By the time this post publishes, I will be on the road with my son to help him move into his first college dorm room. Gulp! Some of you may be wondering: Am I about to score a ton of miles by paying college tuition with a credit card?
Paying College Tuition with a Credit Card
Some colleges don’t accept credit cards at all. Others accept credit cards but charge a processing fee of 2%-3%. A few colleges accept credit cards with no extra fees at all (like most of the New York state colleges).
In my son’s case, his college DOES accept credit cards for tuition/room and board. However, it charges a 2.85% processing fee. Therefore, for the most part, it doesn’t make sense for me to pay tuition with a credit card, even though I’d be paying off the balance in full every month.
The one exception to this is if I’m trying to meet the minimum spending on a new credit card to get a lucrative welcome bonus. If I don’t have enough organic expenses to meet the bonus by the deadline, I would consider paying college tuition and incur the fees as long as the bonus I’m earning is worth more than the fees.
College costs that don’t incur extra fees
While paying through the University Bursar office does come with fees, there are other college expenses that don’t. For example, when my son committed to his college, the $250 deposit was payable by credit card with no extra fees. In addition, we used a credit card to buy him some dorm supplies (bedding, towels, fan, etc.) to the tune of a few hundred dollars. The books he needs to buy or rent will also be paid to a book store or Amazon with a credit card.
Next year, if my son decides to rent an apartment off campus, I’ll look into getting the Bilt credit card (affiliate link). This card has no annual fee but gives you rewards for paying rent and has some attractive transfer partners like AA, Hyatt and Flying Blue.
Anyone else have a rising college freshman about to fly the nest?
I just paid (hopefully!) my daughter’s last semester of tuition and ran the numbers…with only 3 (the least so far) new credit cards between my husband and me, even with the 2.85% credit card fee, we cleared an easy $2500 in profit from the sign up bonuses…so it was a no brainer. As the mother of a 9th semester senior, this is old hat and I’ve learned to stack my credit card applications and maximize them-this final semester caught me by surprise otherwise the amount would have been larger. To each her own, but I enjoy watching the rewards roll in!
@Cookiemom Wow, that’s impressive!
Hi,
Son #1 – We paid his tuition with cc’s for the points as there was no fee.
Son #2 – 3% fee – paid cash
Daughter – is a freshman starting in September but got a full ride so I’m okay with not receiving any points. LOL.
Good luck to your son!
@Michelle Congrats on your daughter’s full ride scholarship!!
We have paid over $400k college tuition at five colleges with $200 gift cards (and another $200k before we discovered the trick). Introduced one college financial officer to miles and points starting with a fraud call and later met him in person and explained how travel on 5x points helps ease the pain of paying for college with no financial aid. All the colleges charged 2.75 or 2.85%, except Stony Brook, a NY college, as you mention. Hope your son enjoys college and you enjoy the subsidized travel.
A little more specifics on your situation would be great, especially for those of us who have this expense coming soon. I’m assuming you bought VGCs and used those to pay tuition?
Yes, buying Visa and Mastercard gift cards at office supply stores with Chase Ink cards. In the early days, paid the (sometimes discounted) activation fee and then loaded onto Bluebird/Serve and paid by check. Post-Bluebird/Serve shutdown buy and stack up the cards when activation fees are waived and pay tuition online in increments of $194.46 plus 2.85%. In the spirit of completeness, some of the payments were with $500 cards purchased from grocery stores on the old Amex Blue cards at 6x and 5x. We’ve had to call the controller’s office a few times when the system would stop accepting multiple payments and met with the finance officer at one college and always got reset. It has worked at five different colleges. Just paid for what should be the last undergraduate semester last week. When we emailed for a reset when the system blocked payments, the finance officer emailed us that he had reset the account and to Enjoy the Free Travel.
@RW I must admit that $400k number freaks me out! But then when I add up what it will cost for all 3 of mine it’s probably close to that. Glad you got some miles from paying for college!