UHV to make credit card changes to tuition, fee payments
The University of Houston-Victoria is making several changes beginning Dec. 1 that will affect how students pay their tuition and fees for classes, UHV Bursar Lois Lemke said.
UHV will no longer accept Visa cards and will begin assessing a service fee on all credit and debit card payments for tuition and fees. However, students will be able to use American Express cards for the first time, in addition to MasterCard and Discover, and there will still be several no-fee options.
“The university has absorbed the costs of processing credit card payments for many years, but with more students making electronic payments, coupled with the current economy, it is no longer feasible for us to do so,” Lemke said.
Students will pay a service fee, known in the credit card industry as a “convenience fee,” of 1.62 percent for all credit/debit payments starting Dec. 1. For example, if a student uses his American Express card to pay $1,000 in tuition and fees, an additional $16.20 service fee will be assessed to his card.
University administrators also decided to quit accepting Visa cards because the company will only allow merchants to charge a set fee no matter how much or how little is being charged. American Express, MasterCard and Discover will let merchants charge a percentage-based fee.
“A percentage-based fee is much more equitable for our students so that a student charging a small amount won’t be assessed the same as a student making a large payment on a credit card,” Lemke said.
Students still will have other payment options that do not have fees. These include:
- E-check online payments
- Payments by mail (personal checks, money orders and cashier’s checks)
- Walk-in payments in Room 115 of University West (cash, personal checks, money orders and cashier’s checks) ·Wire transfer payments (banks may charge a fee)
- Alternative payment plans (federal and private loans, installment plans and institutional loans, and grant and scholarship opportunities)
For more information about the changes, go to www.uhv.edu/CreditCardFAQs, or contact Student Solutions at 361-573-0000 or solutions@uhv.edu, or the Bursar’s Office at billing@uhv.edu.
The University of Houston-Victoria, located in the heart of the Coastal Bend region since 1973 in Victoria, Texas, offers courses leading to more than 80 academic programs in the schools of Arts & Sciences; Business Administration; and Education, Health Professions & Human Development. UHV provides face-to-face classes at its Victoria campus, as well as an instructional site in Katy, Texas, and online classes that students can take from anywhere. UHV supports the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Opportunities for All initiative to increase awareness about state colleges and universities and the important role they have in providing a high-quality and accessible education to an increasingly diverse student population, as well as contributing to regional and state economic development.
