New Rise Card To Offer Rewards on Tuition Payments Fee-Free

A new credit card is on the horizon promising to offer you rewards for paying tuition. Like the Bilt World Elite Mastercard^® Credit Card, it’s not going to charge you a fee for it, either.

The Rise Tuition Card isn’t officially out yet, but the waitlist has opened — but is it worth it?

Rise Card Lets You Earn Points on Tuition

The premise for the Rise card is interesting. You’ll earn 1x points per $1 spent on tuition, 3x points on dining, 2x points on groceries, and 1x points everywhere else. According to View from the Wing, the card doesn’t have an issuer yet; instead, it’s relying on waitlist sign-ups to show sufficient interest before pursuing a bank.

Earnings for tuition will be capped at 100,000 points per year, which equates to $100,000 in tuition fees each year. Room and board are specifically excluded.

Like the Bilt Card*, the Rise card will let you make payments even if your school doesn’t typically allow credit card payments. In these instances, you’ll be able to send a check or ACH transfer, and these transactions will still earn rewards.

Unlike Bilt, however, the points that you earn aren’t transferable. They’re pegged at a value of 1 cent each and can be redeemed at 42 different merchants, including retailers such as:

• Airbnb
• Alaska Airlines
• Aman
• Cheesecake Factory
• Delta
• Four Seasons
• Ikea
• Sephora
• Zipcar

For a card that charges no annual fee, the ability to earn $1,000 in rewards seems pretty compelling.

*Use the card 5 times each statement period to earn points.

Is the Rise Card Worth It?

There are a couple of things to consider here. The first is the viability of a credit card with no bank issuer actually coming to life. There are plenty of optimistic fintech products that never see the light of day despite enthusiastic reception.

Longevity of the Rise Card

Potential cardholders will also want to consider the longevity of the card. Remember Zurp, the no-fee card that allowed you to pay your mortgage and earn points? It vanished abruptly in April and shut down before any of its cardholders could redeem their rewards.

We’re not saying that this will happen with the Rise card, but it’s certainly a risk over using more established cards to pay for tuition.

Maximizing Your Rewards

Speaking of using other cards — it’s already possible to pay tuition — and even student loans — with a credit card. The difference with the Rise card is that it doesn’t pass along the transaction fee.

But savvy cardholders can certainly beat out the 1% return you’ll get with the Rise card even when factoring in fees.

If you’re looking to pay tuition with a credit card, your best bet is to use those charges to earn welcome bonus offers. The best welcome bonuses can often give you upwards of 100,000 points after meeting spending requirements, and with $100,000 in tuition each year (the cap for the Rise card), you can easily earn hundreds of thousands of bonus points.

For example, The Blue Business^® Plus Credit Card from American Express earns 2x Membership Rewards per $1 spent (up to $50,000 per year). We value Amex points at 2.2 cents each, which means you’ll get a 4.4% return on tuition payments.

Final Thoughts

The Rise card promises an interesting option for those stuck paying tuition fees. Especially if your school doesn’t allow payment by credit card, the ability to earn rewards on your purchases can be pretty compelling.

That being said, Rise doesn’t have an issuing bank yet and is relying on the waitlist to show sufficient interest, which could mean it never comes to fruition. And for those really looking to maximize their rewards, earning new credit card welcome offers is going to give you a much better return than the Rise card.