Letter of the Week

Why has ASU opted to create such a hardship for students paying with Visa Cards? Understanding that there are fees that need to be paid, there are other options to collect those fees. The university already charges a great amount for classes, and should afford students every possibility to pay for them, including the use of Visa Cards.

Thank you for your e-mail regarding paying tuition by credit card.  As a former college student who also did not have the benefit of parental financial help and had to pay my way through school, I can relate personally to your concerns.  It is also the case that I have communicated with other students on the very issue you raise.

It’s important to remember that students opting to pay their fees using a debit or credit card have always been subject to a convenience processing fee, although ASU previously covered the cost as a service to its students.  Due to the massive increase in debit/credit card use in recent years, the university was expending a large annual sum to carry credit card processing fees for students – something it can no longer afford to do given limited resources.  The decision was ultimately made to utilize infiNET, a third-party vendor, to process credit card payments, thereby mitigating the significant and rising cost to the university resulting from credit card processing fees.  The savings realized by ASU because of this change helps to fund more faculty, classroom upgrades, library acquisitions, and other student enhancements.

Partnering with infiNET permits ASU to continue offering students the option for paying tuition and student accounts receivable charges with three of the four major credit/debit cards: MasterCard, Discover, and American Express (VISA does not permit the assessment of a processing fee on its credit cards and, therefore, cannot be accepted).  Without the services of our third-party vendor, we could not afford to retain credit card payment options for students.  ASU recognizes that the current system may not be ideal, but in having to choose between offering partial services or no services at all, we felt that accepting three of the four credit payment options was the best way to help, not hinder, our students.

We also encourage students to use the eCheck payment option, which like a debit card, withdraws funds directly from a checking or savings account.  eChecks are accepted at no cost and are a fast and easy payment option.  For more information, please click here.  I appreciate that you took the time to write and I hope you find this information helpful.