The cost of higher education has steadily risen over the past two decades, making tuition a considerable fee for many families.
Although many universities accept credit cards for these payments, they are not always free to do so. If you are responsible for tuition payments, should you take out your reward credit card, choose to pay with checks or exit your bank account?
In this article, we will help you answer this question.
Can you pay for your tuition with a credit card?
It depends on your university. The first thing is to search”[Insert college name here] Tuition credit card. “You may see the applicable page in the previous few results. If you can’t find the online information, please call the Finance or Registrar’s Office.
Generally speaking, the university or university in question will be divided into one of three categories:
- Tuition fees cannot be paid by credit card (for example, my undergraduate alma mater, Wake Forest University).
- Tuition can be paid with a credit card that has no extra fees (such as the University of Nevada-University of Las Vegas, from which I got my M.Ed.
- Tuition can be paid with an additional fee (such as the 2.75% fee charged by the University of Florida, where I got an MBA).
For the first option, if you can’t pay for tuition with a credit card, then you’re unfortunate – several institutions impose these restrictions. But what to do if your school doesn’t fall into that category.
Related: Can you pay for student loans with a credit card?
Colleges that do not charge card processing fees
If you can pay for tuition with a credit card without incurring an additional service charge, you should definitely do it – and thank you for being able to.
Just make sure you can pay off the full amount when the statement expires, this is our credit card first commandment. If you cannot and must hold the balance, any interest and financing expenses will easily cancel the points or miles you earned when you purchase.
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Unfortunately, the number of schools that fall into the second category is relatively small. In fact, I browsed the list of top 100 universities in the country by News & World Report and found only four credit card payments that allow free tuition:
- State University of New York (SUNY) – Binghamton
- New York State – Stone Creek
- New York State – School of Environmental Science and Forestry
- New York – Buffalo
Additionally, it seems that most, if not all, New York state universities do not charge for card payments, so if you are looking for or already attending one of these schools, you are in luck.
I found other exceptions to certain categories of students. For example, part-time students at Boston University can pay via credit card, while most graduate students in the Northeast don’t have to pay.
Pay fees with a credit card
The third category is that things become more complicated. About two-thirds of national universities allow credit cards to pay, with fees ranging from 2.25% (Pennsylvania State) and 2.85% of other universities. So, if you have to pay for the fee, is it worth paying for the tuition with a credit card?
As with most of what we cover in TPG, the answer is not absolute. If you get more value on a reward credit card than you pay, it’s usually worth it, but math can make it more involved on some cards.
Let’s see what it means.
Get a welcome quote
The first case where you should consider using a credit card to pay for tuition fees involves credit card welcome bonuses. Many top travel reward cards offer a large number of points or miles to reach a certain spending level within a given time frame.
Sometimes, your normal spending may not be enough to get you there. If the only possible way to meet the required minimum spending threshold to earn a bonus is to collect tuition fees, then it may make sense to do so.
For example, suppose you are Chase Sapphire Priority® Card (See rates and fees) and its current welcome quotes. New cardholders can earn 75,000 bonus points after spending $5,000 in the first three months of opening. You might be wondering if you should prefer paying for new sapphires to lock in welcome bonuses and thousands of points.
If the relevant tuition is $20,000, your university charges a 2.6% fee, which will add $520 to the fee. However, in the process you get a quotation of 75,000 points, as well as 20,520 points for the purchase itself (at a standard income rate of 1 per dollar). According to TPG’s July 2025 valuation, the value of these 95,520 points is about $1,958, more than three times the $520 cost of college.
Again, this logic only applies to the amount you have no other way to earn the registration bonus. If you can reach that threshold in another (free) way, you’ll be better off doing this and use other methods to pay for tuition fees that don’t incur fees.
Related: 21 cards currently offer 100,000 or more welcome bonuses
Earn valuable rewards
Another time you should consider swiping your card is when the points or miles you earn are more valuable than the fees you are incurring. It’s a very grey area because everyone has their own way of evaluating the various loyal currencies out there.
A good starting point is our monthly valuation to get how much you can earn from your perspective and miles to help you determine the best credit card to pay for college tuition. However, remember that these valuations usually apply to redemption points at maximum values, especially when it comes to transferable point currencies, so if you cash out points directly, the math may not make sense.
Here are a few examples of when you get points or miles more than the extra cost:
- Chase for Freedom® (See Rates and Fees): This card offers a 1.5% cashback on all purchases, but if you also have a “premium” card, e.g. Chase SapphireReserve® (See Rates and Fees) You can convert these cash proceeds into complete Ultimate Reward Points. This is equivalent to earning 1.5 points per dollar per purchase. Since TPG July 2025, the final reward points for the valuation are 2.05 cents, so your return is basically 3.1%. If the percentage of credit card using tuition fees is less than this amount, you will use Chasing for infinite freedom.
- American Express Business Platinum Card®: This seems odd on the surface, as Amex Business Platinum offers only 1 membership bonus point per dollar. However, it also gives you 50% points for purchases of $5,000 or more (up to $2 million per calendar year). So if your tuition is over $5,000, you will earn 1.5 points per dollar. TPG’s July 2025 valuation PEG membership reward points are 2 cents, respectively, so you will receive a 3% return on purchases of $5,000 or more. Similarly, if the cost of using a card is less than this, please continue to use the card. As always, make sure to adjust these numbers to your own valuation and evaluate the school’s credit card payment policy to determine if it makes sense.
- Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card and Capital One Venture X Reward Credit Card: These cards offer unlimited 2 miles on all purchases. TPG’s capital valuation in July 2025 was 1.85 cents, which equates to a return on all purchases of 3.7%.
As always, adjust these numbers based on your own valuation and evaluate the school’s credit card payment policy to determine whether it makes sense to incur expenses.
Use Introduction Annual Percentage (APR) Offer
The last time you charge for tuition is definitely not that charming, but it is important.
Because higher education is so expensive, many parents cannot cover the entire semester of tuition with cash in the bank or money from university funds. As a result, financial aid packages have become ubiquitous, with nearly 90% of college students receiving some form of aid. However, student loans usually have high interest rates.
This is a new credit card (introductory 0% APR quote) that can be the best credit card for tuition. These cards usually allow you to repay your purchases using the initial “grace period” without interest to be bound by the standard interest rate.
If you run out of money in your 529 college savings plan, this may be a good option to not want your child to meet student debt and to complete the entire balance before the promotion period ends. Remember, these purchases are also eligible for points or miles.
Again, I should reiterate that you must be able to pay off your full balance before the end of the promotion period. Otherwise, your APR limit is much higher than the interest rate on almost any loan.
Related: Best Balance Transfer Credit Card
Bottom line
Whether you’re just starting out or a points and mileage expert, hopefully you’re looking for any way to maximize your daily expenses with a travel reward credit card; paying for tuition with a credit card is a reliable option for earning points and mileage. However, individual agencies may charge for the privilege of using a credit card (or may prevent you from doing so altogether).
If you charge for using a card, it may make sense in some cases, so your research is to determine the best credit card to pay for college tuition. I hope this post explains exactly when this happens.
Related: Credit Card 101: A Beginner’s Guide
