WALTHAM (WBZNewsRadio) – Change is coming for students at Bentley University and how they can pay for their higher education. The school announced Tuesday that it is now accepting cryptocurrency for tuition payments. What’s more, the Waltham-based school will also accept gifts and donations in the form of Bitcoin, Ethereum and stablecoin USD Coin.
The university is partnering with the crypto exchange company Coinbase to accept the cryptocurrencies.
“Bentley University is at the forefront in preparing business leaders with the skills and knowledge to succeed in the changing world economy,” said university President E. LaBrent Chrite. “We’re proud to embrace this technology that our students are learning about, which will soon transform the global business landscape they’re about to enter.”
According to the Pew Research Center, more than 41 million Americans, which is about 16 percent of adults in the U.S., have invested in, traded or used cryptocurrency.
This isn’t the first time the University has used a form of digital technology on campus. Last year, Bentley created NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, to celebrate former women’s basketball coach Barbara Stevens’ induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. NFTs are bought and sold with cryptocurrency on blockchains. Bentley said it was one of the first universities in the world to issue NFTs.
WBZ’s Chris Fama (@CFamaWBZ) reports