Yesterday, I paid my Spring tuition bill with my credit card. This is a terrifying thing because it took us almost four years to dig ourselves out of credit card debt, and I haven’t had anything resembling a $4,000 balance on a credit card since then. *deep breaths*
So, I know what you’re thinking, because it’s the same thing I’m thinking. It’s a terrible idea to pay for college/graduate school with a credit card. But, I have a some (I think) pretty good reasons for doing what I’ve done, scary as it is:
Reason 1: We have the Venture card from Capital One, and we get 2x miles for every dollar we spend on the credit card. If I put my tuition payment on our credit card, that’s almost 8,000 points (or $800) toward our post-grad school/pre-baby trip to Great Britain.
Reason 2: I have financial aid lined up for the Spring semester, with direct deposit into our checking account for any “excess.” As soon as I get the excess transferred into my account, I’m going to pay off the tuition portion of our credit card bill, and then I’m going to send the rest back to the lender.
The only thing I don’t know is how quickly the “excess” financial aid will be transferred to our checking account. That’s the piece that really makes me nervous. But I’ve got until 2/1/13 to pay off the tuition payment on our card, and class starts on 1/22/13. Since it’s direct deposit, I’m hoping it won’t be more than a week before they send me the money.
Fingers crossed. I’d really like to maintain my track record of never carrying a balance on this card.
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