Fees & Payments

If you have a bank account at a Canadian financial institution, you can pay your residence and meal plan fees via pre-authorized debit (PAD) from your chequing or savings account.

To make a pre-authorized debit payment:

• Visit the SHCS Online Service Centre
• Under Residents, select “Account” >> “Make a payment”
• Select “Pre-authorized debit”

Your PAD payment will be posted to your SHCS account immediately. However, it can take several days for your financial institution to fully process your payment and issue funds to UBC SHCS.

Additional notes:

• Use matching contact info: In TouchNet, you will need to use the billing address and phone number that match the information associated with your bank account.
• Future payments: After you submit your first payment via pre-authorized debit (PAD), SHCS does not automatically withdraw funds via PAD for future fee payments. You will still need to manually submit each future payment—and set up your banking information in TouchNet each time.

Pay by credit card through the Student Housing and Community Services Online Service Centre for:

• Residence and residence meal plan fees
• Assessment and late fees
• Early arrival and extension fees

Please note that a non-refundable 2.5%* convenience fee will be applied to online credit card payments for the above items. This fee is paid directly to the payment processor, not to UBC. 

*2.65% beginning April 1, 2025

Please note: The confirmation email will be sent by the payment processor to the email entered by the payee at the time of making a payment. 

We also send a confirmation email to the email associated with a student’s profile, but ours does not include the detailed breakdown (i.e. it will not show the convenience fee). 

You can use your credit card to make fee-free payments online for:

• Residence application fees
• Residence and residence meal plan acceptance deposits
• Residence room transfer fees
• UBCcard meal plan
• Orientation application fees and acceptance deposits
• UBC Child Care application and ongoing fees
• Food and other merchandise at UBC Food Services locations across campus

Pay by debit card through the Student Housing and Community Services Online Service Centre for:

• Residence and residence meal plan fees
• Assessment and late fees
• Early arrival and extension fees

Please note that a non-refundable 1.5%* convenience fee will be applied to online debit card payments for the above items. This fee is paid directly to the payment processor, not to UBC. 

*1.65% beginning April 1, 2025

Bill payment via online banking is available for residence and meal plan fees.

Make a bill payment from your Canadian online bank account by adding a Payee “UBC Student Housing and Meal Plan”. Your account number at UBC is your student number. Please allow 3–5 business days for processing.

This service is currently available at Scotiabank, HSBC Canada, BMO, RBC, TD Canada Trust, CIBC and Credit Unions in British Columbia. The service may expand to additional Canadian banks in future.

You can pay your residence and meal plan fees via International Funds Transfer (IFT) from an international (i.e., non-Canadian) financial institution and bank account with international currency.

For clarity, you cannot pay through TransferMate from a Canadian financial institution, regardless of the currency held in the account (i.e., you cannot pay from a USD account at a Canadian bank).

To make an IFT payment via TransferMate:

1. Visit the SHCS Online Service Centre.
2. Under Residents, select “Account” >> “Make a payment”.
3. Select “Pay with TransferMate (international payments)”.
4. You will receive an email with the next steps to complete your payment through your financial institution, which you will have 48 hours to complete. The subject line will be “UBC SHCS TransferMate – Action Required”.
5. During the process of completing your payment (Step 4), you will need to enter two numbers in the field your financial institution provides for entering additional details—often identified as “Reference”, “Details” or “Additional Details”:
   • Your UBC Student Number.
   • The “TPG reference number”—provided in the email you received (Step 4).*

*Note: “TPG” stands for TouchNet Payment Gateway.

Completed payments made through TransferMate may take 3 to 10 days to appear in the SHCS Online Service Centre.

For further support while paying via TransferMate, please contact TransferMate.

To find your account information for a chequing or savings account at a Canadian financial institution, you can refer to information or a digital “void cheque” in your banking app or online account, refer to a physical personal cheque, or contact your financial institution for assistance.

For payments requiring your bank account information, you will typically need the transit number, institution number and account number.

On a Canadian personal cheque or digital “void cheque”, you’ll find these numbers at the bottom: the transit number is typically five digits, institution number is typically three digits, and your account number is the remaining 7+ digits.

Effective June 6, 2018, UBC no longer accepts wire transfers for:

• Student housing fee instalments
• Meal plan payments
• Tuition and fees

If you have paid these fees to your tuition account by mistake, please email information@housing.ubc.ca immediately to let us know.

Yes, a fee is charged for late payments. Please refer to your residence contract for details.

You will continue to be charged fees until you return all assigned keys to your residence front desk and sign the check out form.