Why Learning Institutions Need Pay@ For The 2025 Academic Year

In 2024, about 4.5 million students applied to 23 out of the 26 public universities across South Africa, with additional enrollments at 15 technikons and 50 Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges (Source: Careerportal).

This influx requires institutions to manage a wide range of administrative tasks, from processing applications to managing student communications. Once student applications are processed, the next major administrative task is managing tuition fees, a particularly challenging process in South Africa due to several factors:

• Scale of student numbers: Some of the country’s largest universities, such as the University of South Africa (UNISA) and the University of Johannesburg (UJ), receive around 300 000 applications and more every year.
• Distance vs on-campus learning: Advances in digital technology have made it possible for students to complete their tertiary education off-campus as open and distance learning students. These students interact differently with the university when it comes to communication and payments.
• Various payment methods: Every student’s educational journey is unique, and so is the way that they pay for their tuition fees. Tuition may be paid by their parents, the extended family, or themselves. This means that learning institutions may receive multiple streams of payments from different payees in different formats.

Keeping track of tuition fees

Despite the initial rush of the academic year, tuition fee processing continues throughout the year. The average cost to send a graduate student to university in South Africa is expected to be R107,600 per year by 2025, often paid in instalments.

Institutions must ensure that financial statements are up-to-date and that students and their sponsors are aware of any outstanding debt. In 2024 alone, over 600,000 students could not receive their graduation certificates due to unpaid fees, highlighting the importance of managing these payments efficiently.

Despite the complexities and challenges that learning institutions face when it comes to processing tuition fees, it is essential that a student’s financial statements can be produced at any time with the most up-to-date information.

Ensuring that a student, their parents, and sponsors are aware of any outstanding student debt is critically important. In 2024 alone, over 600 000 students were not able to receive their graduation certificates after completing their studies due to outstanding debt. Not only does owed tuition fees pause a student’s ability to enter the working world, but place a financial burden on learning institutions to remain profitable.

Better integration means less admin

This is where an integrated payment solution such as Pay@ can be a solution for both learning institutions, students’ parents, and even students themselves. By enabling payments through Pay@, learning institutions can easily cater for a variety of preferred payment methods:

• Cash payments:Using a unique payment reference number sent via WhatsApp, SMS, or email, parents can pay tuition fees in cash at any of Pay@’s extensive retail partners, including Ackermans, Boxer, Builders, Checkers, Game, Makro, PEP, Pick n Pay, Shoprite, Spar and Usave.
• Digital payments:Educational institutions can also offer digital payment options, such as Snapscan, Zapper, Banking Apps, EFTs and Card payments.  These methods can be communicated via a QR code or a secure link via SMS, email, or WhatsApp. This not only streamlines payment management but also enhances the overall experience for students and their families.

With a safe, reliable, and frictionless payment solution such as Pay@, educational institutions don’t have to feel anxious about the next academic year. Instead, they can look forward to welcoming South Africa’s bright young minds with a new payment solution that unburdens their administrative staff and empowers those responsible for paying tuition fees.