*EFT/Wire/Direct Debit transactions produce a quote that must be submitted to your bank to process payment to UCalgary. After you submit the payment transfer request to your bank, they bank will begin the transaction. It will then take 3-7 business days for the payment to be processed and to appear on your UCalgary account. Processing times vary depending on where the payment is originating from. – University of Calgary
For reasons that are not entirely clear, paying tuition in Canada is a major hassle.
Even at places like University of Waterloo (one of the world’s best tech universities), the explainer video on how to pay tuition is almost nine minutes (!) long.
Instead of a simple login leading to one-tap pay with Apple or Google pay from your account, there is a convoluted process with countless steps designed for inconvenience.
This is especially confusing as Canada has one of the largest international student populations in the world. It is hard to understand why payments are often accepted only from Canadian bank accounts, only with PADs, only in Canadian currency, only as a lump sum payment and with a million of other absurd, arbitrary restrictions. Even something as simple as splitting a large payment between two different bank accounts is not really doable in Canada, and it is hard to understand why.
Imagine what a user-friendly, common sense system could look like.
Log in from your phone, tap to pay – and that’s it. Any currency works. Any account from anywhere in the world works. Installments? As many as you like. Crypto? No problem. Got an RESP? Everything is automatic – no need to send a pigeon to “release funds” and wait a month or two. Tax deductions? Calculated automatically. Need to ask parents to pay or crowdfund? Tap to create a link or import contacts and send it to your friends or loved ones anywhere in the world.