A NYC Private School Accepts Bitcoin Payments towards Kids’ Tuition Fees

koyla (43)in #money • 7 years ago

Bitcoin as a payment option has become quite popular
in the recent days. It doesn’t matter whether Amazon
starts accepting Bitcoin from its customers, but few
private schools in New York City definitely will. The
Montessori Schools, a private school chain in New York
has added Bitcoin as an additional payment option,
making “crypto-parents” happy.
According to a report on one of the websites, the
Montessori Schools’ pre-kindergarten facilities in
Flatiron and Soho districts of NYC have started
accepting fee payments in Bitcoin since last month.
The school’s decision to include cryptocurrency
payment option was driven by rising inquiries about
whether they accept Bitcoin from many parents, which
made them consider it seriously.
The school’s chairman and co-founder Marco Ciocca
explaining the decision said,
“We looked at the pros and cons of accepting it
[Bitcoin] and decided that now is probably a good
time because it’s starting to enter the mainstream. It
happens to be that we’re the first pre-kindergarten
school to accept it as a form of payment.”
The Montessori Schools is reportedly using Coinbase to
facilitate the cryptocurrency payment option. With a
merchant account on the platform, the Bitcoin fee
payments received from parents are instantly
converted to fiat, effectively negating any volatility
related effects.
However, thanks to negative press about
cryptocurrencies in general, few parents were said to
be concerned about the new development. Ciocca said
that some parents raised an issue, questioning why the
school is accepting something that is used for criminal
activities. Thankfully, the Montessori Schools has
decided to retain the cryptocurrency payment option,
saying it is just another additional payment method and
anyone who doesn’t like using it can still pay with
cheques.
Given the high cost of education ($30,950 for the full-
day program at the Montessori Schools), those with
kids about to enter the school system or the ones
planning to have children can start investing in Bitcoin.
Given the positive forecast for appreciation of Bitcoin
prices, they will be able to pay the fees easily without
bearing a financial burden.