High transaction fees and a lack of payment flexibility are major concerns for international students studying in Australia, a new survey shows.
The Aussie Study Experience report, conducted by Brisbane based EdTech business Cohort Go, polled close to 700 international students in Australia, asking them about their experiences studying, living and working in Australia.
The report recorded responses from 651 international students between November 2018 and March 2019.
When asked to provide feedback to education providers about paying for their fees, the respondents’ major suggestion was to provide payment options that reduced transaction fees (49%) and offer payment plans (42%).
The third largest area of feedback from students centered around having more global transfer options.
“Australia’s prosperity is directly linked to international education, which is why it’s vital that the international education sector continues to innovate and look to improve the study experience of students studying here,” Mark Fletcher, CEO and co-founder of Cohort Go said.
“For too long, the transaction fees imposed on money transfers have been a frustrating hidden cost of paying for an international education. Students are calling for education providers to adopt alternative payment options which impose little or no fees on their students, such as fee-free global payment gateways.”
Fletcher said that while some education providers offer payment plans to international students, there is a clear desire to make these plans more widespread to alleviate the pressure of paying for fees upfront.
The research also revealed that students’ parents were overwhelmingly the final decision makers when it came to paying for fees, with 37% of students surveyed saying that their parents paid for their Australian education.
This was closely followed by students paying via internet banking (25%) and credit card (15%).
What feedback would you give to your education provider about paying your fees? (Students were able to choose more than one option)
|
Reduce transaction fees |
49% |
|
Offer payment plans |
42% |
|
More global transfer options |
33% |
|
Better customer support |
20% |