Paying for tuition with credit card

[Anastasis]

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Has anyone ever tried paying for their tuition with their credit card (for the Rewards points) then paying off the bill when their finaid check comes? Seems like a good idea but i wanted to know if it was in violation of some rule I dont' know about.

 

[okbye]

Your school may not take credit cards, if they do they should be able to advise you on it. I know you can do that with Grad PLUS loans (if the school takes credit cards), not sure about other federal loans.

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cc/20060823a1.asp

 

[Anastasis]

Your school may not take credit cards, if they do they should be able to advise you on it. I know you can do that with Grad PLUS loans (if the school takes credit cards), not sure about other federal loans.

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cc/20060823a1.asp

Oh - I thought of that. I already called and they do take credit cards 🙂

I just wanted to make sure there wasn't some kind of federal rule that I would be breaking by doing this.

 

[Lesley]

Has anyone ever tried paying for their tuition with their credit card (for the Rewards points) then paying off the bill when their finaid check comes? Seems like a good idea but i wanted to know if it was in violation of some rule I dont' know about.

If you school does accept credit cards for payment, ask if there are any additional charges for using this method of payment. In some instances, schools do attach a processing fee. If not, reward points are always a good idea. Most cards with reward programs have an annual fee, so it's good get as much "milege" as you can. 🙂 Good Luck.

 

[okbye]

I asked around the office and no one knew for sure but it should work. Like I said above it is fine with a Grad PLUS loan, in fact the government lists that as a benefit of the loan. If the government doesn't mind for that then they shouldn't mind for any other loan.
When your school receives the money from the government they issue you a check for whatever is left over, you would just have more left over.

 

[okbye]

If you school does accept credit cards for payment, ask if there are any additional charges for using this method of payment. In some instances, schools do attach a processing fee. If not, reward points are always a good idea. Most cards with reward programs have an annual fee, so it's good get as much "milege" as you can. 🙂 Good Luck.

They can't legally charge extra for taking a credit card. That's why many schools don't take them , they have to eat the 2% processing fee charged by the cc company.

 

[MJB]

I was wondering about this as well, and figured tuition would not be possible as the school will probably take their cut out of the loans before issuing the checks.
Now, books and supplies are another story.

It would be sweet to get 60K miles by paying my tuition with it though!

 

[Anastasis]

Depends on how your account works at your school. At my school the account is open to be paid *before* your finaid is distributed. That means if you go in and pay for your tuition (and fees) before the funds are distributed that when they cut you a refund check (for living expenses) because you have no balance you will get the full amount in a refund check.

But that's just for my school - it may be different other places.

 

[Lesley]

They can't legally charge extra for taking a credit card. That's why many schools don't take them , they have to eat the 2% processing fee charged by the cc company.

Yes, but I think they legally get around it by using a third party vendor in some cases. Example copied and pasted below. Correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks.


"7 - What is the service fee and how much is it?

The service fee is what is charged to the payer when he or she uses a credit card to pay tuition and fees, health insurance premiums, and/or BYU sponsored loans. It is non-refundable. The current service fee charged by the third party vendor is 2.75% of the transaction amount. For example, if the transaction amount is $1705, the service fee would be $46.89 making the total amount due $1751.89.

8 - Is the service fee only applied to tuition related charges? Is insurance included in that?

The service fee is applied to tuition charges as well as related expenses such as class fees, reassessment fees, late fees, and study abroad charges. Health insurance premiums are included in the tuition charge because they are semester/term based.

9 - What is a merchant fee?

Credit card companies charge a fee to the merchant to process a credit card transaction. The merchant is the business that takes your payment. So, every time you use your credit card at BYU, restaurants, over the internet, etc. the business from which you purchase something will be charged a fee by the credit card company. This is generally invisible to the customer."

 

[BrainDoctor]

It's been my experience that American Express is more than happy to remove the amount of that extra % surcharge they add on.

What I always do is call the AmEx rep and tell them I am going to make a charge where the merchant is requiring I pay an extra 2-3% for using my card rather than pay cash. They get all flustered, and tell you to just go ahead and make the charge then dispute the bill for the 2-3% amount when your statement arrives.

It's been my experience that they take it off right away with no questions asked. But make sure you get the rep to put a note on your account that says they've authorized it, that way you keep your bases covered.

 

[alwaysaangel]

There was a thread about this a while back:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=389504

The gist was yes if your school lets you pay without fees and your credit limit is high enough (unlikely) then you can pull it off.

Technically you're not supposed to use federal loans to pay of "consumer debt" (credit cards). But since most med students use credit cards to buy groceries etc and pay it off with loans with no problem it should be fine.