With over 19,000 students across three campuses, the University of Essex has all the amenities you’d expect of a similar-sized town. Although, with over 140 countries represented, that would be a particularly multicultural town by anyone’s standards.
“We offer a wide range of services to our students and staff, as well as to the local community,” says Bryn Morris, the university’s registrar and secretary. “As well as our lecture theatres and laboratories, we offer cafés and restaurants, bars, shops, arts activities – like our theatre and cinema – and significant sporting facilities, including an amazing 1,600-seater arena.
“So, as a university with a turnover of more than £300 million, we've got a wide range of different income streams. We need to ensure that we manage our cashflow effectively.”
The university partnered with Elavon to handle all its payments – from a coffee on campus costing just a few pounds, to tuition and accommodation fees which are in the thousands. Transferring large sums of money online can potentially be problematic, requiring a multitude of security checks, to say the least. Not so for students at the University of Essex.
“Elavon has tailored our [payments] solutions, so that they're frictionless,” explains Carol Saward, head of income and payments. Backed by the strength and stability of U.S. Bank, the fifth-largest commercial bank in the United States, Elavon has experience and expertise when it comes to working with busy, complex educational institutions – and the capability to tailor solutions to meet this sector’s unique needs.
