PayPal and Venmo have partnered with Illumia, Nelnet Campus Commerce, and TouchNet to let students and families pay tuition using PayPal or Venmo.
The collaboration aims to allow students and their families to pay tuition and fees directly with PayPal and Venmo’s banking options.
Several institutions across the US have already been included in the program. Among these are Bellarmine University, Butler University, Kansas State University, Michigan State University, and Texas Tech University.
Extending existing payment habits to tuition
According to PayPal, students and families already use PayPal and Venmo for everyday transactions such as buying groceries, splitting rent, and sending money to friends and family. Thus, the extension to tuition comes as a natural addition to their existing services, since the company considers tuition to be one of the most significant payments families have to make.
Payments can be made using several funding instruments, including bank accounts, credit cards, and PayPal or Venmo balances. Furthermore, these are processed through the security measures PayPal already applies to standard transactions, such as encryption and fraud monitoring.
Building on prior campus partnerships
In 2025, PayPal and Venmo reached agreements with the Big Ten and Big 12 conferences, which supported institutional revenue-share payments to student athletes through PayPal's platform.
This new expansion is expected to bring that same energy and infrastructure to tuition for the broader student body, giving students and families a trusted and familiar way to pay for one more part of college life.
Platform perspectives
Representatives of the three payment platforms framed the integrations around balancing payer flexibility with institutional processes.
Don Smith, SVP & General Manager of Integrated Payments at Illumia, says the change lets students and their families use payment methods suited to how they manage money, while working within systems campus finance teams already use.
In addition, Jackie Strohbehn, President of Nelnet Campus Commerce, considers tuition as the largest financial decision many families face in relation to higher education, and describes the partnership with PayPal and Venmo as helping to reduce payment friction and maintain enrollment.
PayPal and Venmo tuition payments will roll out progressively across participating schools in the US, with the expectation that more institutions will join during the year.
