After a day of connecting and collaborating, Flywire Fusion attendees strolled down the “Blue Carpet” and into the first Flywire Fusion Star Awards ceremony, hosted by Flywire EVP of Higher Education Sharon Butler and CMO and GM of U.S. Higher Education Allison MacLeod. U.S. higher education institutions had the chance to celebrate one another and the contributions they make to ensuring student success.
“We celebrate the higher education institutions like you that have set the standard in using technology to drive student and institutional success,” MacLeod said. “While you're all stars each and every day, tonight we are honored to pay tribute to a few institutions that have gone above and beyond to push the boundaries on innovation.”
Here are this year’s honorees.
Best Newcomer: University of Connecticut
Since partnering with Flywire in 2022, UConn has demonstrated exceptional dedication and expertise, successfully implementing Student Financial Software (SFS), including Collection Management alongside International Payments and 529 disbursement solutions in just 18 months. Their hard work and collaboration have been key to this achievement.
In their first year alone, their efforts resulted in a remarkable 40% increase in payment plan enrollments, demonstrating their commitment to enhancing payment options for students and families.
Optimization Excellence: Northeastern University
Northeastern has demonstrated exceptional skill and dedication to leveraging Flywire to streamline operations and enhance efficiency, and drive superior outcomes. Through outstanding collaboration, the team has increased payment plan participation by 40% with a 54% increase in dollar volume to the tune of more than $225 million. Northeastern has improved payment portal usage, and eliminated manual check processing by implementing the 529 disbursement solution.
Implementation Excellence: Emory University
Looking for a better way to collect past-due balances, Emory began an SFS implementation of Collection Management in the fall of 2023. From their very first meeting, the university team was highly engaged and asked thoughtful questions throughout the process.
As a member of the Flywire implementation team noted, “What stood out to me was that the institution’s team didn’t have any departmental silos. The technical team and functional team communicated and worked extremely well with one another, making our calls smooth and efficient.”
Best Practice Leader: University of Pittsburgh
As one of Flywire’s first SFS clients and a trusted partner since 2013, the University of Pittsburgh has consistently demonstrated excellence in implementing software solutions that drive student financial success. Their comprehensive suite of solutions includes International Payments, Collection Management, 1098-T, eRefunds, 529, Secure Checkout, and Virtual Terminal offerings.
This team not only delivers impressive results, they also go above and beyond by sharing their knowledge with the broader community and serving as a valuable reference for other institutions seeking guidance on financial solutions.
Innovative Leader: Texas A&M University - San Antonio
Texas A&M University- San Antonio faced a critical decision – to continue with the status quo or quickly make a change to meet the evolving needs of their students. With only a month to make it happen, they decided to put their students first and trusted Flywire as their partner to help lead their journey to innovation. In record time for both the institution and Flywire, Texas A&M - San Antonio implemented SFS in just one month, empowering their students with technology that makes for a smooth payment experience.
Process Improvement: University of North Texas
Over the last 12 years, the University of North Texas has continuously innovated processes to meet their students where they are, determined to provide the affordability tools needed to help ease payments. They are constantly looking to gain efficiencies by streamlining processes, through their SFS implementation of Collection Management to offer students flexible payment plans. This has saved staff time and money, and most importantly has helped their students stay in school by increasing communication effectiveness and plan enrollment.
Trailblazer: Texas A&M University
Texas A&M is blazing the path forward by revolutionizing the way its students and other constituents are able to handle their financial responsibilities with the institution. Since partnering with Flywire in 2014 for international payments, they have trusted Flywire solutions to help improve efficiencies by increasing affordability, reducing aged A/R and solving scalability issues. They use SFS to assist in achieving success, and were one of the first Third-Party Invoicing and eStore clients, today have more than 650 stores. They have also gone cashless, moved to a one-stop model and continue to embrace technology to do more with less to support their growing student population.
Student Experience: Penn State University
As a valued Flywire partner since 2011, Penn State has consistently demonstrated a strong commitment to delivering outstanding value to their students. Through their implementation of International Payments, Collection Management, and 529 disbursements, they continually streamline key financial processes to better serve their student body. In fact, they achieved an impressive collection rate of over 50% in the first year—surpassing that of any other institution.
In addition to off-the-chart collection metrics, this team significantly enhanced the experience for students by integrating Flywire’s payments solution directly into their International Student Orientations platform to provide students with seamless support from day one.
Cross-Campus Fusion: University of Virginia
When thinking about how to create more efficient processes for their students, University of Virginia not only looks within their office, but connects and collaborates with other departments across campus.
Since partnering with Flywire in 2015, they have looked at the “big picture,” working with multiple teams on campus to unify the student financial journey, from working closely with Admissions to integrate deposit payments into the enrollment process, to connecting with International Student Programs to better support their international student population.
Shining Star: Texas A&M University
Voted on live by their peers at Flywire Fusion, Texas A&M was selected as the institution with the highest impact at the event, sharing insights and best practices as part of their “Cross-Campus Collaboration” session that will have a lasting impact on attendees.