Western Washington University flourishes with Transact Integrated Payments
March 30, 2023
As Western Washington University (WWU) has grown over the years, so has their partnership with Transact Campus. WWU has been a Transact partner since 2008 and is home to more than 15,000 students across seven campuses/sites. WWU offers its students a modern, streamlined mobile payments experience using Transact Integrated Payments. As a Banner student and finance system user, WWU needed the ability to share information with their Banner system in real-time while maintaining PCI compliance and offering flexible payment solutions to enhance their student experience.
“Prior to moving to Transact in 2008, we were processing all payments with Banner directly. Since then, both staff and students have been able to process and submit payments in a far more efficient manner. With each new module we implement, we gain some kind of efficiency,” said Rebecca (Becky) Kellow, Assistant Director, Treasury Services/Financial Services at WWU.
Over the years, WWU has implemented the following Transact Integrated Payments solutions:
Cashiering: This solution has simplified in-person payments and streamlined deposit management at WWU.
ePayment: This solution has enhanced WWU’s capacity to collect tuition and housing payments by providing a secure, mobile-responsive online portal for students and their families. This keeps them informed about their financial responsibilities while providing multiple payment options including credit cards, eCheck, 529 electronic disbursements, and International Funds Transfer (IFT) via Western Union through a single web checkout experience.
eMarket: This solution provides WWU students round-the-clock access to retail, food, recreation, and other in-person and online campus purchases with customizable online storefronts. Given the numerous departments, organizations, and clubs, it was important for WWU to have flexible options for selling items and collecting non-tuition fees. eMarket met WWU’s needs by fulfilling business requirements and maintaining PCI compliance. The eMarket suite includes Payment Processing with Virtual Terminal, Mobile Payment for iPad, and Assisted Payments. Since they launched eMarket in 2010, WWU has expanded site usage from a single athletic camp site to, to over 400 sites, processing more than $8M in processed payments.
“eMarket sites are easy to set up. It’s easy to add delete and change as things change. It has removed a lot of manual and paper processes, and PCI compliance issues. We don’t have people mailing in checks and trying to track down payments; now the department has all the information at their fingertips,” said Kellow.
Most recently, WWU implemented Virtual Terminal.
What is Virtual Terminal?
Virtual Terminal is a flexible payment solution that allows students to pay securely – in person or over the phone.
Benefits for Schools
Users can accept a debit or credit card payment with any phone, tablet, or computer connected to the web
Transactions flow seamlessly into Transact ePayment and eMarket
Secure: Point to Point Encryptions (P2PE) reduces schools’ PCI scope
Market-leading SIS integration
Benefits for Students
Ability to quickly make payments on campus, in person or over the phone
Contactless and paperless
Fast, reliable, and secure payment solution
“Virtual Terminal can be used in many ways on campus. We implemented it for our Debt Recovery Unit so that they can remove their PCI stations (separate stations from their workstations). I am anticipating we will be using it for sales, pop-up events on campus, registration for events…pretty much anything you can think of,” Kellow said.
“Virtual Terminal filled their need for a simple application to take payments at smaller departments throughout campus without the need for lengthy training. Now they can get employees or student workers up to speed with one 30-minute training,” said Troy Maguire, Senior Product Manager, Transact.
As WWU continues to expand, their partnership with Transact ensures their constantly changing needs will be anticipated—and met, to help improve the experience for both students and administrators.
“Western Washington University has been a phenomenal partner for the last 15 years. The administration at WWU has always been very transparent about their needs and requirements. This trust and transparency have allowed Transact to meet WWU's requirements and grow with WWU. For example, as PCI compliance requirements have changed over the years, Transact helped WWU with point-to-point encryption (P2Pe) for card present transactions that integrate with Banner in real time. More recently, Transact assisted WWU by providing enhanced payment plan capabilities for WWU students and parents. It has been a win-win for us to be on this journey with WWU,” said Mike Sullivan, Vice President of Sales, Transact.
“My experience with Transact has been a very positive one. Great people to work with. It’s a great system, I think it has helped us evolve and I think it helps us to continue to evolve,” Kellow said.
Bob Putich, Manager of WWU’s Student Business Office agrees.
“Students expect to be able to do everything on their mobile phone, and we need to be able to fulfill that expectation. Transact has enabled us to be right on the cutting edge the whole way through. I would never go back to what we had before.”
If you would like to simplify campus payments processing and experience the same successes as WWU, click here to request a demonstration and learn more.