By Onome Amuge.
Nigerian fintech company, Flutterwave, has launched Tuition, a new across-border platform that enables users conveniently pay various fees to educational institutions within Africa and beyond, using their local currencies.
The payment technology company,in a statement, said the product will ease access to foreign currencies and also help address the exchange rates problem, while helping international students to surmount the daunting challenge of paying their school fees.
According to Flutterwave, Tuition is designed to solve the challenges in paying school fees for African students studying anywhere within the continent or abroad, and aims to ensure payments ease when making the transactions.
“The new service enables students, parents, guardians, and sponsors to pay school fees to over 40 institutions in the UK, with plans to add more institutions in more countries in Africa and beyond,” it stated.
Reports have shown that African payments to overseas schools have been hindered by a myriad of challenges including the high cost of transactions, limited access to banking services, lack of transparency, security concerns, and currency exchange rates. Moreso, Africans have faced difficulties in ensuring that their funds are disbursed in due time to overseas financial institutions.
To this end, the new product will leverage Flutterwave’s world-class payments technology solution to make school fee payments more convenient, secure, and reliable.
With the new platform, international students in high schools,universities,colleges, and some global edutech platforms can now pay their school fees within 48 hours using their local currencies, eliminating the time spent and anxiety associated with not meeting the tuition payment deadlines.
Tuition allows students or their guardians to pay their school fees directly to their institution’s account within 48 hours , using their local currency or any currency they choose.Parents, guardians, and sponsors can also pay directly to learning institutions in the UK and easily track their transactions by checking the status and history on the Tuition web app.
Speaking on the new product launch,Olugbenga Agboola, Flutterwave CEO, noted that Tuition was launched to support the dreams of African students across all levels who want to study anywhere without worrying about how to meet the deadline for their school fees payment.
“With Tuition, we are providing a safer, reliable, and affordable means for African students to pursue their dreams and seamlessly get financial support from parents, guardians, and sponsors,” he added.
Stella Elele, product manager of Tuition by Flutterwave, said the company is always looking for new ways to make payment challenges in Africa hassle-free.
Elele expressed confidence that Tuition will be a game changer for parents who want to support their children’s education.
“We are excited to offer this solution to parents in Nigeria, with plans to eventually roll out the service to other African countries. We want to provide the best possible service and support for our customers,” she said.
Presently, the platform supports payments from the United Kingdom, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Luxembourg, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Spain. Africa: Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and the United States of America.
Flutterwave also plans to add more schools in Africa, the UK, the US, Canada, France, and Germany as it grows access to the product.
