I have a feeling this is a silly question, but here goes: I've often wondered... When one makes payment to a U.K. university, does one do so in GBP? If so, how? Where would one go in order to get the funds for submission? basrsu
Hi basrsu - The simplest method is to just give them your credit card number. Visa, Mastercard, or whoever will make the currency conversion based on the rate at the time of the transaction. Otherwise, you can do the conversion yourself and do a wire transfer (your bank will tell you how). Also, you can simply put a check in the mail (some schools have rules about this and so it's wise to contact the appropriate person in the Student Accounts department in order to ease the process.) You'll find that what ever method you choose, it's not that big of a deal.
In the earlier days of the EBS program, they did not take credit card. I had to pay in pounds for all of the course fees. At the time I had a citibank account and they would actually issue me a check in British pounds to send in the mail. Another option would be to do a wire transfer. The fees for this vary from bank to bank.
We discovered and have been happily using totally free wire transfers at Washington Mutual Bank. They offer a free checking account that has almost no benefits, other than free wire transfers. And so we transfer money from our regular WaMu account (checking or savings or even home equity line of credit) to that free account (in which we normally keep $1), and then wire it from that account. Very satisfactory. Also: PayPal lets one put money in (from a credit card or other source) in dollars, and they will pay at the other end in pounds. Incidentally: during the 7 years I was involved in selling Heriot-Watt/EBS courses in the US and Canada, we always accepted all credit cards. We even gave free airline miles with purchases for a while. I assume edowave bought his/her courses from a different agent since the university was not (or not supposed to be) selling them themselves.
Get an international money order payable in British pounds, which you can acquire at the hearest office of American Express Travel Related Services.
If you need to know exchange rates go to www.xe.com Site is easy to use and has most currencies, including South African rand for those considering SA.
Yes, I was outside of the US, so I was using a different agent. For the matriculation and exams fees, I'm pretty sure I remitted that to the university directly in pounds.
Sometimes banks offer the wire transfer for "free", but then take their cut out of the exchange rate they give you. That still sounds like a deal worth checking out.
