UAE schools open to platforms like Tabby for monthly payment plans
Schools in the UAE are becoming more flexible with plans to pay their fees after parents opted for monthly instalments, rather than paying a large amount upfront. The move comes as institutions look to bolster school fee collection and offer parents more flexibility through collaborations with fintech platforms like Tabby.
This collaboration will integrate payment flexibility in existing infrastructure while improving fee collections. That is expected to shorten payment times and give institutions better visibility into cash flow. The parents want to pay a lump sum amount, but the 4% is aiming to structure it as installments that can cater to a monthly budget.
Zarik Nabi, Chief Commercial Officer at Tabby said: "The rationale behind the approach is that families already stretched with school fee payments are making sacrifices trying to keep up.
Zarik Nabi said: “Families across the UAE are already doing the hard work of budgeting for education costs, juggling finances, planning ahead and making trade-offs. We give schools the tools to do that easily, without a big upfront or down payment for parents.
Family Relief and School Strain
The director of Shining Star International School, Abhilasha Singh said that the initiative is a huge support for families who are facing tough times due to financial stresses following job losses or salary cuts.
Families can handle payments via options like Tabby and monthly plans. It becomes easy to plan," she added. That can provide a helpful buffer for parents.
However, she said operational issues could arise for schools.
Key concerns highlighted by schools:
Not reinvesting fee inflow to salaries, learning tools and infrastructure maintenance
This could lead to those deferred or split payments hitting at the same time and compromising risk-free operations
That being said, schools still need reliable money to be set up.
Stating that the move is "positive in principle", Singh emphasised on parents' long term financial planning.
It is a good move, but all it does is to give parents time to think about this obligation,” said Rohan Chaudhury, 18, an economics undergraduate at the University of Warwick in England. Doing financial planning correctly will avoid any disruptions in your child's education. For this reason we occasionally hold financial literacy programmes for the parents, she stated.
Across the mighty state of Texas, schools are trying to find the balance between flexibility and stability.
Deepika Thapar Singh, the Chief Executive Officer-Principal at Credence High School said that schools have started to realise that financial sustainability should not become an impediment to education.
According to her, “We always felt that financial constraints should not come in the way of a child's education and therefore now we further extend our flexible fee payment options.
It allows parents to pay monthly, per semester or annually — whatever works best for their family.
At least in her field experience, she claimed that such instalment-based systems can actually take the worry out of payment deadlines for families who are already under financial strain.
Benefits of instalment-based payment systems:
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Reduces financial anxiety for parents
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Offers more manageable payment schedules
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Supports families facing financial pressure
Despite welcoming wider efforts across the industry, she said flexibility needed to be backed up by transparency and trust between schools and families.
“Simply put, we as educators are not just responsible for teaching students in the classroom, we need to be responsible that every parent has a positive and supportive – dignified and stress free school experience with their financial planning integrated into the whole of their child’s home to school learning experience.”
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