Tuition fees: how to pay them in Italy’s university cities

As is the case every year in September, we wave goodbye to our summer vacation and return to the daily grind.

With that being said, the new academic year is just around the corner and many young people are getting ready to experience university life for the first time. Ahead of their start, documents, schedules, books, and materials—not to mention paperwork and announcements—are very often published across different online platforms, and students suddenly have to process a ton of new information.

And of course, when navigating through all of this, it’s easy to miss important details—for example, how do you pay university tuition fees? If you’re among those registering for classes or simply in need of guidance, this guide is what you need. Keep reading to learn how to pay tuition fees at major Italian universities in Milan, Naples, Rome, Turin, Bologna, Palermo, Padua, and Florence.

According to Italian law provisions, valid as of July 1, 2020, all payments to public administration entities must be made exclusively through the PagoPA system. As this law decree will come into effect on February 28, 2021, some universities are still accepting alternative payment methods.

However, PagoPA is the most widely used payment method among Italian universities. This is the preferred payment method, for example, at the universities of Milan (the University of Milan and the University of Milano-Bicocca), Turin, Bologna, Palermo, Genoa, Florence and in Rome at La Sapienza (only for master´s degrees and advanced professional courses), Tor Vergata and Roma Tre.

PagoPA is a system that allows users to make standardized payments to public administration entities via member Payment Service Providers (PSPs). In a nutshell, PagoPA allows to make payments directly via websites or apps, or through the physical and online channels of banks and other PSPs (e.g. bank branches, home banking systems, ATMs, SISAL retail points, Lottomatica, Banca 5 and post offices).

You will find a link to pay tuition fees via PagoPA by logging into your account on your university's online portal. All you have to do is access your profile with the information you were given when you enrolled or registered at your university and open the payment section. Then, all you have to do is print the form and pay at a retail point or ATM, or make the payment online.

The MAV payment slip is the most common alternative to PagoPA. Until some time ago, this was one of the preferred methods for the payment of university tuition fees. The University of Naples Federico II, for example, only allows this type of payment for their tuition fees. 

MAV stands for “payment by notice” (pagamento mediante avviso) and is a standard interbank procedure. It takes place between a collector (the bank that makes the payment) and an assignee (the bank that collects the payment). When you pay the slip, the amount is simply transferred from your bank to the university's bank. 

As with PagoPA, all you need to do is log into your university online portal to generate the MAV slip. You can either print it out and pay at a retail point or ATM, or make the payment online.

Some universities allow other payment methods. For example, tuition fees at Rome’s La Sapienza and Roma Tre can be paid by credit card. La Sapienza also allows payment at a retail point or ATM (with limited access due to the COVID-19 pandemic), bank cheque and direct debit.

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Manage your expenses, organize a budget for your studies, put money aside for your projects, and maybe even for some weekends with friends—N26 is a mobile bank that allows you to do all this (and much more!) in real-time, directly from your smartphone. A simple and intuitive app allows you to check your account in a few taps, make a transfer and send money to friends and family.

Time to pay university tuition fees? It's simple—just open the N26 app, go to the "Actions" tab, tap on "Send money" and select "Other Payments." Choose the payment method you prefer (e.g. PagoPA or MAV) and you’ll be redirected to the service provider's website. You can make the transfer directly from your smartphone, wherever and whenever you wish! Want to learn more? Check out how to manage your payments in Italy with N26.