Greater schooling prices have steadily risen over the previous twenty years, making tuition a major expense for a lot of households.
Whereas many faculties and universities settle for bank cards for these funds, it isn’t all the time free to take action. So if you happen to’re accountable for tuition fee, must you pull out your rewards credit card, go for paying with a verify or withdraw out of your checking account?
On this publish, we’ll allow you to reply that very query.
Are you able to pay tuition with a bank card?
It depends upon your faculty. The very first thing to do is seek for “pay [Insert college name here] tuition with a bank card.” You’ll doubtless see the relevant web page within the first few outcomes. In case you can’t discover that info on-line, name the finance or registrar’s workplace.
Typically talking, the faculty or college in query will fall into considered one of three classes:
- Tuition can’t be paid with a bank card (equivalent to my undergraduate alma mater, Wake Forest University).
- Tuition might be paid with a bank card with no extra charge (such because the University of Nevada — Las Vegas, from which I obtained my M.Ed.).
- Tuition might be paid with a bank card with an extra charge (equivalent to the two.75% charge charged by the University of Florida, the place I earned my M.B.A.).
With the primary possibility, if you happen to can’t pay tuition with a bank card, you’re out of luck — a number of establishments impose these restrictions. Nevertheless, right here’s what to do in case your faculty doesn’t fall into that class.
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Faculties that don’t cost card processing charges
In case you pays tuition with a bank card and never incur an extra service charge, then you definitely completely ought to do it — and be grateful that you could.
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Simply make certain you may repay your entire quantity when your assertion comes due, which is our number one commandment for credit cards. In case you can’t and should carry a steadiness, any curiosity and finance expenses will simply cancel out the factors or miles you’d earn on the acquisition.
Sadly, the variety of faculties on this second class is comparatively small. So, it is important to verify with the varsity you are attending earlier than committing to this selection.
Paying a charge for utilizing a bank card
The third class is the place issues get extra difficult. About two-thirds of the highest nationwide universities settle for bank card funds, with charges starting from 2.25% to three% at different universities. So, is it value paying tuition with a bank card if you must pay a charge?
As with a lot of what we cowl at TPG, the reply isn’t absolute. It’s usually value it if the worth you’re incomes on a rewards bank card is greater than the charge paid, however that math can get a bit of extra concerned on some playing cards.
Let’s check out the place it could make sense.
Incomes a welcome supply
The primary state of affairs by which you need to think about paying tuition with a bank card is if you obtain a bank card welcome bonus. Many prime journey rewards bank cards supply giant level or mile bonuses for reaching a minimal spending threshold inside a set time-frame.
Typically, your on a regular basis spending might not be sufficient to get you there. If the one potential method of assembly the required minimal spending threshold to earn a bonus is to incur a charge on tuition funds, it may make sense to take action.
For instance, let’s say you have been within the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (see rates and fees) and its present welcome supply. New cardholders can earn 75,000 bonus factors after spending $5,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening. You could marvel if you happen to ought to pay together with your new Sapphire Most well-liked to lock within the welcome bonus and hundreds of factors on prime of that.
If the schooling fee in query is $20,000 and your faculty expenses a 2.6% charge, this might tack on an extra $520 in charges. Nevertheless, in doing so, you’d earn the 75,000-point supply plus 20,520 factors for the acquisition itself (at the usual incomes price of 1 level per greenback spent). These 95,520 factors are value round $1,958 based on TPG’s December 2025 valuations — greater than thrice the $520 charge the faculty expenses.
As soon as once more, this logic solely applies you probably have no different strategy to spend the required quantity to earn the welcome bonus. In case you can reach that threshold in other (fee-free) ways, you’re significantly better off doing that and utilizing a distinct technique to pay the schooling that received’t incur a charge.
Associated: Cards currently offering welcome bonuses of 100,000 points or more
Incomes beneficial rewards
One other time you need to think about swiping a card for tuition is when the factors or miles you’d earn are extra beneficial than the charges you’ll incur. This can be a grey space, as everybody has their very own method of valuing the assorted loyalty currencies accessible.
An excellent place to begin is our monthly valuations, which offer a ballpark estimate of how a lot you may redeem your factors and miles for. This may also help you determine which bank card is finest for paying faculty tuition.
Nevertheless, do not forget that these valuations usually apply to redeeming points for maximum value, particularly in terms of transferable point currencies. So, the maths could not make sense if you happen to redeem your factors instantly.
Listed here are a few examples of when the factors or miles you’d earn would outweigh the extra charge:
- Chase Freedom Unlimited® (see rates and fees): This card affords 1.5% money again on all purchases, however if you happen to additionally maintain a “premium” card such because the Chase Sapphire Reserve® (see rates and fees) you may convert these cash-back earnings into fully transferable Ultimate Rewards points. That is the equal of incomes 1.5 factors per greenback spent on each buy. Since TPG’s December 2025 valuations peg Final Rewards factors at 2.05 cents apiece, you’re basically getting a return of three.1%. If the proportion charge for utilizing a bank card for tuition is lower than this quantity, you’ll come out forward through the use of the Chase Freedom Unlimited.
- The Business Platinum Card® from American Express: This may occasionally appear unusual on the floor for the reason that Amex Enterprise Platinum solely affords 1 Membership Rewards level per greenback spent. Nevertheless, it additionally provides you 100% extra factors on purchases of $5,000 or extra (as much as $2 million per calendar yr). So, in case your tuition fee exceeds $5,000, you’ll earn 2 factors per greenback spent. TPG’s December 2025 valuations peg Membership Rewards factors at 2 cents apiece, so that you’d get a return of 4% on these purchases of $5,000 or extra. Once more, if the charge for utilizing a card is lower than this, go forward and use the cardboard. As all the time, you should definitely regulate these numbers based mostly by yourself valuations and consider your faculty’s bank card fee coverage to find out whether or not it is smart to incur the charge.
- Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card and Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card: These playing cards supply limitless 2 miles per greenback on all purchases. At TPG’s December 2025 valuation of 1.85 cents per Capital One mile, this equates to a 3.7% return on all purchases.
As all the time, regulate these numbers based mostly by yourself valuations and consider your faculty’s bank card fee coverage to find out whether or not incurring the charge is smart.
Utilizing an introduction annual proportion price (APR) supply
The ultimate time it is smart to incur a bank card charge for tuition funds is much less glamorous, however it’s nonetheless essential to notice.
With the worth of upper schooling so excessive, many dad and mom aren’t in a position to cowl a full semester’s tuition with money within the financial institution or cash in a school fund. Because of this, monetary support packages have turn out to be ubiquitous, with nearly 90% of first-time college students receiving some form of aid. Nevertheless, scholar loans typically include excessive rates of interest.
That is the place a new credit card with an introductory 0% APR supply might be the most suitable choice for tuition. These playing cards typically permit you an preliminary “grace interval” to repay your purchases with no curiosity earlier than they turn out to be topic to plain charges.
This could be a nice possibility if you happen to’ve exhausted the funds in a 529 faculty financial savings plan, don’t need your youngsters to be saddled with scholar debt and may end paying off your entire steadiness earlier than the promotional interval ends. Keep in mind that these purchases are additionally eligible to earn factors or miles.
As soon as once more, please notice that you need to all the time pay the complete steadiness earlier than the promotional interval ends. In any other case, you’ll be topic to an APR a lot greater than the speed you’d get on nearly any scholar or private mortgage.
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Backside line
Whether or not you’re just getting started or are a factors and miles professional, you’re hopefully in search of any strategy to maximize your every day spending by travel rewards credit cards.
Paying tuition with a bank card is a stable choice to earn factors and miles. Nevertheless, particular person establishments could cost you for the privilege of utilizing bank cards (or could stop you from doing so totally).
In case you incur a charge for utilizing a card, there could also be cases the place it is smart, so do your analysis to find out the most effective bank card to make use of to pay faculty tuition. I hope this publish has helped illustrate precisely when that’s the case.
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