Managing payments in higher education can feel like running a small city. Today’s campuses include various merchants, numerous payment points, and multiple methods and channels through which money moves. From dining halls and athletic departments to student groups, campus clubs, and special events, the type and frequency of payments present a unique challenge for ensuring compliance with Payment Card Industry (PCI) standards.
This diverse payment ecosystem means that payment risks aren’t confined to a single area of campus, but are dispersed across multiple touchpoints. Further, the frequency of these transactions makes managing compliance complex. Evaluating risk at every point where money flows is no longer optional; it’s a requirement. Understanding PCI compliance helps avoid fines, prevent data breaches, and reduce reputational risk.
The Verizon 2024 Data Breach Investigations Report showed that higher education suffered breaches that included 1,780 incidents and 1,537 with confirmed data disclosure. System Intrusion, Social Engineering & Miscellaneous Errors made up 90% of breaches with motives being Financial (98%) and Espionage (2%).
What is PCI Compliance?
The Payment Card Industry created the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) to establish and enforce security standards for payment card transactions. Their intent was to safeguard sensitive cardholder data and mitigate fraud risks. PCI compliance is not optional. Any institution, or “merchant,” that processes, stores, or transmits credit or debit card data is required to meet PCI standards.
The importance of compliance cannot be underscored, as failure to comply can result in severe penalties and increased security risks.
PCI Compliance: A Campus-wide Initiative
Ensuring PCI compliance is no longer the responsibility of a single department. It requires a campus-wide approach to effectively secure payment systems. Many campuses estab