By EMILY PAOLICELLI
Copy Editor
Students at The College of Saint Rose are facing changes to the way they pay their tuition. An email was sent to students on June 12 detailing changes in the school’s policy on credit and debit card payments. “Effective June 13, 2019, credit or debit card payments will only be accepted online. The College of Saint Rose will no longer accept credit or debit card payments in-person, or with a faxed authorization form,” read the email, sent by bursar Jan Elderkin. In addition, paying with credit or debit cards online will now result in a 2.85% convenience fee.
According to Elderkin’s email, the College has implemented these changes due to the continuously rising cost of processing credit and debit cards, which the College had covered until the changes were made. “Unfortunately, the College cannot absorb these costs,” said Elderkin.
All attempts to contact Elderkin or Financial Aid for comment resulted in referrals to Jennifer Gish, the assistant vice president for marketing and communications at the College.
“As we noted in our communication to students, the cost of processing credit and debit cards continues to rise and is now a significant annual expense for colleges/universities – Saint Rose included,” said Gish. “Students still have the option of paying by credit card, but the vendor who operates the processing site charges and collects the fee. It is the vendor’s fee, and the College does not receive any portion of it.”
Gish was unable to disclose how much the College expects to save after making these changes, nor was she able to disclose how many students will be affected by the change.
Rebecca Ford, a rising junior at the College of Saint Rose, is only one of the students who will be affected. “It’s a struggle,” said Ford. “I’ve always used a credit card over the computer itself, so when I’m doing that, you just have to pay the exact money you have to pay. Now paying with a credit card, you have to worry about another fee that they’re putting on top.”
Students who would like to avoid the convenience fee are still able to do so by using other methods of payment. “To avoid this fee, you will still be able to pay online using your checking account (ACH), mail a check or money order, or pay in person with a check, money order or cash,” read Elderkin’s email. However, this can raise issues for students and families who may struggle to find enough cash to pay their tuition using these methods by the Aug. 5 due date. The College does offer several different payment plans in which students can pay their bill in multiple scheduled installments rather than all at once, but students who opt for such plans will face an added fee of $45 per semester.
“It’s inconvenient that there’s this extra fee now,” said Saga Stranden, a rising sophomore at the College. “Also, it’s very inconvenient that they’re doing it two months before we’re supposed to be paying those bills.” Stranden believes that she and her family may have trouble allocating enough money to pay her bill in full before the August due date.
In addition to the short notice, Stranden faced another element of surprise: she claims that she had not received the original email sent from Elderkin. “Someone was talking about it, and I was like, ‘what?’ And they explained it to me,” said Stranden. “I never got the email.”
The College of Saint Rose is the only college in the area that has adopted such a convenience fee; other institutions around Albany have no fee for paying tuition using a credit or debit card. These institutions do have their own policies, however: The University at Albany only accepts credit cards online, the Sage Colleges accept credit cards both online and in person, and Siena College doesn’t accept credit cards at all.
“Most likely we’re still going to have to take the [credit card] fee,” said Ford. “It seems like no matter what, you’re still going to have to pay a fee.”
