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Taking the student booking experience to the next level
About The University of Hertfordshire
Organisation type:
-
University
Challenges solved:
- Simplifying payment plan management
- Reducing the amount spent through processing card transaction fees
- Reduced the dependency on interfaces
- Consolidating existing payment solutions
Size of operation:
- 31,000 students across two main campuses
- 4,600 onsite accommodation options
Client since:
- 2003
Product suites:
- Student Accommodation Management
- Student Payment Management (KxPayments)
What makes The University of Hertfordshire unique?
Ranked 4th globally for research culture
Ranked 16th in England for social mobility impact
1 of 20 universities awarded Enterprise Zone status
The University of Hertfordshire has been an innovative force for 70 years across their entire institution, including within their student accommodation offering. Thanks to the implementation of KxPayments, the team have been able to further extend this approach within their student experience, by providing flexible payment options such as; recurring card payments, open banking, and card payments during the student web journey for students living in university accommodation. With KxPayments embedded for both deposits and residential fees, this has provided the team with a seamless and integrated process, to consolidate their ways of working within KxStudent for reconciliation and debt management processes, reducing the number of standalone systems in use.
An improved experience, for students and staff
"We were very excited to continue our partnership with Kinetic as an early adopter of KxPayments, RCP plans and open banking."
Charlie Smart, Business Applications Manager
"Kinetic were able to improve on the existing booking experience bringing payments seamlessly into the user journey."
As part of the student journey, KxPayments provides the ability for the team to offer recurring card payments to the students, where they can select their own plans. Whether this is term time, monthly or custom instalments the team require, embedding these into the student journey displays the choice of payment options directly to the student, saving the team time and administration taken on a previously manual process and results in clear visibility and reporting in KxStudent.
Through the introduction of recurring card payments via KxPayments, the team have been able to enforce payment plans at the acceptance stage of the room offer, which has had a significant impact in meeting the University’s new debt management strategy to reduce the value of aged debt. Instead of up to a 48 hour wait time for a payment plan to be approved, this now happens instantly resulting in an improved student experience and direct accountability for future payments.
Open banking has accelerated the acceptance process and saved money
Since offering open banking as a payment method, 30% of eligible students have chosen to pay their deposits using this method in comparison to card transactions. This has put them on the right path to reduce card acquirer fees, and they hope to see savings grow as open banking continues to be a preferred payment method. Thanks to open banking, the team are already seeing the potential for reduced acquirer costs, as well as providing an additional seamless and secure payment option within the student journey.
With an adoption rate of 20% in other industries, we are already seeing the demand in higher education. Through the open banking option students, or their parent or guardian, can scan a QR code and be taken straight to their banking app to make payment, removing the need for card details and providing an innovative payment option. Payments are transferred and visible instantly on the student account, compared to checking and managing payments via a third-party system.
A strong partnership through early adoption that will benefit the sector
"The professionalism and support that Kinetic have given us through the implementation of KxPayments has made it a lot easier."
As an early adopter of KxPayments the university stakeholders have played a key part in developing the product, to not only meet the needs of their processes but for the sector too. The team at Kinetic have been on hand throughout the entire implementation of KxPayments to ensure the system provides key benefits to both the university and sector. The team at Kinetic worked collaboratively with the University to provide benefits to all stakeholders such as their team, customers and the wider industry.
For more information on how KxPayments can help you and your team, please get in touch today!