With the goal of improving the payment experience for their international students, Salem State turned to TouchNet’s integration with TransferMate to solve this problem. They wanted to both eliminate manual work for their finance team, and stress for the students.
About Salem State University
Salem State University is a regional public state university located in Massachusetts, USA, that offers programs for undergraduate and graduate students. Approximately 7,000 students attend every year, including around 250 international students representing 43 countries across the world.
The Challenge
International student payments are often complicated and require manual work. When students from across the world are making payments through different banks or payment providers, the information often arrives at the university in a disjointed way.
Vital data might be missing, meaning payments can’t be matched to the student. Students may have miscalculated the FX rate, or banks may apply fees without them knowing, causing inaccurate payments. This often results in a complex mass of payments, usually arriving at the same time.
“Wire transfers would always be a bit clunky and, from an institutional point of view, a bit more complex” said Laura DiChiara, Executive Director of Enrollment and Student Services at Salem State University. “Many students will attempt a wire transfer multiple times before the process works correctly. As a result, 10-20% of our international students needed guidance from one of my colleagues to sort through the issues.”
The administrative and manual work required to bring all the payment data into a workable format and capture it within their TouchNet platform was taking up a lot of the finance team’s time – all during the busy payment season.
“When a payment came through, our accounting department would tell us it was a student payment,” continued Laura. “We’d then collate that data – all coming from different sources and in different formats – and post it to our TouchNet platform. It was a lot of manual work.”
With these wire transfers, Salem State would also have to pay an international receiver fee each time.
“We paid $25 per wire transfer. And, since we have a monthly payment plan option, we’d often be paying that every time a student made a payment. If the student made an inaccurate payment and needed to send the shortfall, we’d pay another $25. It quickly adds up to be a serious cost.”
For the students, there were also real challenges. Firstly, they were making payments outside of the TouchNet platform, meaning they didn’t see any updates on their student profiles. With such large amounts of money being transferred, this inevitably caused confusion.
“There was always several days between the student initiating the payment and it reaching us. Students were sending us screenshots saying, “Look, I made the payment, it’s not my fault you don’t have it” but we had to say that it had not arrived yet and, no matter how much we wanted to, we couldn’t proceed with their application. That obviously caused some stress for the students.”
Finally, using banks meant students paying high FX fees.
“Students often complained about the exchange rates and fees charged by US banks, which are often higher than in their own countries. We felt bad that there was nothing we could do to improve this situation for them.”
The Solution
Salem State University updated their TouchNet platform with the TransferMate integration in 2020. The integration immediately removed the challenges the team were coming across when processing international payments.
The manual work that was needed for tracking, matching and reconciling international payments has now been removed for the Salem State finance team. The payment data that now comes in from students is unified and automatically uploaded and updated within their TouchNet platform.
“It's completely gone – there is no manual process anymore. For anything we need, it’s a matter of pulling a report from TouchNet. We're running our reports in the student administration system for payments and then checking to make certain that they’re in our bank. Our reconciliation process is as simple as you could imagine it being.”
Payments through TouchNet platform are always accurate, as students are given live FX rates at point of payment, with plenty of payment methods to choose from. The speed of transfers has increased too.
“It’s really a simple process for the students. They get the live exchange rate when they’re making the payment, so there really isn’t room for error. With TransferMate, the payments generally arrive within 48 hours; this compares to what was sometimes 7-10 days with wire transfers.”
The TransferMate integration with TouchNet is also set-up so that students never have to leave the university branded portal. Everything happens within the same system, meaning they are not redirected to external websites. Their profiles are also updated live throughout the payment process.
“By virtue of everything happening within the TouchNet platform, it gives the students more trust in the process and a simpler payment experience. The live updates available in their profile gives them the reassurance that things are progressing, and that means less inquires to us. Now we can better connect with our international students and discuss other matters beyond their payment challenges. It’s a win for everyone.”
Results
Salem University now exclusively use TransferMate as their payment option for their international students. The result has been a total streamlining of payments, reporting, and a single source of data for anything they need.
“It really makes it completely, absolutely seamless. Really, there isn't anything that we need to do. A student processes their payment through TouchNet and TransferMate. The administrative burden of international payments was totally eliminated when we got the TransferMate integration. Now we can focus our efforts on helping our students be successful.”
By reducing the manual and support work that used to be needed for international payments, the Salem State team has been freed up to do significant value-add projects.
“We've moved on to the work we’ve always wanted to do but didn’t have the time. We've been able to upgrade our systems to provide better services for students, add new functionality to their student portal, and give them a more personalized experience. When you’re not checking your bank statement every day for payments, you can focus on what can make a difference.”
The cost of international transfers has also been reduced, for both Salem State and their students.
“We don’t pay any international receiver fees anymore, and TransferMate’s guarantee to provide the best rates means students know they are not paying more than they have to.”
The Final Word
“We’ve eliminated all the manual work to process payments from international students, and they’re getting a better experience too. I’d say to other TouchNet institutions, “Why aren’t you using TransferMate?””
- Laura DiChiara, Executive Director of Enrollment and Student Services at Salem State University
To get in touch about the TransferMate integration with TouchNet, go to the TouchNet Partner Directory.
