Has anyone paid for college with a credit card?

[Franklin]

My daughter is going to her first year of college this fall and I noticed that they have a credit card payment option.  Has anyone used this option to reap the cash back/rewards?  They have a 2.5% convenience charge for credit card payments so it would have to clear that amount first to be worth it.  I'm prepared to pay in cash but I'm looking to optimize the payment.

[Elliot]

Yes, we pay out of pocket for my partner's tuition. Put it on the cc and get 1% cash back because why the heck not? We don't have a convenience fee, though.

[Dexterous]

I doubt you'll find a credit card that offers more than 2.5% rewards for that type of charge... but if so and you're planning to pay the balance in full then why not?

[Edmundjb]

I graduated from Umass Amherst in 2011, I remember being in the bursar's office paying my bill and seeing a sign that said credit cards were not accepted. I wonder if that sign is still there. The times, they are a changin'.

[Elliot]

I wonder if you could ask your bursar's office to waive the fee?

[Jags4186]

Discover IT Miles has a special offer of 3% cashback for the first year.  So you could earn 0.5% on that.

Not worth it IMO. 

If they let you split payments you could do an app-o-rama and get a ton of signup bonuses.  (say you signed up for 10 credit cards that each have $400 or equivalent bonuses after 3k in spend.)  That could be worth it if you can keep organized.

[caliq]

You should be able to split payments -- my university's billing system is just an online payment thing where you put in the amount you want to pay (or check the box that says 'remaining balance' or whatever).  We do get charged a credit card fee though.

[Franklin]

Discover IT Miles has a special offer of 3% cashback for the first year.  So you could earn 0.5% on that.

Not worth it IMO. 

If they let you split payments you could do an app-o-rama and get a ton of signup bonuses.  (say you signed up for 10 credit cards that each have $400 or equivalent bonuses after 3k in spend.)  That could be worth it if you can keep organized.

Bingo - that's what I was hoping to do.  The website says you can use multiple credit cards. 

The simple math is that I expect the bill to be $17,500 per year.  With the 2.5% convenience fee I will have to clear $437.50 to cover the cost.  My IHG card will give me 70K points ($700) on my first $1K spent.  So the rest is gravy.

So I guess the question is, has anyone been burned?

[NathanP]

I used a credit card to pay for my MBA tuition. The university I attended charged a fee for credit card payments, but the business school had a special payment portal for MBA students that did not charge the fee.

I suppose that they charged me (company reimbursed!) enough for the tuition that they didn't mind eating the payment processing fees.

[Texas_Student]

I used a credit card to pay for my MBA tuition. The university I attended charged a fee for credit card payments, but the business school had a special payment portal for MBA students that did not charge the fee.

I suppose that they charged me (company reimbursed!) enough for the tuition that they didn't mind eating the payment processing fees.

That and they probably didn't want to pay the overhead of staffing an office for people making cash payments to avoid the fee.

[Sphinx]

My daughter is going to her first year of college this fall and I noticed that they have a credit card payment option.  Has anyone used this option to reap the cash back/rewards?  They have a 2.5% convenience charge for credit card payments so it would have to clear that amount first to be worth it.  I'm prepared to pay in cash but I'm looking to optimize the payment.

I use my Mastercard to pay for a Grandaughter's college tuition because of the points.  There is no special fee, and the points are used for gardening supplies I need at Canadian Tire. I have a huge garden, both flowers and vegetables that I love. I just bought several bags of sheep manure, and seven pots of gorgeous King Alfred Daffodils ( reduced 70 percent ) with some saved points.  It has worked out really well.  I like the convenience too because she is in a different town, and I can do it over the phone.  I put my house and car insurance,  satellite tv,  internet payments, groceries, and gas on it as well.  I know some here do not think it is frugal to have a car, or a tv, but I am a senior, and I enjoy both .  Living mindfully, in a frugal way has given me a very good life.  I got all my groceries free this week using my saved Airmiles, and I only cash them in when they give me special bonus airmiles to do so. I also pay attention to discounts for Seniors, and Seniors' days at Shoppers' Drug Mart.  I also have lots of points saved up on their Optimum loyalty card. You can really work these loyalty points on different cards, combined with credit card rewards. It is a form of double dipping.  Of course you must be careful to pay any credit card off before the due date.  I have read that they hate people like us, and call us " deadbeats " because we never pay any interest, yet reap the benefits. I also like having a record of exactly how much I spent on groceries, gas etc. each month. It is a good free record keeping system .  I do not shop much with cash anymore.  The points really add up !  My Grandaughter loves gardening, and gives me a great deal of help. Some of my neighbours said it looks like a Norman Rockwell painting watching us work together. I am really glad that I am able to do this for such a great girl. She works part time, but still needs some help. Living away from home is expensive. We have a lot of fun together in the summer, and that is what life is really all about for me -- having enough to do what I want, and just enjoy myself in retirement.

[Jags4186]

Discover IT Miles has a special offer of 3% cashback for the first year.  So you could earn 0.5% on that.

Not worth it IMO. 

If they let you split payments you could do an app-o-rama and get a ton of signup bonuses.  (say you signed up for 10 credit cards that each have $400 or equivalent bonuses after 3k in spend.)  That could be worth it if you can keep organized.

Bingo - that's what I was hoping to do.  The website says you can use multiple credit cards. 

The simple math is that I expect the bill to be $17,500 per year.  With the 2.5% convenience fee I will have to clear $437.50 to cover the cost.  My IHG card will give me 70K points ($700) on my first $1K spent.  So the rest is gravy.

So I guess the question is, has anyone been burned?

Then I'd go for it.  Definitely sign up for multiple cards (chase ink has a 70k offer every now and then...worth $825. Amex Platinum does 100k every now and then.). Let us know how it goes!

[latinlover77]

Im currently in graduate school at University of Texas and have always paid via CC without any convenience charge. Ouch, 2.5% is a downer.

[seattlecyclone]

The simple math is that I expect the bill to be $17,500 per year.  With the 2.5% convenience fee I will have to clear $437.50 to cover the cost.  My IHG card will give me 70K points ($700) on my first $1K spent.  So the rest is gravy.

In this case, the correct thing is to put exactly $1k on the card and pay the rest using cash (or another card that will give you a sign-up bonus). That way you're only paying $25 to get your $700 worth of points instead of paying the full $437.50.

[ZiziPB]

I have done it for the last 4 years - the university my daughter is about to graduate from does not charge a fee for CC transactions.  I got a decent amount of cash back from these transactions but I really should have focused more on CC rewards - I probably would have made thousands by signing up for new cards with great sign up bonuses for these transactions.

[Franklin]

Thanks to everyone for their input.  Sounds like I am on the right track and the 2.5% convenience fee is inconsequential when taking into account the sign-up bonus. 

[matimeo]

I remember when I got back from South America after doing missionary work I was completely broke. I got back to college and didn't have enough for tuition so I did what they called a short term loan of sorts that was really just paying $20 to be able to pay my tuition a couple months late. Then I opened a credit card and payed the balance on the first of the billing cycle, which essentially gave me two months before it was due. So I didn't have to pay tuition until the end of the semester, which gave me enough time to save up the cash (working hard and living cheap).

[MrsPete]

Yep, I've paid for three years with the credit card now. 
No fee for us, no problem paying the whole amount with the card.

[nawhite]

...

Then I'd go for it.  Definitely sign up for multiple cards (chase ink has a 70k offer every now and then...worth $825. Amex Platinum does 100k every now and then.). Let us know how it goes!

Heads up about the Chase Ink sign up bonus, you can convert those 70k chase points into Southwest points 1:1. Southwest points are worth 1.82 cents / point and if you have a Southwest Companion Pass that doubles to 3.64 cents/point. So 70k Southwest points are worth ~$2550. It was BY FAR the best sign up bonus I've ever gotten. That one Chase Ink Bold card paid for all of mine and my wife's domestic flying for a year.

[Suzaloo]

I paid for my daughter's nursing school program for the last 5 semesters on Westjet Mastercard for the travel rewards, which was then paid off prompltly. So far, she's been to Cuba, Mexico and Vegas and is planning the big grad trip in September all on rewards dollars. No extra charge at her school for doing it this way.  In addition, she transferred $5000 tuition credit to me on my income taxes. Win, Win!