About 60 students rallied Friday morning against the University of Calgary's decision to stop accepting tuition payments by credit card.

Banging plastic containers and carrying signs that read, "Don't swipe our cards," they made their way from the student centre to a meeting of the board of governors.

Students want the University of Calgary to reverse a decision to no longer accept tuition payments on credit cards.
(Glenn Francey/CBC)

The protest is for students to voice their dissatisfaction over the move and its hasty implementation, said Julie Bogle, president of the U of C Students' Union.

Students first found out they will no longer be able to pay tuition with their credit cards effective July 1 when a notice was posted on the school's enrolment website on March 18.

The U of C said the decision to scrap credit card tuition payments could save the school more than $700,000 per year in transaction fees, which could instead be funnelled into scholarships.

Bogle said students were not consulted or given notice of the decision.

"They don't have the choice to do anything but to pay by credit card," she told CBC News. "They don't have $2,500 sitting in their bank account that they can just go and use with online banking."

Students say they're unhappy they were not consulted or given any notice about the decision.
(Glenn Francey/CBC)

Fifth-year student Glen Kruger, who has always used a credit card to pay for his tuition, said many students have no other option.

"I have friends … their RESPs [registered education savings plans] don't come in until October, so they can't pay now because they need those credit card payments or else they have no other way to pay," he said.

More than 600 students have signed a petition, and more than 3,200 are part of a Facebook group, asking the school to reinstate the credit-card payment option.

Full-time undergraduate students at the U of C pay $4,740 in tuition, which is being hiked by 4.6 per cent, or about $200 per student, in the next academic year.