Keaney said the SRO was partially influenced to switch to internet billing because of its increased prevalence.

She said MIT, Northwestern and Johns Hopkins all recommended the infiNET Solutions software.

MIT began to bill exclusively online using infiNET Solutions software in February, said MIT student financial services spokesperson Cynthia Stanton. She said the online payment system has been well received.

Keaney said students will not be able to pay their tuitions via credit card—as was the case with paper bills.

“Credit card debt is nothing the University is interested in having students incur to pay for their educations,” Keaney said.

She added that Harvard does not want to pay a 3 percent transaction fee to credit card companies.

Students and other authorized payers can have tuition fees deducted from their bank accounts using the internet payment option, Keaney said.

Kattner said families that opt to pay their bills online can be assured that their information is secure. The banking and routing numbers to checking accounts are stored in a secure vault in Chicago, she said.

Kattner added that the infiNET Solutions software has never been hacked.

Families that prefer not to pay over the internet can print out copies of tuition invoices from the internet and mail payments to the SRO, Keaney said.

Students who dislike the internet billing option altogether and want to continue to receive invoices by mail can fill out a waiver form in the SRO office at the Holyoke Center, Keaney said.

—Staff writer Alan J. Tabak can be reached at tabak@fas.harvard.edu.