When you’re the treasurer of a student union, you’re faced with a situation that repeats itself every year: collecting payments from ten different sources (back-to-school dues, party tickets, gala tickets, orientation trip, sweatshirt sales, WEI payments, ski trip, etc.) with a rotating team of volunteers in September and a budget that doesn’t allow for setting up a dedicated online store. The go-to solution of using Lydia or a group fund works for a while, but quickly shows its limitations once you exceed a few hundred transactions a year.
Here’s how to set up a payment solution for BDE without expensive hardware, without a long-term commitment, and without relying on an e-commerce site that no one wants to maintain.
The day-to-day operations of a student business association: ten projects, a team that changes every year
A student union at a business or engineering school brings in much more revenue over the course of an academic year than it might seem. The enrollment fee (the famous “BDE card”) is charged to all new students. Weekly or biweekly parties provide a steady stream of income.
The gala and the WEI alone account for hundreds of tickets sold in just a few days. The orientation trip, the ski trip, and themed weekends involve group payments. Merchandise (school sweatshirts, tote bags, and other items) generates significant revenue. And then there are payments to sponsors, refunds, and cash advances.*
All of this with a team that is completely renewed every year. The handover between the outgoing and incoming boards often takes just a weekend. The solution chosen must therefore be easy to take over, without requiring specialized technical knowledge.
Why Lydia, Paylib, and money pools stop working once they reach a certain size
When they first start out, many student unions collect funds through an online tip jar or a shared Lydia account. It’s quick to set up, but it soon runs into problems in several areas.
No clear legal entity: payments are often deposited into a member’s personal account, which creates issues regarding the separation of personal and organizational finances. When the treasurer changes, the personal account remains—and with it, the transactions that need to be reconciled.
No proper accounting receipt. A student union registered as a nonprofit organization under the 1901 law must be able to substantiate its entries in its annual financial statements. A collection box does not generate usable accounting documents.
Limits are quickly reached. Whether it’s a gala with 200 seats or a student event with 400 participants, the limits imposed by Lydia, Paylib, or mainstream fundraising platforms quickly block incoming payments.
No consolidated reporting. The treasurer spends hours piecing together who paid for what, cross-referencing screenshots and Excel spreadsheets. This hidden burden weighs on the entire office.
Lack of credibility with partners. Sponsors, schools, and service providers (DJs, caterers, venue owners) take a student union more seriously when it accepts payments through a professional payment solution in the association’s name than when it asks for a bank transfer to a personal Lydia account.
The four use cases to be covered and the appropriate tool for each
1. BDE dues and membership → payment link posted on Instagram and WhatsApp
Back-to-school season is the time when you reach the most people all at once. A single payment link shared in an Instagram Story, in the class WhatsApp group, and in the welcome email reaches everyone without the need for a dedicated website.
Each student clicks, pays their tuition fee by credit card (or Apple Pay/Google Pay), and receives an automatic receipt. You can see in real time who has paid and who still needs to be reminded. The link can be reused for end-of-month reminders.
2. Evening tickets and gala tickets → payment link or QR code at the entrance
The same applies to parties and the gala. You create a link for each event, with either a fixed price or multiple pricing options (student, +1, VIP), and share it through your usual channels. Once the payment is confirmed, the student receives an email or text message with a payment link or scans a QR code using their smartphone to pay.
For the gala, you can customize the payment page with the BDE’s colors and add an image—which makes a difference in how both students and families perceive it (parents often pay for gala tickets).
3. On-site payments (nightclub bar, merchandise, flash sales) → SoftPOS or POS terminal rental
Two very different situations, two different tools.
For small, one-off in-person sales—like a merchandise booth between classes, selling sweatshirts in the cafeteria, or collecting membership fees at a back-to-school booth—you can turn a team member’s Android phone into a payment terminal (SoftPOS). No need to rent a card reader, no investment required—perfect for a one-hour flash sale.
For high-volume nightclubs, galas, or campus parties—where you process 200 to 400 transactions per hour during peak times—you’ll want to switch to renting a POS terminal connected to POS software, compatible with cashless payment methods ( credit cards or wristbands). In practice, the same terminal reads both an external guest’s card and a student’s wristband—which the student has pre-loaded—without switching devices. All data is fed into the POS software, which consolidates revenue by item, time slot, and payment method. In the morning, the treasurer has a single report instead of five files to merge.
Renting saves you from having to buy equipment that would sit idle for eleven months out of the year and would have to be handed over whenever there’s a change in administration.
4. Major event (WEI, full-scale gala, inter-school festival) → cashless with wristband
For the WEI 400 event or the gala with an open bar, cashless payment takes over. Each participant receives an NFC wristband that they have topped up online before the event (via a payment link) or will top up on-site. At the bar, payment is made by tapping the wristband on the reader. No more lines, no more change to handle, and consolidated reporting by station at the end of the event.
Cashless payment systems are only cost-effective once you reach a certain volume—a weekend event with over 300 people and multiple payment points justifies the effort, whereas a party with 80 people does not.
What the switch to a dedicated solution means for the treasurer
An account in the association's name. All funds are transferred to the BDE's IBAN, never to a personal account. The separation is clear from the start.
Multiple volunteers can process payments without sharing sensitive login credentials. Each staff member has their own access, scope, and history. During the transition, we deactivate old access credentials and create new ones—without changing the system.
No subscription, no annual commitment. For a student organization, this is essential: you pay per transaction, so you don’t have to commit to a recurring annual budget that would strain your cash flow during slow periods.
Exportable reports for accounting. The BDE’s annual report, the treasurer’s discharge, and supporting documents for the school: everything can be exported as a CSV or PDF directly from the interface.
3D Secure and PSD2 compliance. You’re protected against payment disputes—which is useful when a student claims they didn’t reserve their seat at the gala.
Related cases: BDS, BDA, BDH
The same setup applies to the other student offices. The BDS (Sports Office) collects payments for competitions, sports trips, and club memberships. The BDA (Arts Office) sells tickets for shows, exhibitions, and student festivals. The BDH (Humanitarian Office) collects membership fees and donations. The payment system remains the same: online payment links for remote sales, SoftPOS for on-campus sales, and cashless payments for large events.
Cashless by Easytransac: a solution designed for student organizations
Easytransac offers a solution tailored to student unions and student organizations in general: no subscription, no commitment, pay-per-transaction pricing, payment terminal rentals, customizable payment links, SoftPOS on Android smartphones, and cashless event solutions for large-scale events. Opening an account in the association’s name is done online, with quick validation of the articles of incorporation and IBAN.
In practical terms, this means your student union can have a payment processing solution up and running before the start of the school year, without having to purchase any equipment or tie up funds in an annual budget.
Conclusion: Organize now, pass it on properly
The best time to switch to a real payment solution is before the start of the school year and the membership fee collection, not after the first event goes wrong. Once set up, the system lasts for the entire term, can be handed over to the next board in just a few minutes, and saves hours of time for every treasurer who takes over.
Are you taking over your student union’s finances this year? Request a demo from our team—we’ll walk you through the setup before your first transaction.
Who we are
With more than 60,000 customers, Easytransac capitalizes on a decade of expertise in various payment solutions (distance selling, ecommerce, convenience selling, cashless, mobile payment...).
Easytransac is at the forefront of innovation in the ecosystem of electronic payments and hybrid and cashless solutions that meet the requirements of e-tailers, event professionals and SMEs.
Our platform simplifies transactions and enriches the user experience, thanks to an intuitive interface and real-time tracking, while ensuring security at every payment.
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