Credit card change inconveniences students
September 17, 2010 by Brittany Tiplady · Leave a Comment
Kwantlen students are no longer able to pay domestic student registration fees and tuition with credit cards.
That may been old news, as the change was announced on July 14 and came into effect on Aug. 3, but the effect the new policy had on Kwantlen students isn’t.
According to the university website, “The change is aimed at reducing operational costs without cutting services or programs for students. In fact, $250,000 expected from the savings will be put towards additional scholarships and bursaries for students this year.”
But the inconvenience of the payment change has increased the number of annoyed Kwantlen students.
“I was super last minute paying my tuition, and I had no idea we couldn’t pay with credit cards anymore, so my dad and I had to rush to the bank to pay cash at the campus before it closed,” said Florencia Caula, a second-year Fashion marketing student.
“I guess it was my fault for not having checked, but it also threw me off that Kwantlen didn’t accept certain debit cards any more, either. The point is, people rarely have cash to pay tuition; we’re students,” she said.
Lisa Niskasari, also a Fashion marketing student had the same experience.
“I heard about the credit card change on the news, but I didn’t know they weren’t allowing credit union’s either. So I had to do the same thing as Florencia and pay with a cheque at the registrar, on the cusp of the registration deadline.
“I get that they want to put the money towards scholarship and bursary, but honestly I wouldn’t have known that had I not looked into it after I nearly lost my spot this semester. Thankfully I can still use credit for books,” Caula said.
According to Robert Hensley from the Kwantlen registrar’s office, the payment change did not have a negative impact on fall registration; in fact registration numbers were up 3.3 per cent.
“We only had a small number of formal complaints from students about the payment change,” said Hensley. “The only change was an increase of students paying with debit and cheque.”
