Flywire and Ascensus Deliver over $2 Billion in 529 College Saving Plan Payments as Demand for Education Affordability Increases

Rhea-AI Summary

Flywire (NASDAQ: FLYW) and Ascensus have announced processing over $2 billion in electronic 529 tuition payments directly to U.S. colleges and universities throughout 2024. The partnership has expanded to cover more than 40 Ascensus-administered 529 savings programs and over 750 institutions.

The digital payment solution has eliminated over 200,000 paper checks in 2024, replacing manual processing with a fully digital payment and reconciliation system. The integration streamlines the payment process by connecting directly to institutions' student databases, making it efficient for schools regardless of their existing relationship with Flywire.

The direct-to-school digital delivery option provides families with an intuitive user experience for accessing their education savings, while helping institutions reduce administrative backlogs and payment delays. Six additional plans have signed on in 2024, demonstrating growing adoption of the digital disbursement technology.

Positive

• Processed over $2 billion in electronic 529 tuition payments in 2024
• Eliminated over 200,000 paper checks, reducing operational costs
• Expanded to 750+ institutions and 40+ Ascensus-administered 529 plans
• Added 6 new 529 plans in 2024, showing strong market adoption
• Integration with institutions' student databases improves operational efficiency

Negative

• None.

Insights

Financial Analyst

Flywire's strategic partnership with Ascensus has achieved significant commercial scale, processing $2 billion in 529 college savings plan payments throughout 2024. This represents meaningful transaction volume flowing through Flywire's payment infrastructure, likely contributing to the company's revenue stream through processing fees.

The expansion to six additional plans in 2024 and penetration across 750+ educational institutions demonstrates strong market adoption and growing network effects. By eliminating over 200,000 paper checks, Flywire is capturing market share in the digital transformation of education payments while creating operational efficiencies for all stakeholders.

This partnership positions Flywire strategically within the $458 billion 529 college savings ecosystem (based on recent industry estimates). By establishing itself as the digital infrastructure connecting these tax-advantaged savings plans to educational institutions, Flywire is creating a defensible competitive position in education finance.

The client testimonial from the University of Connecticut validates clear product-market fit and tangible operational benefits. This successful implementation model likely improves client retention and creates reference customers that can accelerate new business acquisition.

While specific revenue contribution isn't quantified, the expanding footprint across 40+ Ascensus-administered savings programs indicates a scalable, recurring revenue opportunity as more families utilize digital disbursement options for education payments.

Education Technology Specialist

Flywire and Ascensus have successfully addressed a critical friction point in education finance by digitizing the disbursement process for 529 college savings plans. Their solution eliminates the logistical complications and delays associated with paper-based processes that have historically plagued both families and institutional bursar offices.

The digital transformation achievement is substantial—replacing 200,000+ paper checks with electronic transfers represents significant efficiency gains in an industry that has struggled with administrative modernization. For educational institutions, this translates to reduced processing costs, faster payment posting, improved reconciliation accuracy, and decreased student service issues related to delayed or lost payments.

The integration into student information systems is particularly notable, as it demonstrates Flywire's technical capability to connect with complex institutional databases regardless of whether schools are existing Flywire clients. This interoperability approach expands their addressable market beyond their current client base.

With six additional plans signed in 2024 and expansion to 750+ institutions, the solution shows accelerating market adoption. The testimonial highlighting reduced staff time processing payments indicates meaningful operational ROI for institutions, creating a compelling value proposition that should drive continued growth.

As education affordability remains a critical concern, payment solutions that streamline access to education savings will likely see sustained demand, positioning Flywire well in this specialized financial technology niche.

Direct-to-school digital payment experience developed by Flywire and Ascensus offers an intuitive user experience that improves how families access their education savings

With six additional plans signed on in 2024, more than 40 Ascensus-administered 529 plans can leverage Flywire’s digital disbursement technology

BOSTON and DRESHER, Pa., March 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Flywire Corporation (NASDAQ: FLYW) (Flywire), a global payments and enablement and software company, and Ascensus, ​​a market-leading enabler of tax-advantaged savings, are pleased to announce that they delivered more than $2 billion in electronic 529 tuition payments directly to colleges and universities in the U.S. throughout 2024. The digital payment capability has expanded to over 750 institutions and is now accessible through more than 40 Ascensus-administered 529 savings programs, enabling more efficient tuition payments for plan participants. The success of their integration underscores Flywire’s and Ascensus’ commitment to making paying for college more affordable and accessible for families across the country.

Through Flywire’s partnership with Ascensus, families saving in a participating 529 plan on the Ascensus platform can leverage Flywire to electronically disburse funds to pay tuition-related expenses directly to the school from their 529 account. The partnership, which eliminated more than 200,000 paper checks in 2024, replaces the manual, inefficient process of handling 529 payments via paper checks with a fully digital payment and reconciliation system, reducing delays for students and administrative backlogs for schools. Integrating directly into an institution’s student database, Flywire also makes it simple and easy for any school in the U.S. to benefit from the ease of reconciliation and other operational efficiencies of the 529 disbursement solution, regardless of whether they are existing Flywire clients or not.

“We recently implemented the 529 payment solution with Flywire, and that has been very beneficial to my office, the administrative staff, and students as well,” said Alyse Kwapien, Director of Cash Management & University Bursar, University of Connecticut. “Before Flywire, a common problem that we’d face would be parents requesting checks from their 529 providers, which would never make it to our mail room. Now with the Flywire 529 solution, we can receive payments electronically. It's significantly quicker for the student and there are no more concerns about payment getting lost in the mail. And that also means my staff isn't spending as much time opening envelopes and manually posting payments.”

State administrators and agencies who sponsor 529 plans want to make it as easy as possible for savers to access and apply their savings to higher education expenses. The direct-to-school digital delivery option developed by Ascensus and Flywire offers an intuitive user experience that improves how families access their education savings.

“At Ascensus, we build solutions to make it easy to manage a 529 plan throughout the lifecycle of an account,” noted Peg Creonte, President of Ascensus Government Savings. “We’re thrilled at the success of our partnership with Flywire and look forward to building on our continued commitment to offering leading edge technology solutions for our clients.”

“This milestone illustrates continued consumer demand for fast and secure digital payments in the education sector,” commented Sharon Butler, EVP of Global Education, Flywire. “It also reflects the shared commitment Flywire and Ascensus have as industry leaders that listen to their clients in order to develop innovative technology. With billions of dollars delivered, additional plans connected and hundreds of schools signed up, there is a lot of momentum behind us and we are thrilled to extend our capabilities more broadly throughout the U.S.”

Resources

- To learn more about the benefits of Flywire’s solution for 529 college savings plans visit: Flywire 529 disbursement solution and join this on-demand webinar

- Experience Flywire’s solutions for higher education: Flywire's education solutions

About Flywire

Flywire is a global payments enablement and software company. We combine our proprietary global payments network, next-gen payments platform and vertical-specific software to deliver the most important and complex payments for our clients and their customers.

Flywire leverages its vertical-specific software and payments technology to deeply embed within the existing A/R workflows for its clients across the education, healthcare and travel vertical markets, as well as in key B2B industries. Flywire also integrates with leading ERP systems, such as NetSuite, so organizations can optimize the payment experience for their customers while eliminating operational challenges.

Flywire supports more than 4,500 clients with diverse payment methods in more than 140 currencies across 240 countries and territories around the world. Flywire is headquartered in Boston, MA, USA with global offices. For more information, visit www.flywire.com. Follow Flywire on X (formerly known as Twitter), LinkedIn and Facebook.

Safe Harbor Statement

This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, statements regarding Flywire’s expectations regarding the benefits of its 529 disbursement solution, Flywire’s business strategy and plans, market growth and trends. Flywire intends such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as, but not limited to, “believe,” “may,” “will,” “potentially,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “could,” “would,” “project,” “target,” “plan,” “expect,” or the negative of these terms, and similar expressions intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based upon current expectations that involve risks, changes in circumstances, assumptions, and uncertainties. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in Flywire's forward-looking statements include, among others, the factors that are described in the "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" sections of Flywire's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, which is on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and available on the SEC's website at https://www.sec.gov/. The information in this release is provided only as of the date of this release, and Flywire undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release on account of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by law.

Media Contacts

Sarah King
Media@Flywire.com

Investor Relations Contact

Masha Kahn
ir@flywire.com

FAQ

How much in 529 payments did Flywire (FLYW) process in 2024?

Flywire processed over $2 billion in electronic 529 tuition payments to U.S. colleges and universities throughout 2024.

How many paper checks did Flywire's 529 payment solution eliminate in 2024?

The solution eliminated more than 200,000 paper checks in 2024.

How many institutions are using Flywire's 529 payment solution?

Over 750 institutions are now using Flywire's 529 payment solution.

How many Ascensus-administered 529 plans can use Flywire's technology?

More than 40 Ascensus-administered 529 savings programs can leverage Flywire's digital disbursement technology.

How many new 529 plans signed up with Flywire in 2024?

Six additional 529 plans signed on with Flywire in 2024.