If you’re planning on paying for your university education in bitcoins, the cost of tuition could run up as much as 54.77 bitcoins, or $30,310 at the first brick and mortar American college to accept the currency: The King’s College in New York City’s financial district.
Compared to many private educational institutions in the U.S., that’s not such a bad price to pay.
The private Christian liberal arts school announced that it would use merchant processor Coin.co to process any tuitions received via the digial currency.
The King’s College, founded in 1938, follows Cyprus’s University of Nicosia and the U.K.’s University of Cumbria as major universities accepting cryptocurrency in lieu of government-backed cash, although if a student chose to pay with Bitcoin, the exchange is made instantly and the school itself never actually touches bitcoins.
“We have a strong emphasis on the founding documents of the U.S., the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, which are very individual based,” Dr. Gregory Thornbury, president of the school, told Coindesk. “Bitcoin represents that, it’s the empowerment of individuals.”
Draper University, a Silicon Valley-based online school that also calls itself the “University of Heroes,” began accepting bitcoins in 2013. So far, it’s most famous for having students sell sex toys for class, so American Bitcoin enthusiasts are looking at the historic King’s College adoption of the currency as a more significant milestone.
“The King’s College seeks to transform society by preparing students for careers in which they help to shape and eventually to lead strategic public and private institutions,” Thornbury continued. “Allowing Bitcoin to be used to pay for a King’s education decreases our costs while simultaneously allowing our students to be a part of this exciting new technology.”
H/T Coindesk |Photo via The King’s College