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» Update:
The Rise Student Card will no longer be launching. The company behind the card had to shut down, according to its chief executive officer, Matthew Taksa. See NerdWallet's best student credit cards to explore other possible options.
The Rise Tuition Card initially set forth to become for tuition payments what the Bilt World Elite Mastercard® Credit Card is for rent: a way to earn credit card rewards on a large, recurring expense. The plan was to allow users to pay for K-12, college and grad school tuition with a credit card, and earn 1 rewards point per $1 on that spending.
But that version of the Rise card is no more. It has been reimagined as the Rise Student Card, a $0-annual-fee charge card for college students that earns rewards. Cardholders set their spending limit, so getting into debt is impossible.
The Rise Student Card is waitlist-only for the time being, and will open up to students at select colleges in California in the spring of 2025.
How the Rise Student Card will work
The Rise Student Card is paired with a demand deposit account, which operates pretty much identically to a checking account in that you can deposit and withdraw money when needed. The amount you deposit becomes your credit limit, so you can’t get into debt. You can adjust your credit limit at any time by adding more money to your account, or withdrawing some funds.
For students who are less seasoned in using credit cards, the guardrails on the Rise Student Card are appealing. However, you’ll face a learning curve later on, when you’re ready to graduate to a more traditional card that does allow you to get into debt.
Earning and redeeming rewards
The Rise Student Card will offer:
- 4 points per $1 spent at select education partners, including Canva, Chegg, OpenAI, Perplexity, Duolingo, Udacity and Coursera.
- 3 points per $1 spent in the category of your choice, from among these options: restaurants, groceries, gas stations, travel and entertainment.
- 2 points per $1 on everything else.
There’s no limit to the points you can earn, and points won’t expire. You can redeem points toward experiences, or for purchases with participating merchants. Point values vary depending on how you redeem them.
How can you get the Rise Student Card?
The Rise Student Card is designed for college and graduate students. According to Rise’s co-founder, it will first become available in March or April of 2025 to students at the University of California, Berkeley; Stanford University; the University of Southern California; the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of California, Santa Barbara; and the University of California, San Diego.
