Billing and Payment

The Wheaton College Student Billing and Payment Gateway

The Student Billing and Payment Gateway provides 24/7 online access to manage all of your student account activity and transactions.

Billing and Payment Gateway Features

• Announcements: The left sidebar is updated frequently to provide important updates. It also includes general billing and payment information and helpful contacts and links.
• Authorized Users*: Create authorized user profiles for each person who will need access to your account.  Once added under your profile, authorized users receive two emails with login instructions. This also gives our office the student’s permission to speak with the authorized user about their account details.
• Semester Bills and Monthly Statements: View and print statements online.
• Account Activity:  View, print, or download account activity by term.
• Payment Plans: Enroll in or manage your semester payment plan.
• Payments:  Set up preferred payment methods and make or schedule online payments.
• Electronic Refunds*: Set up a preferred bank account to receive refunds of account credits by direct deposit. Use the eRefund Request Form to request the refund.
• Year-end 1098-T Tax Statements: Retrieve tax statements online. Students must grant parent permission to access this form under their authorized user profile.

*These features are not available to authorized users.

Accessing the Student Billing and Payment Gateway

Students: Access the Gateway through your student portal at portal.wheaton.edu and login using your NetID and password.  Once logged in, select your student status from the left-hand menu and then select Student Billing and Payment Gateway under the Billing and Payment options.

Authorized Users: Go to https://secure.touchnet.net/C22346_tsa/web/login.jsp and login with your email address and password.

Billing and Payment at Wheaton

Semester bills and monthly statements will be available online in the Student Billing and Payment Gateway. Email notices are sent to students and their authorized users when new statements are ready to view or print online. Semester bills will be issued at least 30 days before the due date which is the first day of classes. Month-end statements will be issued when there is an account balance (an amount due or a credit) or there has been activity on the account, such as new charges or credits. New charges added after the semester bill was issued will be due 30 days after they are first billed on a month-end statement.

Financial aid awards are initially made based on the assumption that an undergraduate student will be enrolled full-time (at least 12 hours). If an undergraduate student is enrolled less than full-time, the amount of grants and scholarships that will be applied to their student account for that semester will be prorated based on the student’s enrollment. Undergraduate students enrolled in 9-11 hours will receive ¾ of each grant or scholarship amount applied to their student account. Undergraduate students enrolled in 6-8 hours will receive ½ of each grant or scholarship amount applied to their student account. Undergraduate students who are enrolled in less than 6 hours do not qualify for institutional grants or scholarships, however some federal and state grants are available for undergraduate students enrolled less than half time. These funds will be prorated according to the applicable federal or state rules.

Accepted Forms of Payment

• Online Electronic Check (ACH) from a checking or savings account. This is a free service.
• Online using a credit or debit card. There is a non-refundable bank service charge of 2.95% per transaction.
• Paper Check (free).
• Bank wire (bank fees apply).
• International payment through TransferMate.

Wheaton does not take payment by phone.

Checks should be made payable to Wheaton College and the student’s full name and student ID number should be included on the memo line of the check. This applies to personal checks as well as outside scholarships and payments from College Savings/529 Plans. 

Our mailing address:

Wheaton College - Student Financial Services
501 College Ave
Wheaton, IL 60187

If you provide a check as a payment, you authorize us either to use information from your check to make a one-time electronic funds transfer from your account or to process the payment as a check transaction. When we use information from your check to make an electronic funds transfer, funds may be withdrawn from your account as soon as the same day as your check is received, and you will not receive your check back from your financial institution.

Payment Plans

Wheaton College offers convenient, interest-free payment plans that spread semester costs into equal, monthly installments to be paid over the semester.

Plan enrollment is completed online in the Billing and Payment Gateway. Installments will be calculated using the net balance due at the time of enrollment. This will include known charges minus expected (estimated) financial aid. INSTALLMENT AMOUNTS MAY CHANGE over time if the student account balance changes due to new charges or credits.

Payment Plan Details

• A non-refundable application fee of $50 per semester is added to your plan amount.
• Enrollment is for one semester only. You will need to enroll in a new plan each semester as needed.
• Automatic debit is required for all plans with two payment options.
  • Electronic check (from checking or savings account) is FREE.
  • Credit and debit cards are charged a non-refundable 2.95% bank fee per transaction.
• Enrollment deadline is one business day prior to the first scheduled payment date. Late enrollment may be available on some plans with missed installments due at the time of enrollment.

2024-2025 Payment Plan Installment Schedules

Fall Semester 4-month plan: August 28^th, (first day of classes), October 5^th, November 5^th, December 5^th
Fall Semester 5-month plan: August 5^th, September 5^th, October 5^th, November 5^th, December 5^th

Spring Semester 4-month plan: January 13^th (first day of classes), March 5^th, April 5^th, May 5^th
Spring Semester 5-month plan: January 5^th, February 5^th, March 5^th, April 5^th, May 5^th

Summer 2025 3-month plan: May 10^th, June 10^th, July 10^th

Fees

All payments that are returned by the bank for any reason will be assessed a return payment fee of $25.

A one-time $95.00 penalty will be charged if the account balance is not paid or enrolled in a payment plan by the semester due date. Additional late fees of 1.5% per month will also be assessed on any past-due balances.

Transactions made through TransferMate for international payments are subject to a $20 fee.

Responsibilities and Reminders

Failure to log in and review the e-bill and account balance does not constitute a valid reason for not paying the balance on time. Students are responsible for notifying parents, or others that may be paying on their behalf, of account balances and dues dates. 

Incomplete financial aid requirements will delay the release of funds, resulting in late charges and the inability to register for future semesters.

Students receiving outside scholarships are responsible for informing the scholarship organization of payment due dates. Students are responsible for payment if scholarship checks are delayed.

Enrolled students with unpaid past due balances greater than or equal to $1,000 are not permitted to enroll in future semesters* or alter their current semester registration until the past due balance is brought below $1,000. Students who have attended Wheaton and are no longer currently enrolled at Wheaton College will have a registration hold for future semesters placed on their account if they have an unpaid past due balance greater than or equal to $25. Unpaid balances will continue to accrue late fees. Accounts with unpaid balances greater than or equal to $100 may be sent to a collection agency when the account is 180 days past due, and the student will be responsible for the student account balance, interest, late fees and collection fees. Complaints regarding this policy can be directed towards the Attorney General’s student loan ombudsperson at 1-800-455-2456 or www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/, and the Vice President of Finance and Operations at 630-752-5085 or vp.finance@wheaton.edu.

*There are times when students are able to register for a future term when registration opens but their balance due increases after registration for a reason including but not limited to:

1. The student was on a payment plan for the current semester but missed one or more scheduled payments totaling $1,000 or more after the student registered for the future term.
2. The student made a payment that was returned by their financial institution for one of various reasons (i.e. Insufficient Funds, Bank Account Closed, etc.), leaving a balance due of $1,000 or more.
3. The student registered for classes for a future term when their account balance was below $1,000, but financial aid revisions or revised charges resulted in an increase to the balance due on their account.

Student Financial Services will establish a date at the end of the Fall and Spring semesters by which payment on past due balances greater than or equal to $1,000 must be paid in order to retain registration for the upcoming semester. This date will be communicated in at least three (3) email notices to affected students. If the student does not bring their past due balance below $1,000 by the deadline, the student’s course registration for the upcoming term will be dropped. Note: Fall registration will not be dropped for students with past due balances from summer only, however, a finance hold will be added to their account that will prevent them from altering their current semester registration until the past due balance is brought below $1,000.  

Student Debt Assistance Policy

First-year and transfer students begin their enrollment at Wheaton College with the expectation that they will persist and graduate with their degree. However, some students may find that they need to withdraw for a variety of reasons and then want to return for a later term. To assist students in this position, they may be able to recoup up to the full cost of their tuition at Wheaton through:

1. Our tuition refund policy which provides tiered percentages of tuition refunds based on the withdrawal date (please see https://catalog.wheaton.edu/financial-information/ for further information and the details of this policy).
2. The optional purchase of tuition insurance through GradGuard which provides reimbursement for students who cannot complete an academic term due to an unforeseen, covered accident, injury, or other covered reason (please see https://gradguard.com/tuition/wheaton for further details).

At times, students may face financial or physical hardships during a semester that causes them to have to unexpectedly withdraw. To help limit debt owed by these students who intend to return in a future semester, they may appeal to have the late fees assessed during the semester of their withdrawal reversed, provided the appeal is submitted within 90 days of the withdrawal date. Below are examples of hardship situations which may qualify for an appeal:

     (1) serious injury or illness;
     (2) chronic illness;
     (3) a medical issue of a family member in which the
          student must become a part-time or full-time caretaker
          of that family member;
     (4) a mental health condition;
     (5) a sudden or consistent lack of transportation
          issue; and
     (6) a significant cost of living increase.

If you have any questions about this policy, please contact Student Financial Services at sfs@wheaton.edu.