Credit card fee for BruinBill charges to begin in August
By Crystal Hsing
June 20, 2011 3:12 a.m.
Beginning in August, students who pay their BruinBill charges using credit cards will incur an additional 2.75 percent convenience fee as part of UCLA’s ongoing effort to cut costs.
This will include charges on student fees, parking permits and housing costs.
The additional expense will cover the interchange fee that credit card companies charge the university to process credit card transactions, said Marsha Lovell, director of student financial services.
The university will also no longer accept Visa cards as a form of payment since the company does not allow merchants to use a convenience charge to process payments, Lovell said.
Since UCLA began accepting credit cards as a form of payment in 1994, the university has been absorbing the rising cost of processing fees, Lovell said.
With this spring’s reduction in state funding leading to budget cuts across campus, the decision to charge a convenience fee was made based on what was best for UCLA in the long run, Lovell said.
“We’re not looking at this change as a burden for students, but as a way that the university can save money without passing along the cost to all students,” Lovell said.
The administration has considered adding a convenience fee for years, but has been reluctant to put a further cost on students, Lovell said. UCLA is one of the last universities nationwide that still pays credit card processing, she said.
Since not every student chooses to pay by credit card, not every student incurs the processing fee. The new convenience charge will only affect those who choose to continue to use credit cards.
“It’s basically the student’s choice on whether they choose to pay the fee or not based on what method of payment they use,” Lovell said. “This new charge will just pass the processing fee back to those who choose to pay by credit card.”
Students still have the option to pay by check, cash and eCheck, or electronic check, without incurring any additional fees. The university is promoting eCheck as a free, alternative form of payment, Lovell said.
Students can configure their BruinBill accounts to pay through eCheck, which withdraws funds directly from a bank account, by entering their bank information into the system.
Once set up, the information is stored, and students can choose to have the system withdraw funds automatically.
While students will have the choice to continue paying by credit cards, the extra expense will deter some from using this more convenient form of payment, said fourth-year global studies student Lainey Freels.
“The whole point of credit cards is so you can get it done quickly and pay,” Freels said. “With the fee, it’s making it that much less efficient and easy for us.”
The additional expense also adds to the financial burden students face with the rising cost of student fees, Freels said.
“Students are struggling just as much as the school is,” she said.
But after the reduction in state support, third-year business economics student Robert Chang said cost-cutting measures such as the convenience fee may be necessary.
“It’s going to be inconvenient for my family to have to switch from using credit cards, but I’m glad the school is looking for more creative ways to get more money other than cutting our classes and programs,” Chang said.
