The King’s College, a private Christian liberal arts college in New York City, announced Friday that it will be the first accredited U.S. college to accept Bitcoin for tuition, other expenses and donations, and will use Coin.co as their merchant processor.
The college is home to some 500 students and charges $15,950 a semester for 12 to 18 credits, according to its website. At Bitcoin’s current price, one semester will cost about 26 bitcoins.
“Allowing Bitcoin to be used to pay for a King’s education decreases our costs while simultaneously allowing our students to be a part of this exciting new technology,” said the school’s president Gregory Thornbury.
Since the merchant processor Coin.co doesn’t have transaction fees, when students pay with Bitcoin, the college won’t have to worry about the 2-3% transactions fees associated with credit card payments.
In an interview with CoinDesk, Thornbury explained how the decision to accept Bitcoin aligns with the school’s core values:
“We have a strong emphasis on the founding documents of the US, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, which are very individual based. Bitcoin represents that, it’s the empowerment of individuals. Adopting or taking seriously disruptive technologies in the delivery of the educational program is something that everyone needs to be studying, and I think [Bitcoin] is one aspect of that.”
Coin.co CEO Brendan Diaz said, “Over the past year, the Coin.co team has led the effort to enable U.S. colleges, universities and other major institutions to accept Bitcoin without incurring any currency risk. Coin.co is proud to be working with The King’s College, and to be a part of pioneering the use of Bitcoin for education.”
While not accredited like The King’s College, California-based online and residential school Draper University announced its decision to accept Bitcoin in 2013. The University of Nicosia in Cyprus along with the UK’s University of Cumbria have also made similar announcements.
