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Thank you to everyone who responded to my request for information. As promised I have summarised the responses below. A total of 18 responses were received. * All offered instalment arrangements. Of these 50% accepted 2 instalments only, 33% took 3 instalments,5% 4 instalments, 5% 6 instalments and 5% 8 instalments (direct debit payments only). Most offered alternative instalment plans for exceptional cases, overseas and PG students. * The last instalment dates varied from January to beginning of May in the case of the larger number of instalments. However the majority (67%) aimed to collect student contributions by the end of February. * No one charged for instalment arrangements for home UGs, unless penalty fees for bounced cheques, late payments etc. 25% had some charge for PGs and overseas students paying in more than 2 instalments. 1 institution offered a discount if fees paid in full, rather than instalments. * 60% accepted postdated cheques (many reluctantly). * 55% accepted overseas credit cards. * 55% currently offer direct debit, and several others are considering introducing this payment method. 1 institution intends to make this the compulsory method of payment for all student fees. * 38% allow payments by standing order. * Most credit/debit cards are accepted, with no additional charges passed on to the student. However 55% would not accept AMEX and 50% would not accept DINERS. * A variety of occasional problems were encountered with different payment methods. However many of these related to changes in assessments by LEAs and the administration of altering instalment plans, and the initial setting up of direct debit provision by the HEI with its bank. I hope this information is useful to other HEIs considering different payment methods. Again thank you to those who made time in busy schedules to respond. ---------------------- Michelle Jagger Student Loans/Access Fund Administrator University of Exeter Phone 01392 263858 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%