Card transaction system provider, TouchNet, has revealed its new U.Commerce 8 platform designed to support colleges and universities as they manage both their businesses and safely bring students back to campus. As a new hybrid experience of both virtual and in person learning has emerged, U.Commerce 8 delivers mobile first strategies, reporting and analytics, and insight into student engagement in an effort to identify trends, measure success and inform decisions.

Transact has been busy both domestically and abroad, headlined by an expanded workforce at its Chennai, India location and the recent completion of its annual PCI compliance assessments. The added personnel in Chennai brings the total staff to 70 individuals at the company’s IT product development hub. The annual PCI assessments, meanwhile, include successful completions of the SOC 2 Type 2 examination, PCI DSS assessment, and penetration tests.

Nelnet Campus Commerce has announced a new partnership with GradGuard on a tuition insurance policy designed to benefit both higher education institutions and their students. Tuition reimbursement, particularly related to room and board fees, has become a hotly contested issue in recent months after early campus closures last spring forced students away from universities and out of on-campus housing.

Ohio’s Miami University has taken the decision to go cashless for all payments on its Oxford campus this fall in an effort to limit the passing of plastic cards and cash tender between students and cashiers. Alongside card system vendor, CBORD, the university is leveraging the GET app for payment and mobile ordering, as well as its contactless campus card to create a secure, convenient and potentially healthier transaction experience.

Nelnet Campus Commerce, a provider of secure payment technology for higher education institutions, is expanding international student payment options via a new partnership with MTFX Group’s payment solution, PayMyTuition. The payment platform enables international students to pay their tuition and other fees in their home country’s currency, while universities receive the payment in its local tender.

As universities across the country continue to issue reimbursements to students to cover services that have been stopped due to the coronavirus shutdown, the University of Connecticut has added another refund to the list. UConn Parking Services will now issue prorated refunds to students who purchased a university parking permit.

The University of Pennsylvania is joining peer campuses across the country in issuing prorated refunds to students who paid for room and board plans during the spring semester. With campus closures affecting Penn in the same way institutions all over the country have been, the university has laid out a student refund plan.

Universities across the country are in the process of determining refund policies for student room and board funds. One of the latest universities to reveal reimbursement plans is Penn State University, where a plan has been taking shape since mid-March.