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PayPal Holdings Inc. is banking that it will have a seat on more college campuses with its integration with Illumia, Nelnet Campus Commerce, and TouchNet, payments providers to higher education institutions. TouchNet is owned by Global Payments Inc.
PayPal says its PayPal and Venmo wallets can now be used for tuition payments with the integrations to these three providers. Students and parents at Butler University, Kansas State University, and Michigan State University are among those who can pay with the digital wallets now. PayPal expects more colleges and universities to join them throughout the year. Students and parents will use their school’s existing payment portal with PayPal and Venmo.
Adding the digital wallets means more flexibility for payers. “Students and families want the flexibility to use payment methods that fit how they manage their money, while institutions need those options to work within the systems and processes their teams already rely on. This integration helps schools expand choice in a practical way, improving the payer experience without creating a disconnected path for campus teams,” Don Smith, Illumia senior vice president and general manager of integrated payments, says in a statement.
PayPal was quick to embark on providing payment processing for Big Ten and Big 12 conference higher education institutions to pay their student athletes following the 2025 NCAA rule change.
The additional revenue source may help PayPal, which gained a new chief executive in March and appears to be in talks to sell itself to Stripe Inc. and private equity firm Advent International Corp., according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
