Abstract: Users of products and services of an educational institution make payments through an intelligent switchboard and an electronic payment solution. The user provides a user identity and is allowed access without needing further security requirement to access applications representing a set of offerings provided by the institution that differ in type of service, type of product, vendor, or payment type. The user views offerings of interest and makes selections based on the offerings. The user's selections are communicated to a universal checkout application that processes the offering selected and obtains payment and authorization from the user for an electronic payment transaction. A switchboard communicates with the users and communicates by an application program interface with each of the application programs and the universal checkout programs. This allows the user to pay for all selections, made within multiple applications, with a single payment experience.