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Gift of College Gift Cards are now available via Kroger.com. Unfortunately, they are only available in the $25-$200 denominations that come with a $5.95 fee. That would seem unattractive at first glance, but since Kroger.com awards fuel points for many online third party gift card purchases, this could be a very attractive options for those who have a use for fuel points and who are looking to fund college savings with a credit card.
The Deal
- Kroger.com is offering Gift of College eGift cards in variable denomination from $25-$200
- Direct link to this deal
Quick Thoughts
Years ago, when it was easier to find Gift of College cards loadable with up to $500 at a time, these cards were a very popular vehicle for those looking to load a college savings account. See our Miles for College page for more information about how they work and our Best options for buying Gift of College Gift Cards resource for information on where else you can find the cards.
Those $500 denomination cards can still be found in-store in select regional stores around the country. I wrote about taking advantage of some gas station bonuses to load up my son’s 529 account and earn a ton of points doing it a couple of years ago.
There have continued to be options for buying online, but with a $5.95 fee, the cards that can only be loaded with up to $200 haven’t been very attractive from a credit card rewards angle unless you’re trying to meet a big spending bonus.
However, now that these cards are available on Kroger.com, that changes for people who have a use for Kroger Fuel Points.
Kroger regularly offers 2x fuel points on third party gift cards. A $200 gift card would therefore yield 400 fuel points, good for $0.40 off per gallon. Filling up with 15 gallons of gas would mitigate the activation fee, making these cards a decent option for earning rewards on college savings.
However, Kroger also frequently offers 4x fuel point promotions on third party cards. In fact, they are through tomorrow (1/25/22). With that type of deal, you would earn 800 points for a $200 card — good for $0.80 off per gallon. Just a 7.5 gallon gill-up would then bring you even with the fee — if you’re able to fill up with more gas, you’ll be at a negative net cost. Then, this becomes a very interesting deal for fueling your college savings account.
This is obviously good news for those who can take advantage. We’ll have to keep a close eye out for any other places where Gift of College gift cards may pop up in the coming months.
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Looks like max per card is now $100.
And now they’re gone.
They are no longer available at giftcards.com or giftcardmall.com either.
Does purchase of this card trigger any cashback ?
Data point FYI: I used my BofA Cash Rewards to buy one of these when it was announced and it coded as 5.25% back for online purchase (with Preferred Rewards 75%) – $10.82 back on $205.95 purchase. Still says Pending at the moment, but that is typically how it works for this card for a few weeks before switching to Earned.
Fuel points do not show yet. Maybe it takes a few days.
With 4 pre-college kids running around here, this might be worth the hassle instead of the monthly auto-debit from the bank we have been doing for 529s. Hmm … decisions.
Need to do math but certainlu worth it for me. Drive a truck lots of miles. Student loans to pay back and minimum spend to be made. Just hope comes to in-store.
Any data points on trying to buy gift of college with a Kroger gift card?
You can’t use Kroger gift cards for online gift card orders. Those run through Black Hawk card network. It has to be credit or debit.
[…] Gift of College Cards now available at Kroger.com by FM. Not that useful due to the low denominations available and fees. […]
Best hope is that is a trial leading to in-store, at which point it will almost certainly hit Safeway affiliations. Grocery bonus, fuel point bonus and 529’s can now be used for all private school, not just college or Uni.
Nick- you’ll be paying for your babies private school with gift cards!!
Would be nice for these cards to start showing up in Safeway affiliated grocery stores. Luckily we have a Lucky’s not too far away.
I am buying and redeeming $1,000 of these at at time using a combo of cards (AMEX Everyday, Chase Freedom 1Q, WOH 1Q, and Chase Freedom Flex with grocery sign-up bonus). The proceeds from the cards take about a week to post to my 529 after I redeem them at giftofcollege.com. I don’t feel comfortable buying more than $1,000 at a time because don’t want these Gift of College guys going under with me holding too many of their GCs.
What denomination are Lucky’s selling in store? Just $200?
They are selling a flexible denomination, $25 to $500. Nick has reported on this earlier. Of course I buy each card at $500.
And not all Luckys have Gift of College cards. The closest Luckys to my house does not have them.
Lucky California stores don’t seem to have them, but Lucky Supermarkets do. I have no idea why they are two separate brands, and haven’t identified any difference aside from these gift cards.
My local Lucky would not let me buy them with a CC. Probably highly ymmv though.
Do you have to get manager override when purchasing $1k of GCs?
I buy the two $500 GCs separately using two different credit cards. So far no manager involvement and no override needed.
I think it’s going to depend on store. I’ve bought $2K at a time at the gas station in the northeast that has them without issue.
Seems to be coded into the registers for the Lucky/SaveMart/FoodMaxx stores in Nor Cal, any GC purchase over about $800
Would the chase freedom first quarter grocery 5x bonus be helpful for the gift card purchase?
No. Kroger.com doesn’t code as grocery.
What does it code as?
Kroger.com is run by Blackhawk Card Network which is non-bonus spend (general merch).
Business services not classified elsewhere is what my BoA says. Fwiw, it triggered as online shopping on the BoA cash rewards card.
Is the ATTAM the best card to use for these purchases?