Paying tuition to universities and schools in Indonesia: a guide for education agents, sponsors and scholarship programmes

Short answer. An institution in Indonesia issues a fee note in rupiah with the student's admission number. The organisation paying it — an education agent, an employer sponsoring a scholarship, a foundation, a government scholarship office — pays that exact figure to the institution's bank account through Storspay at the mid-market rate for 1% all-in, with the student's name and admission number as the reference, and the bursar sees a domestic credit that matches the fee note, usually within minutes.

Who pays fees in Indonesia, and why wires fail them

Indonesia's universities and international schools — in Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta and Bali — enrol students from across ASEAN, East Africa and the Middle East, and Indonesian students abroad are often sponsored by an employer or a foundation at home. Fees go in rupiah to the institution's bank account with the student's name and registration number as the reference. Storspay is for the organisations in that chain — education agents, sponsoring companies, foundations and the schools themselves — rather than for families paying from a personal account.

How a fee payment runs on Storspay

Add the institution once as a recipient (its registered name, bank and account number — Storspay verifies the name). For each student, type the rupiah figure on the fee note and put the student's name and admission or invoice number in the reference. A scholarship office paying thirty students pays them in one batch and downloads one statement; each student's fee is its own credit on the institution's side.

If you are the institution

Schools and universities with sponsors in North America, the UK, Europe or Africa can send a Storspay payment request instead of chasing a wire: the sponsor pays, and the institution's Storspay balance is credited. Getting paid from Indonesia itself is not live yet; collecting from sponsors abroad is. See Get paid.

Documents, tax IDs and what the recipient's bank may ask

Indonesian banks report foreign-currency inflows to Bank Indonesia and may ask the recipient for the underlying invoice or contract, particularly above US$10,000 equivalent, and for the company's NPWP (tax number). Payments arrive as rupiah credits from a local bank, so the recipient does not receive foreign currency and has no conversion to arrange. Keep the invoice, the Storspay receipt and the recipient's NPWP on file; an Indonesian exporter will also want the payment to match the invoice number for its own tax filing.

How a payment to Indonesia works on Storspay

1. Fund your balance in USD (ACH or wire), CAD (Interac e-Transfer or EFT), GBP (UK bank transfer) or EUR (SEPA) — to account details in your own business name. Funding is free.
2. Add the recipient once: their name as it appears on the account, the bank (BCA, Bank Mandiri, BNI, BRI, CIMB Niaga, Permata and the other BI-licensed banks) and the account number. Storspay checks the account name before you confirm.
3. Type the amount in either box. Enter what you want to send and see the rupiah that land, or type the rupiah figure on the invoice and see what it costs you. The rate is the mid-market rate; the 1% is on its own line.
4. Confirm. The money goes over BI-FAST and usually lands within minutes — the same business day at most. The recipient gets a notification with the exact amount, and you get a receipt with the invoice reference.

Nobody in Indonesia has to sign up, install an app or touch anything other than their own bank account. Everything on the recipient side looks like an ordinary domestic transfer.

What it costs

Storspay charges 1% all-in on payments to Indonesia, with a minimum of US$2, at the mid-market rate. That one line covers conversion, settlement and delivery; there is no FX markup, no intermediary-bank charge and nothing deducted on the recipient side.

Rates in this guide are the mid-market rate on the day of writing (1 USD = 17,893.30 IDR); the calculator on the homepage shows today's. Large payments are split automatically under the local channel cap, under one reference and one fee.

See what your team in Indonesia receives →

Questions businesses ask before the first payment to Indonesia

Can a family use Storspay to pay their child's fees?

Storspay is for businesses and organisations. A family business can pay from its business account with the student named on the reference; a family paying from a personal account should ask the school or its agent whether they accept Storspay through their own account.

Does the institution need a Storspay account?

No. It receives an ordinary domestic credit in rupiah to its existing bank account, with the student reference you typed.

Can I schedule the next instalment?

Yes. Scheduled payments run on the date you set from your balance, with the same reference, and you get a receipt each time.

Which Indonesian banks can you pay?

Any bank licensed by Bank Indonesia — BCA, Mandiri, BNI, BRI, CIMB Niaga, Permata, Danamon and the rest. You enter the account number and the bank; Storspay verifies the account name before you confirm.

Why does the rupiah amount look so large?

Because the rupiah is a small unit — roughly Rp 18,000 to the dollar. Storspay shows the full rupiah figure with the mid-market rate on the same screen, so you and the recipient read the same number.

Can I pay a GoPay, OVO or DANA wallet?

Not today. Storspay pays bank accounts in Indonesia; e-wallets are on the roadmap. Most wallet users also have a bank account at BCA, Mandiri, BNI or BRI.

Who this is for — and who it is not for

Storspay is for businesses and organisations: companies, agencies, schools, hospitals, facilitators, foundations and sole traders paying other businesses and professionals for work, goods and services. A sole trader counts as a business and signs up in their own name.

What Storspay is not is a personal money-transfer service. We do not open personal accounts, and every payment has to be a business transaction: an invoice, a contract, a fee note, work delivered. Money to family and personal transfers are not what this is, and we would rather say so now than at verification.