Frequently Asked Questions:

South Dakota Public University System's SDePay e-Commerce Process

During the 2004-05 academic year, credit card companies assessed the University System approximately $500,000.00 in bank fees to process tuition and fees made with credit and debit cards. Due to bank surcharges and other complications with credit card processing, many colleges and universities do not accept credit card tuition payments at all. Because we cannot continue to justify paying these processing fees, the University System has considered dropping this payment option. However, we recognize that many students and their families appreciate the convenience of using a credit and debit card, and we have searched for alternatives. The savings realized from the reduction of paying bank fees will provide additional funds to support instructional programs.

Nelnet Business Solutions is the vendor with whom the South Dakota Public University System has contracted to provide for secure on-line payments, on-line statements, and e-Billing services. Nelnet Business Solutions is providing QuikPay®, a hosted electronic bill and payment service.  Our contract with them ensures that the processes are compliant with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLB) Act.

Almost 20% of our students/parents pay tuition and fees with their credit and debit card. Currently, the South Dakota University System has been absorbing the credit card processing fees charged by the credit card companies. The cost of these bank fees is increasing at an alarming rate. Although some schools have chosen to no longer accept credit or debit cards, we felt that with the high number of credit card payers we have, it would be a disservice to our University communities if we eliminated them altogether. The vendor, Nelnet Business Solutions, has the expertise in on-line payment and billing systems to meet all security and privacy issues and meets the banking and credit card industry compliance requirements. Our contract with them ensures that the processes are complaint with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLB) Act.

That rate is determined by our vendor, Nelnet Business Solutions. The Service Fee is charged to your credit or debit card and paid to Nelnet Business Solutions.

American Express, Discover Card, VISA, and MasterCard can be used to pay student charges online. The links to the online payment site can be found on the email notification and on WebAdvisor. If you use a card to pay your bill, a 2.85% service fee will be charged by and payable to Nelnet Business Solutions. You will not be charged a fee if you pay online by eCheck.

The South Dakota University System does not accept credit or debit card payments for student tuition and fee charges at campus office. Credit cards or debit card payments can only be accepted for tuition and fees through SDePay our online payment site.

An email notification will be sent from SDePay@sdbor.edu to your official university email address, announcing that the Student Account Statement is ready to be viewed/paid online.  The announcement will also be forwarded to the email address of Authorized Payers.  This will be sent each time a new statement with an outstanding balance is processed.  We will continue to send paper bills to your address of record through Summer 2006. Starting Fall 2006 only email notifications will be sent regarding student billing information.

If you are a student, a link in the email notification will take you to SDePay where you can safely log into the eBilling Web site by using your WebAdvisor username and password.

Once on the eBilling site, students may set up parents, guardians, or others as Authorized Payers who have access to view the statement and make online payments (see Authorized Payers section).

If you are an Authorized Payer (set up in advance by a student), a link in the e-mail notification will take you directly to the eBilling site, where you can securely log in by typing in your user name and password.

Once logged in, all eBilling users will be directed to the “Message Board” of the eBilling site. Important information related to eBilling will be posted on this page, so please review it.

Click on “View Accounts” to see the current Student Account Statement.

To make payments, click “Make Payment.”

To print the bill, click on the PDF icon on the “View Accounts” screen. This copy can be used for record-keeping or for mailing payments to University (address is on the PDF). You can also print any screen by clicking the print icon on your browser toolbar.

Other functions include the ability to see up to 16 months of statements, beginning with the November 2005 statement (on the “View Accounts” screen, select “Statement History” from the drop-down menu); and the ability to see a history of online payments.

The benefits to students will be: they are able to make payments at their convenience, they won’t have to stand in line to pay tuition and fees, they won’t experience being placed on hold on the telephone or getting a busy signal, they won’t have to come to campus to make a payment and won’t have to fear a late payment charge due to a delay in surface mail.

In addition to the cost savings from merchant fees, the University will have reduced printing costs, reduced mail processing costs, reduced postage and reduced costs for returned mail due to invalid addresses.

The savings realized from this new service will be redirected into academic and student focused initiatives, which in turn will enhance the student learning experience.

Log into SDePay eBilling site via WebAdvisor.  You will need to have the email address of the Authorized Payer to complete the setup process.

Follow the online instructions to create a user name and temporary password for each Authorized Payer. The temporary password will be changed by the Authorized Payer when they first log in.

An email will be sent from SDePay to your authorized payer. It will contain the following information:

  Dear Authorized Payer,
 
(Your Name) has set you up as an authorized payer on their online student account.
You have been assigned the following username: xxxxxx Please contact (Student name) to learn your password.

You can access your new account at the following URL:
https://quikpayasp.com/sdbor/campus/studentaccounts/authorized.do
Upon logging into the system you will be required to reset your password.

Each billing cycle, both the student and the Authorized Payer will receive an e-mail notifying them that the eBill is ready. Students access SDePay via WebAdvisor; Authorized Payers receive a link in their e-mail that takes them directly to an SDePay login page. This ensures the privacy of student information in WebAdvisor.

If you have questions, please email us at:

 WebAdvisor links: