The flexible payment solution for international students in the US

For international students who attend both higher education and K-12 institutions, tuition isn’t the only payment families have to make before they can begin their studies. That’s where Total Scholastic Solutions (TSS) comes in. Two of its subsidiaries – Clifford Allen Associates (CAA) and US College Health Insurance Plans (USCHIP) – ensure international students in primary, secondary and higher education can easily access Student Health Insurance Plans (SHIP).

Problem: Payment disconnected from e-commerce insurance buying process

Student health insurance plans are mandated for study in the US. While companies like TSS have made the selection experience intuitive, the point of payment tends to cause friction because:

• Payers are often surprised that credit card payments come with fees. Families most often pay with their local, non-USD credit card, and high fees for currency conversion, as well as foreign exchange mark-up, were a common source of complaints. “Payers would call up and ask ‘Why are you charging me $200?’, Operations Director Johnna Friddell of TSS said of the fees. “It’s frustrating because you’re getting blamed for something you had no control over.”

• Separate platforms can make it hard to see payment statuses, and matching processes often have to be done manually. Having separate platforms to process domestic/USD cards and international cards – CAA, for instance, used Worldpay and First Data (now Fiserv) – makes it very hard to get information on why payments haven’t come through, and for teams to resolve issues.

Solution: Embedded payment experience that is familiar and intuitive

Many students and families use Flywire already to manage cross-border tuition payment processes. Enhancing that payment experience so that families already using the platform to pay tuition could also make health insurance payments is a natural fit, Friddell said. Flywire embeds directly in the insurance purchase workflow, most often in a landing page white-labelled for each partner school.

“Flywire is well knnown in the education industry and already serves a lot of our market. Everyone was either already using Flywire or knew about Flywire. It is a perfect fit,” Friddell said.

Benefits: Card fees reduced, processing expenses cut in half, visibility to make datadriven decisions

At CAA, Flywire was implemented in just three weeks by May of 2023, “one of the smoothest technology implementations and go-lives we’ve ever done,” Friddell said. USCHIP turned on Flywire soon after. Early ROI includes:

• Lower credit card fees for payers. Credit card FX fees have been reduced by 2%. Families can make payments in local currency and payment methods, with a low, transparent fee structure

• Credit card processing expenses cut by 50%. Competitive processing rates with Flywire provide savings on various credit card-related fees.

• Dashboard makes it easy to see payment statuses. Staff save two hours daily during peak answering payment status questions.

• Streamlined reconciliation. Matching processes are automated

• Country specifics help data-based decision-making. Because they can see exactly what countries the payments are coming from, it is easy to spot trends and make business decisions based on data. “We get a much bigger picture of who we’re marketing to,” Friddell said

• Offloading chargeback and refund management. Flywire’s customer success team works closely with Friddell and her team when changes are needed. For instance, they helped lower a refund threshold limit that was causing issues in a matter of hours, taking the hassle out of a historically frustrating process.

Future: growth ahead

With a scalable and flexible payment solution, payments can be handled from anywhere in the world – in turn, opening the door to helping more international students access US education.

“Incorporating Flywire will help us grow because it’s so recognised in the education industry, and that makes us stronger as well,” Friddell said.