Visa no longer an option for students

By Meredith Mayberry
Edited by Sarah Schuch and Kelly Morse

Beginning July 1, Central Michigan University will no longer accept Visa for tuition payments.

Paying with a credit card requires an extra payment for processing the transaction, said David Burdette, vice president for Finance and Administrative Services.

Burdette said Visa was different than other credit card companies in one important way.

“Visa charges a flat rate, so if a student makes a $20 payment, it would be exurbanite,” Burdette said.

The Vice President said companies such as MasterCard and Discover Card charge percentages rather than fixed rates.

Visa is not the only affected payment plan, however. All credit card payments will require an additional charge of 2.75 percent of the payment.

“That number is the rate that’s charged by the third party, which handles the payment,” Burdette said.

Third party carriers are middlemen in the payment process of credit cards and charge for their services, he said.

“They only give us the net amount of what the bill is,” Burdette said of the University.

Thomas Anthony, a faculty member in the department of Finance and Law, said the convenience fee, or handling fee, is relative to a percentage based on account activity.

Anthony said the fee would decrease with increased activity.

“If I made $1 million, the fee would be considerably less than if I made $100,” Anthony said.

Visa, however, does not operate based on percentages. Their fixed rate creates a problem for students who use credit cards to pay for tuition and books for convenience’ sake.

“For a lot of students, it’s just an easy way to pay,” Anthony said.

Burdette said there is a staggering amount of students who will be affected by this new policy.

“I don’t know of the exact number,” he said, “but the percent of students who pay with credit cards is higher than I thought it was.”