The Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania has rolled out an executive education program in blockchain technology. As part of this program, the college will let its students pay tuition fees in Bitcoin (BTC/USD) and Ethereum (ETH/USD), or USD Coin (USDC/USD). With this move, Wharton has become the first Ivy League institution to accept crypto as a means of payment from program participants.
Reportedly, the option to pay in crypto is available, starting today. As aforementioned, this option is only available to students that enroll for the six-week executive course dubbed Economics of Blockchain and Digital Assets. The college offers the course online, and it targets finance professionals across the globe.
According to Reed Cataldo, one of the course administrators, the course costs less than one ETH, approximately $4,162.63 (£3,026.75) at the time of writing.
The college teamed up with Coinbase to process the crypto payments it receives through Coinbase Commerce. Coinbase charges a 5% fee for merchants that use the Coinbase Commerce service.
However, Wharton will settle this commission instead of passing it on to students. A Coinbase spokesperson disclosed that students can make crypto payments through any on-chain wallet.
More crypto adoption is in order
While the crypto payment option is currently limited to students that take the Economics of Blockchain and Digital Assets course, Cataldo is bullish that Wharton will soon expand the offering to other sectors in the future. He further noted that other schools would follow in Wharton’s footsteps and embrace crypto.
This news comes after the University of Pennsylvania announced that it received its biggest ever gift in the form of a crypto donation earlier this year. At the
