How Students Pay For Stanford
By accepting Stanford’s offer of admission and enrolling in classes, students accept responsibility for paying all debts to the university for which they are liable, including tuition and fees. Stanford assumes that students understand and will honor this financial obligation. While the university acknowledges parents’ financial support, payment is the responsibility of the student. Students may authorize parents or others to access their Stanford account and make payments on their behalf through Axess, the student database system.
Visit the Gateway to Financial Activities website.
Sections:
Stanford ePay
Stanford ePay is the university’s secure, web-based billing and payment service. Through ePay, students can view or make payments to their account at any time, set up accounts and access for authorized payers, schedule payments and maintain personal options and payment profiles.
If students designate their parents as authorized payers, then parents can use ePay to view payment and billing history. However, parents can only view payments they have made, and they cannot set up other authorized payers.
The University Bill
The university bill includes charges for tuition, housing, room and dining, health insurance, student activities, the Vaden Health Center, telecommunications and a post office box. The university bill also contains information about payments, disbursed financial aid and any grants, scholarships, stipends, fellowships or student loans.
Tuition and fees are due the 15th of the month prior to the start of the quarter. All other charges are billed monthly as incurred. Unpaid balances may result in late fees and may lead to holds on enrollment, transcripts and degree conferral.
The university offers several payment methods: eCheck via Stanford ePay; personal checks, travelers checks, cashiers checks and money orders (U.S. funds payable through U.S. banks) via the mail or in person at the University Cashier’s Office at 632 Serra Street, Room 150 (a drop box is located outside the Cashier’s Office); and wire transfers.
Students living overseas find wire transfers convenient because they can wire funds directly from overseas banks to the university for credit to the student account. All wires must reference the student ID number. Your bank will typically charge a fee to initiate the wire transfer. For wire instructions, see http://fingate.stanford.edu/students/universbill/payment_methods.html#wire_transfer.
Payments made by eCheck via Stanford ePay from U.S. checking and savings accounts are free of service charges.
Parents may contact the Student Services Center at (866) 993-7772 or (650) 723-7772 with questions about the university bill. However, information specific to a student account may be discussed only with the people authorized by the student to receive such information.
Parent Loans
The loan used most often by parents is the federal PLUS Program, available from banks and credit unions. PLUS loans are coordinated for Stanford parents by the Financial Aid Office.
Health Insurance
Students are automatically enrolled in Cardinal Care insurance at the beginning of each quarter. To waive Cardinal Care and use your own insurance, visit http://vaden.stanford.edu/insurance/using_your_own.html for directions. The site also includes a worksheet to help you make the decision.
Payment Plan
Due to system issues requiring resolution and testing, the Payment Plan will not be available for the winter and spring quarters of 2009-10. We will continue to explore options to offer a problem-free, easy-to-use product in the future. For more information, contact the Student Services Center at (866) 993-7772 or (650) 723-7772.
Cash on Hand
Students need money for personal expenses (estimated at about $795 per quarter). Students on financial aid are allocated $2,385 for personal expenses for the academic year.
The StanfordCardPlan allows students to use their Stanford ID card to purchase books (estimated at $500 per quarter) and other goods and services on campus up to a maximum of $1,000 per quarter. The purchases are charged directly to the student’s university bill. The plan can be used at the Stanford Bookstore and Tresidder convenience store, as well as vending and copy machines.
Banking at Stanford
Tresidder Union houses two banks--the Stanford Federal Credit Union and Wells Fargo--as well as an automatic teller machine for Bank of America. Go to Top.
Student Employment
Many students work while at Stanford. The Career Development Center maintains job listings and assists students in finding jobs. Students who work on campus are paid twice each month. The suggested minimum wage for student workers is approximately $11 per hour. Most students meet their expected earnings by working six to seven hours per week.
Financial Aid
Stanford has one of the strongest financial aid programs among U.S. colleges and universities. Read more.
Awards to undergraduates are based on computed financial need. The university is committed to meeting the computed need of all admitted undergraduates. U.S. citizens and permanent residents are admitted without regard to their financial situation. Financial circumstances are considered when admitting international students, although some do receive aid. Application deadlines for the following school year are February for most entering freshmen, March for transfer applicants and April for returning students.
Stanford’s undergraduate financial aid program is need-based. Financial aid eligibility is based on the Financial Aid Office’s analysis of family financial information as provided on application materials. A basic principle of Stanford’s need-based financial aid program is the expectation that students and their parents will contribute toward educational expenses, to the extent they are able, before scholarships and/or grants are awarded. Students from families with total annual incomes of less than $100,000 will receive at least enough scholarship funds to cover tuition costs. Parents with incomes less than $60,000 will not be expected to pay tuition or contribute to the cost of room, board and other expenses.
Students at all income levels are asked to take responsibility for educational costs through summer earnings, contributions from assets in their name, academic-year earnings and/or outside scholarships. This student responsibility typically totals $4,500. University scholarships and/or grants are awarded when the student’s total expenses are greater than the expected parent contribution, plus the student responsibility. Stanford does not expect students to borrow as part of their need-based financial aid package, but some students may choose to borrow to meet the student responsibility expectation or to help with the computed parent contribution.
Typically, the university and lenders disburse one-third of the student’s scholarship, grant or loan funds each quarter. All aid, including scholarships, grants and loans, is applied to the student’s account at the beginning of each quarter and after the student has enrolled in a minimum number of units and completed all processing requirements in the case of loans. Prior to the start of a term (and on the first bill of each term), all aid will be designated as “anticipated aid.” Once the student completes all additional processing requirements and has enrolled in classes, funds are disbursed against charges on the account at the start of each quarter.
Last updated May 27, 2009
