New findings show education costs are placing increasing pressure on families, as fintech firms expand “pay later” options into schools across the UAE.
Education costs continue to place pressure on UAE households, with 88% of parents reporting financial strain when school fees are due, according to a survey by a financial services app.
The study by Tabby, based on responses from 2,814 parents, found that half of parents struggle to pay fees upfront in a single instalment. Nine in 10 respondents said flexible payment options would help their children participate in more activities by allowing costs to be spread across monthly instalments.
Tabby has announced an expanded push into the education sector through a partnership with school fee platform Zenda, aimed at making tuition and other education-related expenses more manageable through structured instalment plans.
Families will be able to spread payments for tuition, transport, extracurricular activities, and other school-related expenses over up to 12 months, with the companies stating that there are no hidden fees.
The survey also highlighted strong demand for such solutions, with 97% of parents saying they would likely use a flexible payment option offered by schools.
Tabby said it already works with more than 100 educational institutions across the UAE, including Amity School Dubai, the University of Sharjah, other universities, nurseries, and professional training centres.
Making school payments more manageable
As schools look to improve fee collection systems, the partnership aims to integrate payment flexibility into existing infrastructure, helping reduce delays while giving institutions more predictable cash flow.
For parents, the goal is to replace large upfront payments with structured plans that align more closely with monthly budgets.
Explaining the approach, Zarik Nabi, Chief Commercial Officer at Tabby, said families are already managing education expenses through careful budgeting and trade-offs.
“Families across the UAE are already doing the work of managing education costs carefully, moving money around, planning ahead and making trade-offs,” Nabi said.
“We’re giving schools the infrastructure to make that easier for parents, and giving parents a way to stay in control without the pressure of paying everything at once.”
Schools aim to reduce payment friction
From the schools’ perspective, the partnership is intended to simplify fee collection and administrative processes, while offering parents more transparent and flexible payment options.
Haseeb Ahmed, Co-Founder of Zenda, said the platform is focused on streamlining the “last mile” of education payments for institutions.
“Schools partner with Zenda to take the friction out of their last-mile transaction handling — fee collection, automated schedules, reconciliation, trips and more — on a single platform parents trust,” Ahmed said. “Adding Tabby gives families more choice and flexibility.”
