International student payments are part of the student experience

Universities invest heavily in creating a strong student experience. For international students, that experience can begin long before they arrive on campus.

International student payments often involve large sums, different currencies, unfamiliar banking processes and deadlines that matter. Paying a deposit or tuition fee may be one of the first significant interactions a student or their family has with an institution.

That makes the payment experience more than a finance function. It forms part of the relationship a university builds with the student from the beginning.

Why do international student payments affect the student experience?

International student payments often happen at an important point in the student journey, when a student is making a major financial and personal commitment to an institution.

Australia continues to serve a large and diverse international student population. In the year to June 2026, 687,810 international students studied in Australia. China, India, Nepal, Vietnam and Bangladesh accounted for 57% of those students, according to the Australian Government Department of Education.

View the Australian Government international student data

That diversity matters because students do not all arrive with the same currencies, banking habits or preferred ways to pay.

A domestic student may see an Australian bank transfer or card payment as routine. An international student might need to move funds across borders, convert currencies, involve a parent or family member, or use a payment method that is common at home but less familiar in Australia.

From the student's perspective, these are not separate finance processes. They are interactions with the university.

The Australian Government's international education strategy also identifies student experience and wellbeing as an important part of Australia's international education system.

Read the Australian Strategy for International Education 2021–2030

Payments are only one part of that experience, but they are a practical and important one.

Where does friction enter the tuition payment experience?

Payment friction often appears when the university's process does not match the student's normal financial behaviour.

A student may need to understand a new payment method, convert currencies or work out how much money the university will receive after fees and foreign exchange.

A parent or family member paying from overseas may have another set of questions.

Has the university received the payment? Was the correct student reference included? Has the student's account been updated? Will the payment clear before an enrolment deadline?

From inside the institution, these can look like operational questions.

To the student or family making a significant payment from another country, they are part of the experience of dealing with the university.

This is why payment choice alone does not necessarily create a better experience. Students also need clarity, confidence and visibility around what happens to their money.

Can familiar payment methods improve the student experience?

Familiar payment methods can reduce friction when they allow international students to pay in a way they already understand and trust.

For example, a Chinese student who regularly uses Alipay may find it more intuitive than arranging an international transfer through an unfamiliar banking process.

UNSW provides a practical example.

The university integrated Alipay into the MyUNSW Student Portal through Novatti and Xetta, allowing Chinese international students to pay tuition fees in Chinese Yuan from within the university's existing environment.

The integration also connects payment data with UNSW's systems, supporting settlement and reconciliation behind the transaction.

See how UNSW expanded payment options for Chinese international students

The important point is not simply that UNSW added another way to pay.

It brought the payment experience closer to something students already understood while connecting that experience with the university's existing processes.

Adding payment choice without considering what happens around the transaction can simply move complexity somewhere else.

What happens after an international student makes a payment?

The payment experience continues after the student presses 'pay'.

Finance teams still need to identify the payer, match the transaction to the correct student record, understand its status and confirm when funds have settled.

As universities add international transfers, cards, digital wallets and other payment methods, these processes can become more complicated.

A payment option that is simple for the student can still create work behind the scenes if the transaction sits outside the university's existing finance workflows.

That is why payment acceptance and payment operations should form part of the same decision.

We explored this in more detail in our guide to student payment reconciliation and reducing manual finance administration.

Strong reconciliation processes allow finance teams to focus on exceptions rather than manually investigating routine transactions.

The best outcome works on both sides. Students have a straightforward way to pay, while university teams have the information they need to manage that payment efficiently.

Why should universities think about payments beyond the finance team?

Students experience one university, even when the institution manages their journey across many different departments and systems.

A student may move between admissions, enrolment, finance, online portals, student services and academic teams.

Internally, each interaction may belong to a different function.

From the student's perspective, they are all part of the same institution.

Australia's national Student Experience Survey reinforces how closely universities monitor the wider student experience. In 2025, 76.5% of undergraduate students and 77.8% of postgraduate coursework students rated their overall educational experience positively.

View the 2025 Student Experience Survey results

The survey does not measure tuition payments specifically. It does demonstrate the importance the sector places on understanding how students experience their institution.

Administrative interactions should be considered within that wider picture.

A difficult tuition payment process does not feel like a 'finance issue' to a student. It is simply another interaction with the university.

How can universities improve the international student payment experience?

The strongest payment experiences remove friction for students without creating more work for university teams.

That means looking at both sides of the process. Students need clear, familiar ways to pay. Finance teams need accurate payment information, visibility over status and a reliable way to reconcile transactions.

Universities should focus on a few practical questions:

• Can students pay using methods that make sense in their home market?
• Do they know what they are paying, in what currency and when the university has received it?
• Can finance teams easily match each payment to the right student account?
• Are refunds, failed payments and exceptions easy to manage?
• Can the university add new payment methods without adding another manual process?

The goal is not to offer the most payment options. It is to make the payment experience easier for students and simpler for the teams managing it.

How can Novatti help?

Novatti supports education providers with international student payments across payment acceptance, Asian digital wallets and international payments.

Our education payment solutions can give international students access to familiar payment methods, including Alipay, WeChat Pay and UnionPay, while helping institutions connect payment activity with their wider finance processes.

For universities, the opportunity is not simply to add another way to pay. It is to connect the experience students have at the front end with the settlement, reporting and reconciliation processes teams rely on behind the scenes.

Talk to Novatti about international student payment solutions

‍