You’ll Be Amazed: You Can Use Venmo to Pay Your College Tuition!

Attending college is akin to navigating a series of Venmo requests — from splitting the utilities with your roommate to covering your portion of an Uber ride, or even that ticket to your friend’s a cappella show that you’re not particularly enthusiastic about. This Wednesday, PayPal, the parent company of Venmo, announced that their services can now be utilized for tuition payments.

Venmo and PayPal are partnering with educational payment platforms such as Illumia, Nelnet Campus Commerce, and TouchNet, which collectively support numerous colleges and universities, providing students and families with an alternative way to pay for tuition.

In fact, you can make one of life’s largest payments using the same app where you might watch a high school friend send money for “leaf emoji, fire emoji, smoke emoji,” whatever that might mean. You could conveniently open Venmo to settle a friend’s coffee, only to remember, “Oh, I still need to pay my tuition! Let me handle that quickly.”

“For students and families, tuition represents the most substantial financial commitment they will face for higher education,” remarked Jackie Strohbehn, president of Nelnet Campus Commerce. “Every payment option we introduce, including PayPal and Venmo, is designed to meet them where they are, offering increased flexibility and reducing friction, ensuring that affordability doesn’t impede enrollment.”

Finally, someone has recognized the reality! When eighteen-year-olds working $10 an hour at the campus library confront daunting tuition fees, they indeed hope for more flexibility and less hassle during that critical moment.

Today’s students have it much easier. Previously, we accumulated debt through complicated payment systems, but today, you can deplete your bank account right from the convenience of the Venmo or PayPal app.

In my day, we didn’t benefit from an “integration [that] enables institutions to expand options and create a smoother payment experience for students and families,” as aptly stated by TouchNet president Jeremy Loch. The time of students missing out on a “seamless experience that delivers value for both tuition payers and institutions” is now a thing of the past.