Transact Campus Debuts Portal for Bulk Tuition Payments

Education payments solution provider Transact Campus launched a B2B bulk tuition payments portal.

Transact Sponsor Payments is designed to make it easier for third-party payors to make bulk payments toward student tuition and fees to finance offices at colleges and universities, according to a Tuesday (March 5) press release.

“Historically, university payment systems for third-party sponsor payments have been manual and time-consuming, adding complexity to collecting and reconciling tuition payments in a timely fashion,” Laura Newell-McLaughlin, the company’s executive vice president of integrated payments and campus commerce, said in the release. “…Without the burden of manually managing sponsored payments, universities will save time in tracking, managing and reconciliation and create a comprehensive digital experience.”

The company said in the release that the portal comes in response to two trends: a growing number of employers offering tuition reimbursement benefits — so-called “sponsor payments” — and a desire among younger students to use modern payment capabilities.

“Transact Sponsor Payments automates sponsor payment processes in a streamlined portal that’s seamlessly integrated into existing payment solutions,” the release said. “In one platform, university administration team members have real-time visibility into every stage of the sponsor payment process, and the sponsor can self-serve, view payments due and make payments.”

PYMNTS Intelligence found that while 26% of students can access tuition payments through an app, 68% of students want an app that allows them to pay tuition.

These students are also often saddled with inferior financial products, with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau warning in December that many college-sponsored credit cards and deposit accounts come with higher fees and worse terms and conditions than comparable products, thus preying on students, who tend to be less affluent than other consumers.

“Because schools sponsor or are co-branded with these programs, they do not face the same competitive pressures as they would in the public market,” PYMNTS wrote in February.

Transact’s latest offering comes nearly a year after the company launched a partnership with Amazon that combines its mobile credential and payment solutions with the tech giant’s Just Walk Out technology.

“Utilizing Transact Mobile Ordering for store entry and payments unlocks several useful tools for universities and vendors such as stored payment profiles, tender selection, tender discount and taxes, in-app receipts, user segmentation and transaction recovery,” Newell-McLaughlin said at the time.