Universities and higher-education institutions often host research conferences, alumni dinners, educational events, concerts, and more. There are a multitude of costs that occur during such events, ranging from catering, insurance, room rental, bartender/server labor fees, and audio/video equipment and services. To maximize the success and financial sustainability of such events, schools and university event planners are taking a hard look at how they handle payments with vendors. This is why universities and faculty are turning to prepaid programs to help with their expenses.

How Prepaid Programs Can Help University Students

No More Money Management Malaise

Managing payments and reimbursements can be a nightmare for universities still stuck using outdated financial methods. Archaic, cheque-based systems create opportunities for accidental errors and intentional fraud. This is especially dangerous when paying for high-cost meeting and events. Multiple vendors means multiple chances for inaccurate expense claims (well-intentioned or malicious), and complicated expense tracking.

No More Venting About Vendors

Universities looking to hire vendors for events don’t want to have to deal with lengthy wait times when trying to pay. This can lead to higher vendor fees (vendors can use the payment delays as a way to negotiate higher fees) or out-of-pocket payments made by event planners (who must then be financially burdened as they wait for reimbursement and waste time filing expense claim paperwork).

Corporate Cards Are Key

Corporate prepaid cards are a versatile form of payment that makes covering various expenses at events easy. Rather than forcing employees to spend out-of-pocket when purchasing services from vendors, employees can instead draw on prepaid company funds. This not only speeds up the payment process–ensuring that vendors get paid on time–it also protects the universities from fraud and their employees from chasing down expenses. Corporate prepaid cards also allow universities to effectively manage expenses and can cap employee spending, A great example of this is from the University of California Berkeley, which equips its event planners with corporate cards and sets daily and per-cycle spending limits.

Tracking Made Easy

Corporate prepaid cards make tracking, approving, and limiting expenses easy. Outdated paper-based filing processes are, well, outdated! Digital payments allow for real-time visibility of spending, which is critical for on-the-fly purchases and last-minute changes, which any event planner will tell you happens all the time. This could be anything from adding unexpected or last-minute guests to an alumni dinner, replacing broken or faulty audio/visual equipment, ordering extra seating, or booking an additional speaker or artists in cases of emergency.

Universities are the breeding ground for the bright futures of tomorrow, so it’s time to let go of the past when it comes to payments. Universities and higher-learning facilities must embrace effective solutions for tracking and controlling spending while also ensuring that they have the flexibility and speed to quickly purchase goods and make adjustments on the fly. New payment solutions like corporate prepaid cards are the next step for smart event planning for universities.