Growing up just south of Shanghai, Jialu Dong was used to meeting people from other countries. Her playmates came from Europe, and her neighbours from Africa and South America. But she didn’t think about going abroad until her parents hired an English tutor who regaled her with stories about studying abroad, drawing the teenager into a new world of possibilities.

After submitting her applications, Dong was ecstatic when she received an acceptance letter from a master’s programme at Columbia University. But before the fall semester started, she needed to make a $60,000 tuition payment. Her parents had to make the payment from their savings account, but the instructions were all in English, a language they didn’t speak. Even once her family had made it through the long and complicated payment process, doubts lingered. “There was a long wait before we heard that the university had received the money,” Dong says. “For days, we wouldn’t have any idea what was going on. That was nerve-racking.”

As more students choose to study abroad, the complexities and uncertainties of paying international tuition fees are being laid bare. Although banks handle the majority of these payments, the process has long been hampered by slow transfers, limited traceability, extensive documentation and unexpected deductions. In China and India, the home countries of nearly a quarter of international students, most mid-tier and smaller banks don’t have an efficient way to facilitate outbound cross-border payments.

Given the volume of these transfers, banks that offer a streamlined cross-border tuition payment experience stand to gain significantly. For example, international students paid $91bn in tuition and living expenses in 2023, and their total spending is expected to rise to $433bn by the end of the decade.

“This is a chance for banks to deepen their relationships with customers and capture a larger share of a growing market,” says Pratik Khowala, Global Head of Transfer Solutions at Mastercard. “That will drive long-term profitability in an increasingly competitive landscape.”

A maze of fees and forms

Some educational institutions send students detailed information about how to pay, but many don’t. Between dorm costs, meal plans and bank service fees – which payers must convert to their local currency – it may not even be clear how much money to send. For parents like Dong’s, who must also navigate China’s regulation on the amount of capital each citizen can move out of the country annually, figuring out how to pay can feel like cracking a code.

“Many students haven’t dealt with international bursars or made large international payments before,” says Khowala. “So whom do they look to for guidance? Their parents, who may have no experience with the country the university is in and who are trying to interpret information that might be in an unfamiliar alphabet.”

Aditi Kapur, the first international student in her family, also found navigating the payments process stressful. Born and raised in Delhi, she remembers the worry she felt as she walked into her parents’ bank to send her deposit to the London School of Economics (LSE).

She followed the bank’s instructions to the letter, filling out the outward remittance application and supplying the required documents – including her passport, her parents’ proof of income and her high school and undergraduate report cards. Gathering all that information – plus LSE’s banking details – added more effort to an already stressful experience.

Removing worry from tuition payments

Fortunately, Kapur’s bank offered a dedicated tuition payment service, and she received an email confirmation from LSE within 24 hours of sending her payment. “The bank managers were there to guide us the whole way,” she says. “It was a huge relief to have a banking partner that made this entire process easier.”

Some fintechs have launched their own payments platforms to simplify cross-border transactions, but most international students prefer to rely on their banks. However, many regional banks lack the resources to develop their own in-house solutions.

While regional banks – whose clients may include thousands of students studying overseas – have a huge opportunity to serve their communities better, they need a ready-made solution that eliminates customers’ worry, confusion and frustration. “Banks want to keep finding ways to make customers’ lives easier,” Khowala says. “It’s not just the core bank services that matter; it’s being the customer’s partner through these big life events, like getting a college degree.”

According to an executive from YES Bank in India, tuition payments are more than just a remittance service – they are an entry point to lasting customer relationships. “For many families, these payments mark the beginning of their international financial journey, and we aim to become their primary financial institution through this transition,” the executive shares. “Starting with seamless cross-border remittance, we support the full spectrum of evolving needs – from education loans to post-graduation banking products. Students, over time, often transition into valued members of our affluent customer base.”

Helping banks to help their customers

Mastercard Move, the company’s portfolio of domestic and international money movement capabilities, helps banks provide fast, secure and trackable cross-border payments for their customers. It provides users with upfront visibility into costs and fees in their local currency, along with near real-time tracking of transactions. Universities, students and parents receive notifications when payments arrive at the universities’ banking institutions.

The portfolio reaches more than 200 countries and territories and supports over 150 currencies. It enables payments to move quickly and securely across borders, with funds often available within minutes or the same day – a significant improvement over the long delays traditionally associated with wire transfers.

“We’re one of the few players with enough reach and scale to help banks facilitate these cross-border payments effectively,” Khowala says. “We’re saving banks from years of technology development. For banks that don’t have the resources to engineer all these capabilities on their own, they can plug into our network and leverage our solutions to serve their customers.”

According to Mastercard, it has also compiled the Easy Tuition Payment (ETP) directory –, a database with payment information for a wide range of international colleges and universities, which is currently available in China. From the ETP widget on their bank’s website, students can auto-populate all the required account and routing data with just a few clicks.

“When you’re pursuing international education, finances are a huge factor,” Dong says. “It was such a relief to finally get that email saying Columbia University had received my tuition payment, because I knew I was one step closer to my dream.”