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A number of colleges and universities in China have recently announced that they will suspend the use of WeChat Pay for services other than paying for school fees on campuses starting July 1.An announcement published by Northwestern University on June 27th on the school's official website read that they are suspending the WeChat Pay service on campus as Tencent will start charging a 0.6% service fee for transactions handled on campus using WeChat Pay.It added that the measure was taken to protect the interests of staff and students.
It was also mentioned that apart from school fees which can still be paid using WeChat Pay, using the app to handle other transactions will be restricted and controlled on campus.The announcement recommended students use the campus' smart card, Bank of Communications App, Alipay and other wireless payment apps from July 1, as WeChat Pay will be suspended.An announcement published by Sichuan University for Nationalities"As Tencent has adjusted the service charge of WeChat Pay, the school will suspend the use of WeChat Pay to recharge the campus' smart card from July 1, 2023. The measure is implemented to safeguard the interests of all campus smart card users. The service will resume after reaching an agreement." Read the announcement by Sichuan University for Nationalities.Other universities that have published similar announcements are Southwest University of Science and Technology, Zhoukou Normal University, Zhengzhou University of Light Industry, etc.WeChat Pay Team ResponseFollowing the announcements by the schools, the WeChat Pay Team has responded that the announcements came after their earlier post (above) confused users about their service fee adjustment. The team apologized and published another post to explain in detail the contents of the earlier post. The post explained that the WeChat Pay service has been operating on campuses since 2015, without charging service fees for non-profit transactions. Non-profit transactions are tuition fees, living costs, etc. The team made it clear that it would continue to handle transactions for such services without charging service fees.However, the WeChat Pay team mentioned that it has begun negotiations with merchants on campus for a refined management system for on-campus service fee rates targeting for-profit businesses.The first phase of the refined management system will target a small number of for-profit businesses operating on campuses, such as e-commerce, liquor stores, and travel agencies. Some Schools Have Deleted the AnnouncementWhen our reporter visited the page announcing the suspension of the WeChat Pay service on Northwestern University's official website today, it was no longer available.The pages announcing the suspension are still accessible on the official websites of some other universities.Add Wechat FLA5555 to ask to join the international students' wechat group.
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