About PayTheBursar

PayTheBursar tells a family the cheapest verified way to pay a specific college's bill. It is an independent reference. It is not the college, a lender, a payment processor, or the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Where the numbers come from

School names, cities, states, websites, undergraduate enrollment, and costs come from the College Scorecard's most recent institution file, which republishes IPEDS figures. The list is the 500 largest operating main campuses by undergraduate enrollment, merged with every school in the CFPB's public tuition payment plan dataset for award year 2022–23.

Card fees, plan administrators, enrollment fees, late fees, and returned-payment fees on most pages are the figures CFPB published, with the date CFPB opened the page. A pipeline under /pipeline can re-read bursar pages and fill blanks, but only when an extraction key is configured and a quote from the page supports the value. We do not guess a fee to fill a cell.

What "Not verified yet" means

The source did not state that fact, or we have not checked it. It does not mean the fee is zero, and it does not mean the school refuses that payment method. Due dates, installment counts, debit fees, and whether e-check is free are blank on most schools for that reason.

CFPB's review is from 2022–23. Schools change processors and percents. The checked date is on every figure. If you see a newer page, send it through the correction form. We update a number after reading the source.

What we will not tell you to do

We will not suggest carrying a tuition balance on a credit card. Rewards math in the calculator assumes the statement is paid in full. Sponsored loan, refinance, card, and insurance links are marked and kept out of the fee ranking. See the affiliate disclosure.