TUITION PAYMENT PLAN SERVICES

Trident Technical College, located in Charleston County, South Carolina, is seeking proposals for tuition payment plan services through a Request for Proposal (RFP) issued by the State Fiscal Accountability Authority's Office of State Procurement. The procurement aims to secure a vendor that can provide a comprehensive virtual platform enabling students to pay tuition and related fees through installment plans for approximately 12,000 students across five campus locations. The selected contractor must offer payment options through credit cards and personal bank account drafting, maintain a toll-free telephone number for student inquiries, and provide web-based access for college administrators to review payment records and generate reports. Key requirements include compliance with FERPA, monthly electronic fund transfers using student identification numbers, and integration with the Ellucian Colleague system. The evaluation will be based on three primary factors: completeness and suitability of the proposed solution (55 points), contractor organization and experience with tuition payment plans (25 points), and student costs (20 points). The pre-proposal conference was held virtually on November 16, 2021, with proposal questions due by November 18, 2021, and final proposals due on December 10, 2021, at 11:00 AM EST.

The contract is structured as a one-year initial term with four potential one-year renewals, spanning from March 22, 2022, through March 21, 2027. Currently, Nelnet serves as the incumbent payment plan service provider, but the college is open to replacing this vendor. Vendors must register in South Carolina's procurement system to be eligible to submit proposals, and they will be required to charge fees directly to participating students, with the college assuming no financial responsibility for these fees. The college will provide contractors with school email addresses and phone numbers for entering, transferring, and returning students through secured electronic access, but personal email addresses will not be shared. Vendors are not expected to conduct entrance and exit counseling or work with collection agencies, as the college manages collections through state-contracted agencies. While no specific budget was predetermined, the payment plan will cover tuition and related fees, excluding textbooks and miscellaneous college charges. The college anticipates potentially requiring the three highest-ranked offerors to provide demonstrations as part of the selection process.