Taking the Charge Out of Tuition

At universities all across the country, students and their parents have gotten used to paying tuition and other fees by credit card. It allows them to earn airline miles and, by paying fees electronically, to avoid long lines. However, students at the University of Colorado at Denver may not have that option much longer.

The university is finding the charge-card processing fees too expensive. Last year, students charged more than $20 million in tuition and the school was hit with a $400,000 processing fee. Not all schools in Colorado's system allow credit card charges. The University of Colorado at Boulder, for instance, opted not to accept credit card payment for tuition, fearing that the fees would be too great.

UCD is considering several possibilities to deal with the issue. One is to eliminate tuition payment by credit card altogether. Another, and the one Assistant Vice Chancellor Rod Anderson considers more viable, is to have students absorb the cost. "They'd still be able to charge it," Anderson says, "and they could still earn the miles."

The school will be considering the policy change this summer for possible implementation in fall 2003 or spring 2004. Anderson acknowledges that there's a chance that "it will stay the same, in which case we'll just have to look at the budget again and figure out another way to cut costs."