According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there were nearly 4,300 degree-granting postsecondary institutions in the United States during the 2017–2018 school year. With the average undergraduate tuition ringing in at just over $25,000 dollars over the course of four years, those thousands of universities each bring in millions of dollars in tuition and fees every school year—and it comes in a variety of forms.
Just as the “traditional” college experience has shifted in recent years, as older adults go back to school and some students opt for degree programs that are solely or partially online, the methods by which they pay their tuition have also changed.
While tuition and fees were traditionally paid through paper checks, most schools now give students the option to simplify payment by using online portals which allow them to pay directly from their smartphone or computer with a credit or debit card. Despite the fact that these are both viable options for many students, digital tuition payment kiosks take payment simplification one step further. Designed to provide a convenient unattended payment solution, digital payment kiosks are secure, flexible, user-friendly, and capable of integrating the various components needed to securely accept multiple different payment options.
Convenient
From early morning classes to those late in the evening, college students typically lead a relatively unconventional schedule. Created for unattended use at all hours of the day or night, tuition payment kiosks can be conveniently placed throughout a college campus in common areas, such as student unions, dining halls, and libraries, where students can easily access them and make payments at a time when it’s most convenient for them.
Secure
When it comes to making any sort of payment, security is always a primary concern for the parties both making and accepting payments, especially on a crowded college campus. Designed with security in mind, tuition payment kiosks can incorporate pin pad door locks, security alarms, and door access sensors to protect the physical kiosk. Remote monitoring, kiosk lockdown, and automatic crash recovery software integrations can also be incorporated to ensure information security on the kiosk.
Flexible
While traditional tuition payment processes require students to use a specific payment method, digital payment kiosks have the ability to incorporate numerous components including pin pads, check readers, and bill and coin acceptors and recyclers. In doing so, they are able to accept a wide variety of payment forms, some of which include cash, checks, major credit credit and debit cards, and contactless payment. There’s no denying that payment flexibility is important across all self-service kiosk applications, however, it is especially crucial on a college campus where students’ access to specific payment types are more likely to be limited.
User-Friendly
Student tuition payment kiosks provide a user-friendly experience on both the front and back-ends. An intuitive user interface and seamlessly incorporated components makes payment a breeze for students, while customizable analytic reporting tools help kiosk administrators stay up-to-date on cash stock levels, usage statistics, and transactions.
While tuition payment kiosks certainly help fulfill an obvious need on college campuses, digital payment kiosks aren’t limited to tuition payment and higher education applications. In fact, businesses and organizations of all kinds, from apartment complexes, to utility companies, and fitness centers can utilize bill payment kiosks to accept payment from their customers.
A custom kiosk manufacturer, Meridian designs, engineers, fabricates, assembles, deploys, and supports self-service solutions of all kinds from our 13-acre headquarters in North Carolina. For more information about Meridian’s bill payment kiosk hardware and MzeroPay bill payment software development kit (SDK), please visit www.meridiankiosks.com/solutions/bill-payment-kiosks.