TouchNet wanted a cross-border payments partner to improve the international payment experience for both institution and student and keep it all within a safe and regulated environment.

About TouchNet

TouchNet unifies campuswide payments and ID management software solutions for institutions of higher education around the world. They deliver an ‘every payment, every method, everywhere’ payment platform, that enables colleges and universities to secure, collect and reconcile payments from students domestically and internationally, as well as providing on-campus payment solutions.

TouchNet serves more than 1,100 institutions worldwide.

The Challenges

One of the major growth areas for higher education is the recruitment of international students. The ability to collect student tuition and housing fees from anywhere in the world is core to supporting the growth of international student populations. Without an integrated way to accept cross-border payments, universities would have to work with an additional third party creating a disjointed experience.

“To really get that global currency footprint, we needed a partner in this space,” said Ryan Audus, Vice President of Product Strategy, TouchNet. “Instead of my team building integrations to all of these different payment systems around the world – and knowing all the regulatory challenges that come with it – it makes sense to partner with a company like TransferMate that front-ends all that work for us.”

Making the payment experience easy for the student, and the account receivables process for the institutions seamless, is an essential part of the TouchNet value proposition. TouchNet did not want to have to redirect students to a 3rd party website during the payment process or use an external platform where universities couldn’t manage their payments in an integrated, end-to-end process.

“The technical fit has to be there,” said Audus. “If the payment process is too complicated, the student might delay completing the transaction, which can lead to a lot of time-consuming chasing on behalf of the institution’s staff. And, for the team themselves, if the system doesn’t allow them to do things like easily match a payment with a student, all sorts of issues arise.”

The backbone to a successful cross-border payments solution is the regulation underpinning it. When students are sending that kind of life-changing money across borders, no system could work without knowing that money was safe.

“The regulation plays into the same arena as the global reach… There’s a lot of countries, a lot of rules, a lot of requirements, and we can’t be experts in all of that. Our core focus is providing the payment channel and automating that as much as we can,” said Audus. “So, ensuring aspects like AML (anti-money laundering) and KYC (know-your-customer) are embedded within those channels, and that we meet all those requirements, is huge for us.”

The Solution

TouchNet began their partnership with TransferMate in 2020. Fundamentally, TransferMate acts as a cross-border payments engine, expanding TouchNet’s ability to offer international payment methods through its platform. This enables students to initiate payments in their home currency directly in their student portal.

Expanding Higher Education’s Global Reach

First up, was expanding TouchNet’s capabilities to offer international payment methods so that colleges and universities could accept payments from students hailing from around the world.

“A lot of it comes down to currency and coverage, right? We know where students are coming from, so we need to be able to collect their payments from them in their local currency,” said Audus. “Working with TransferMate ensures the monies are moved safely and accurately to the institution’s bank account from the original country and currency.”

This made TransferMate’s global payment infrastructure, covering 200+ countries and territories in 140+ currencies, an ideal partner for TouchNet. Additionally, the ability for students and families to pay in multiple ways, from wire transfers, credit and debit cards, and alternative payment methods, provided even more convenience.      

“The partnership with TransferMate helps us enable those cross-border transactions at a global scale, whether those are bank wires, alternative payment methods, or other local transaction types that international students are used to” said Audus.

Improving the User Experience – the Students

With such large sums being transferred, having a trusted and easy-to-use platform is a must-have in any solution. Through TransferMate’s API integration with the TouchNet platform, that integrated and seamless user experience has been met.

Students are no longer being directed to a separate website, but instead the whole process takes place within the TouchNet platform. Payers see in-built FX rates at point of payment, which allows them to accurately pay in their local currency and the institution receives the full amount in its local currency. They also receive confirmations of payment, and updates at each stage of the payment journey, meaning fewer enquiries to the campus support teams.

‘With the TransferMate integration, students get real-time feedback within the product itself. They can see they initiated the transaction, see the status of it and, ultimately, see it when the funds clear and the payment posts to their student account,” said Audus. “It’s a much better user experience overall for the student. If you order an Uber, or a food delivery, you want to get that real-time feedback. Now, an international payment may take more time than ordering food, but it’s the same concept. The transparency of where I’m at in a transaction is really important.”

Improving the User Experience – the Universities 

Universities and colleges also benefit from the integrated end-to-end payment process, especially when it comes to payment tracking in real-time and reconciliation.

With TransferMate’s webhook technologies, once a student makes any step in the payment process, it automatically shows in the institution’s administrative systems.

“If a student calls or comes into the business office and wants to get an update or wants to know what’s going on with their transaction, having that real-time update, and to be able to communicate that to the student and set their expectation of what’s happening, is a big help to the staff,” said Audus.

The integration also means each payment is referenced and matched to the student, meaning that institutions don’t have to manually match and reconcile payments (which can be even more difficult if FX rates don’t match up). In a business where large volumes of payments will come at the same time, this can be a huge time-saver for the institution. 

Security and Regulation

Without the students and universities trusting the funds were secure in transit, all the user experience benefits would be meaningless. TouchNet leads with security and compliance and needed an international payments partner that also holds compliance and security at the core of its business.

So, for TouchNet, the fact that TransferMate has taken the approach of building a proprietary global payment network that is as secure as possible was a win-win. 

“TransferMate is licensed in all 50 states here in the U.S. for settlement of funds. That’s a big deal for TouchNet. And beyond the U.S., your regulated approach is top notch,” said Audus. “We’re bringing you into our billing world. We’re bringing you into the TouchNet brand and to our customers. We want to make sure that you as a partner are meeting the highest standard as possible in the security and compliance realm. Because if you’re safe, ultimately that means we’re safe, and that’s the promise we need to deliver on for our clients.”

The Results

When a TouchNet client implements the TransferMate integration (a ‘straightforward process’) they and their students can immediately benefit from this embedded payment solution.

To date, more than 200 of TouchNet’s clients use the TransferMate integration, meaning approximately 100,000 international students use the system every year.

“The experience of those 200 universities and colleges can be seen in how many have retained the system once integrated. I don’t think we’ve ever had a client drop the integration. That sort of speaks for itself.”

The Final Word

“The integration has allowed us to present a more complete payment picture for our institutions, improving the student payment experience and saving time for the finance and support teams.”

–             Ryan Audus, Vice President of Product Strategy, TouchNet

To learn more how TransferMate can you help you upgrade your international payment engine, contact the education team here.