Charlotte, NC, May 20, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Unity FI Solutions, a leading provider of electronic payment solutions, recently released EduPay, a new online platform that allows schools to accept electronic payments from parents at no cost to the school system.
"Budget cuts and other factors are causing many school systems to feel the weight of payment processing costs," said Dan Miller, principal and co-founder of Unity FI Solutions. "We created EduPay as a true end-to-end solution to alleviate schools of this burden and allow them to focus less on budgets and more on students."
EduPay provides schools with a unique webpage where parents can pay for items like sports, testing fees, textbooks, cafeteria costs, and before and after school care. The platform is completely cost-free for schools and charges a nominal convenience fee to users for each transaction. The solution is also available with a guarantee option that eliminates the risk of schools losing money due to payments from accounts with insufficient funds.
"When we looked at the market, we saw that schools had to charge parents more for things like sports to help cover payment processing costs," Miller said. "The convenience fee associated with EduPay is normally lower than the upcharge schools have to build into these items, so parents realize savings as well."
Among the first to adopt EduPay is Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in North Carolina.
"EduPay brings significant value to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools by streamlining our payment processing and enhancing payment reconciliation," said Colette Jeffries, director of the After School Enrichment Program at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. "The service comes at no cost, which alleviates budget pressures and, more importantly, gives parents additional choices in how they pay for important items their children need. It is a win-win for all parties."
About Unity FI Solutions:
Unity FI Solutions is a Charlotte, NC-based technology firm that delivers customized, secure and cost-effective electronic payment and collections solutions to clients in a wide range of industries. For more than a decade, Unity FI Solutions has brought innovative payment solutions to its clients with the goal of helping them improve their bottom lines and increase operational efficiencies.