Credit Card Service Fees

UT had paid the bank service charge fee for payment of academic fees until 2003. In 2003, as one of the ways it met the $15 million budget cut from the state, UT announced that it had entered into an agreement with First Horizon Merchant Services Inc. under which credit card payments for academic fees would be processed and a 2.5 percent service fee would be charged to the person paying the fee by credit card by First Horizon. Visa, MasterCard, and Discover cards could be used. No service charge was imposed for payment to UT by cash or check. Implementation of this change for fall 2003 was estimated to save UT $900,000.