By Justin Muszynski

The much talked about credit card convenience fee that was approved this past spring by the CSUS Board of Trustees will begin on October 1st.

Any credit card that is used to pay for a student’s tuition will be subject to a non-refundable 2.5 percent fee.

According to Betsy Fangiullo of the bursar’s office, the fee is implemented by the credit card company and it’s important to remember this is not just a CCSU fee, but is customary practice with credit cards.

“These funds will be deposited in to the University’s general operating account,” said Fangiullo. “Fees charged to vendors for accepting credit cards are standard in the industry.”

Also something to note, is the new fee is only on the portion that is processed with a credit card. For example if a loan covers most of your tuition and the remainder that the student has to pay is $100, they are charged 2.5 percent of that.

This is not something exclusive to CCSU. All the CSU schools will charge the same fee and schools like UCONN, the University of Hartford, and Sacred Heart already have a similar fee in place.

Fangiullo says there are other options that the bursar’s office will accept including electronic checks, cash, checks, or money orders. However, credit cards will no longer be accepted in person, online will be the only way to use them.

“Due to PCI compliance regulations, we are not able to accept them in person,” said Fangiullo.

Visa cards will no longer be accepted due to certain restrictions. Visa stipulates that if a convenience fee is charged to the cardholder, the vendor must also implement this fee to all payment methods, which CCSU has chosen not to do, thus discontinuing the ability to pay with Visa.

It’s also important to remember that debit cards are not exempt from this new fee.

“Debit card transactions will also only be accepted online and will be processed as a credit card transaction subject to the same 2.5 percent convenience fee,” said Fangiullo.

Fangiullo also says the bursar’s office is not trying to catch students off guard with this fee and they are taking the necessary steps to make sure that doesn’t happen.

“We are sending out postcards and electronic messages and have information posted on our website,” said Fangiullo.