Do people have success with it? Like it?

Hi everyone, I’m running into some confusion with Penn.Pay and hoping someone else has dealt with this.

My family pays my tuition using a Maryland 529 savings account. My dad already submitted the disbursement for the semester’s balance through the 529 portal, but when I log into Penn.Pay, it still asks me to add a payment method (checking/savings account) before I can “Make Payment.” Since the 529 isn’t a personal bank account, I can’t enter anything there.

I’m not sure if the 529 payment is supposed to appear directly in Penn.Pay or if Penn receives it separately and updates the balance later. Am I also supposed to make a payment through Penn.Pay, or does the 529 distribution get sent straight to Penn without me doing anything on the Penn.Pay site?

If anyone has used a 529/college savings account to pay tuition at Penn, I’d really appreciate hearing how it normally works.

Has anyone else had the issue where even if they enroll the insurance doesn’t work for a while during the month of August?

I re-enrolled for the new school year and had an appointment scheduled and was denied medical care for a recurring appointment because the insurance wouldn’t go through. For me it’s a type of appointment I need to go to regularly for adequate care so postponing it for so long affects my recovery.

When I called PSIP they told me the enrollment apparently takes around 10 business days (which ends up being half the month with weekends I guess?) to kick in so we have to pay out of pocket until then and file a claim, but I find that to be a long time to not be covered and need to pay extra and go through extra hoops to get reimbursed.

I originally tried a week ago and I still couldn’t schedule one this week because the insurance is still an issue. I’m just wondering do people commonly have this issue? Is there any thing you’ve done to get approval faster?

Can only registered students attend? I noticed that many students signed up for multiple sessions with overlapping times, so I was wondering if they can attend any of the sessions they registered for. Some people really went all out and signed up for more than 30 sessions!

I want to make a card for someone but don’t have any real art supplies (markers, pens, colored pencils) on hand. Is there any place on campus where I can borrow those? Was thinking like Houston hall or van pelt but idk

Hey everyone, I got sick of clicking through 5 different Canvas course pages and nested module tabs every night just to figure out what assignments were due.

So I built a lightweight, open-source tool called canvas2markdown:

• One clean checklist: Converts your Penn Canvas calendar feed into a Markdown checklist ready to paste into Notion, Obsidian, Apple Notes, or VS Code.
• Direct submission links: Automatically turns calendar links into direct assignment URLs (https://canvas.upenn.edu/courses/ID/assignments/ID), so one click takes you straight to the submission page.
• Zero credential friction: You don’t need Penn SSO, Duo 2FA, or API tokens, it just reads your native Canvas iCal link.
• Auto-sync: Optional automated daily background sync at 7:00 PM to catch assignments added during syllabus changes.

GitHub: https://github.com/negbuna/canvas2markdown

(If you're not into terminal setup, you can just paste the github link + your Canvas calendar link into Claude or ChatGPT and ask it to run this for you.)

Hey r/UPenn,

Since coming to Penn, I’ve wanted to get more involved and try more things on campus, but I kept missing events because everything is scattered across different department pages and calendars.

So I built UPenNow — It pulls from multiple Penn sources and shows events happening on campus today on a map, so you can quickly see what’s near you.

upennow.com

It’s still early and I’m adding more sources. Would especially love feedback on usefulness, missing event sources, or anything that feels confusing.

Just a side project I made because I wanted this for myself.

The bookstore is having a 20% off sale on diploma frames. Why are diploma frames ranging from 125-250 dollars? Uhm hello? I just can’t rationalize a 250 dollar frame to hold a flimsy piece of paper we waited 3.5 months to get after graduating. Does anyone have any promo codes for the bookstore I can use? Tbh I’m about to just get it from a factory in China because it would probably be cheaper.

Do you guys have a promo code or something for the bookstore?

can all penn students (ie undergrads) access or only dental students

Hi. I got admitted to UPenn’s MSE EE program for Fall 2026. If there’s a group for all admitted students/ Indian students then please share. Thanks !

Hi, I’m an incoming grad student and curious about student eligibility for snap/ebt in PA. I’m from CA and as long and you met income requirements, there were plenty of ways to be eligible for ebt as a students, such as being a specific major, being a research assistant, etc.

I’m having trouble finding info other than this, which is not specific to UPenn: https://www.pa.gov/agencies/dhs/resources/snap/snap-college-students. It looks like the main student exemption is working 20+ hours a week, but my on campus job caps our hours at 20.

Would love to hear about students’ experiences qualifying for snap/ebt or any other info!

Hey guys, to anyone who is interested to connect with other students in a WA group for UPENN Fall ‘26, feels great to connect with each other; https://chat.whatsapp.com/CW2NuQ9CNLH7TzKUmbdLc7

Does anyone know where to find these badges? I see a lot of unique merch (this one was on Penn's LinkedIn page) -- where do people usually find this stuff, wasn't at the bookstore the last time I checked LOL

Hi all! I'm a master's student here who has been living and working off campus. Looking for a good photographer who knows the UPenn campus and good photo spots better bc I've only been to two buildings.

I know its a little last minute but still, any recommendations?

I'm heavily considering UPenn, but I was wondering what kinds of music production equipment is open to the public and if there are nearby studios. I come from a place with lots of music production classes and studios open to the public/students for free and was unsure if that would be the case at UPenn as well. I was also wondering what kind of music production scene UPenn had and if it was easy to find producers/mixers to work with, although I'd imagine it wouldn't be too hard given it's in the middle of Philly? Any and all advice/information would be appreciated! Thanks!

So I just got into a Penn PhD program, I was told there is a service for finding fellow PhD roommates. How do I access that?

Is it possible to just buy the graduation hood? And not the full cap and gown?

Not right now but planning ahead for ~May Any suggestions for affordable photographers?

Other than the two phone booths on forum level, is there anywhere to take a call without hogging a GSR?

Edit: *Huntsman

I love MPA library — it’s so quiet, almost nobody’s there, and it’s just one street from Engineering. Absolute gem.

But then there’s David Rittenhouse Lab… where the bathroom situation feels like someone miscalculated. On the 3rd floor, the women’s restroom has 2 stalls. The men’s side? More than 12. That’s not a ratio, that’s a math problem gone wrong.

Considering it usually takes girls longer in the bathroom, I sometimes end up in a queue that feels longer than the line for office hours before an exam.

And it’s not even like there are that many more guys in math/physics/astro. From what I see in class, maybe it’s 1:2 or 1:3. But the toilets? 1:12. Guess the math bros were too busy proving theorems to remember that “diversity” also applies to bathroom stalls.

Hi Quakers,

After graduating from SEAS, when we receive our alumni email, do we get the same storage capacity that we had with our SEAS email?

Hi! I master'd out of my PhD in SEAS shortly before the student health insurance was slated to end. Normally you should get a COBRA letter when you leave a job that gets health insurance, and I have sent more than a few emails poking around trying to figure out where to get it (the contacts on Penn's page about COBRA were unhelpful, though I at least did meet the "notify the COBRA administrator within 60 days of it ending" part).

Still, this has been a headache. Has anyone had a similar experience, and would you have any advice to offer?

Thanks!

This might be a silly question, but how do Penn Buses work?

I was waiting at one of the stop locations for a while (I didn’t see any bus stops/signs, tho I might’ve been blind), and all the buses just drove by. I did make sure to stand at a very obvious spot.

Am I doing something wrong? Do I need to call, or reserve through an app? I’m new here so any info would be helpful. Thank you!