ve maxed out your 529 college savings plan, don’t want your child to be saddled with student debt, and can finish paying off the entire balance before Promotion period ends. Remember that these purchases are also eligible to earn points or miles.

Again, I should reiterate that you must be able to pay the full balance before the promotional period ends. Otherwise, you’ll be subject to an APR that’s much higher than the interest rate you’d receive on any loan.

Related: Best balance transfer credit cards

Bottom line

Whichever you are just getting started or are an expert in points and miles, hope you are looking for any way to maximize your daily spending through travel rewards credit card; Paying tuition with a credit card is a solid option for earning points and miles. However, individual entities may charge you for the privilege of using your credit card (or may prevent you from doing so altogether).

If you have to pay a fee to use a card, there may be situations where it makes sense, so do your research to determine the best credit card to use to pay for college. I hope this post has helped illustrate exactly when that is the case.

Related: TPG’s Beginner’s Guide to Using Credit Cards: Everything You Need to Know