The education sector has been slower to adopt digital payments than industries like e-commerce, travel and media, which have rapidly transitioned to online payments. However, in the last 5 years, academic institutions have realised the growing need to upgrade their payment infrastructure and offer better digital payment facilities.
Students and parents today prefer the ease and flexibility of paperless payment options. And educational institutes have started acknowledging how digital payments can benefit all stakeholders – universities, colleges, tuition centres, schools and coaching classes.
Payment gateways allow academic institutions to securely process online fee payments, set up recurring billing for subscriptions, send payment reminders/receipts, and gain better visibility into their revenue streams.
The Benefits of Digital Payments in the Education Industry
Enhancing Student Convenience
One of the prime benefits of digital payments is enhancing convenience and flexibility for students and parents in paying tuition fees.
Facilities like paying through mobile apps using saved cards or mobile wallets prevent the need to visit fee counters and stand in long queues during peak seasons. Contactless payments have proved especially useful during the pandemic, with educational institutes minimizing cash and cheque handling.
Paying fees anytime, from any location, through their smartphones offers students the ultimate flexibility today’s youth customer seeks.
Operational Efficiency & Cash Flow
For academic institutions, the benefits are plentiful when adopting online fee collection. Accepting fee dues through secure digital payment channels means faster access to funds. This plugs potential cash flow gaps with money instantly available in the bank rather than waiting endlessly for checks to be banked or bank transfers to hit.
Personalised Fee Structuring
Certain payment platforms also empower universities and coaching classes to take personalisation to the next level by designing customised fee schemes based on parental preferences.
Such personalised payment schemes tailored for specific student needs go a long way in attracting enrolments and preventing dropouts. And digital payments again make managing such structured plans easier compared to manual paperwork.
How Can Educational Institutions Adopt Digital Payments?
Transitioning fully to digital payments requires educational institutes to leverage technologies like:
1. Digital Wallets
Institutes can integrate mobile wallet platforms within their mobile apps and fee payment portals. This allows students to use platforms to pay fees quickly without entering card details repeatedly. Money gets deducted instantly from the mobile wallet balance into the university’s bank for confirmed fee settlement.
2. Buy-Now-Pay-Later Models
Edu-tech-focused provides Buy-Now-Pay-Later payment options for students to pay tuition fees in easy instalments. By tying up with such partners, universities may allow students to split course fees across 3, 6 or 12 months EMIs at zero added costs. Repayment automatically kicks off post-student placement – making fee payment stress-free.
3. Automated Subscription Payments
Digital payment platforms focused on the education industry allow configuring automated subscription payment models similar to SaaS platforms. This means coaching classes can configure plans allowing students to pay monthly coaching fees seamlessly via auto-debit of credit cards, mobile wallets or bank accounts. Automation eases the burden of manual fee payment.
Such digital payment technologies can transform antiquated and inefficient cash-handling processes for academic institutions. They also provide the convenience of plastic money and e-wallet solutions for tech-savvy students more accustomed to frictionless online transactions.
Conclusion
The education sector has slowly adopted digital payments, but the tide is now turning. Students today expect convenient payment options similar to other online services they use daily. Academic institutions realise that upgrading payment systems is necessary to meet student demands and stay competitive.
Implementing digital wallets, subscription payments, BNPL models, etc., powered by payment gateways offers tangible benefits beyond convenience. Automation of fee collection frees up precious human resources from manual tasks. Digital payments provide data-driven insights to design targeted fee schemes. Immediate access to funds improves cash flows, especially during lean periods.
