HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN ST. LOUIS EXPAND THEIR SERVICES WITH HIGHER ONE’S ONDISBURSE REFUND MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Higher One’s Refund Management Service Enables Students in St. Louis to Receive Their Money Faster with More Refund Choices

NEW HAVEN, CT, November, 2006 –St. Louis Community College and Webster University in St. Louis, MO, announced today that they have recently joined the more than 60 other higher education institutions that have partnered with Higher One, the leading provider of customized financial services dedicated exclusively to the higher education market to improve how refunds are disbursed to their students.

Higher One provides higher education institutions with the ability to achieve more refund choices for students, free up time for faculty during the refund process and reduce administrative costs. With the implementation of Higher One, these institutions are enhancing services for students, faculty and staff to provide an efficient and timely refund process that meets the needs of everyone.

“We are proud to announce the addition of two new partners in St. Louis,” said Dean Hatton, President & CEO, Higher One.  “Higher One continues to see an increasing need among schools to provide effective management of the refund disbursement process and improve the student payment experience and we look forward to continuing to offer these services to our partners.”

Higher One continues to experience increasing interest from colleges and universities nationwide as institutions look to improve their student services and decrease administrative costs. As more institutions learn that a solution such as Higher One's OneDisburse exists they are quickly embracing it to better serve their students.  Some institutions have also expressed that their interest stemmed from the fact that utilizing a refund management program helps the institution avoid IT and data security risks.

St. Louis Community College Enhances Refund Management Process

St. Louis Community College, the largest community college system in Missouri and one of the largest in the United States, recently adopted the Higher One program to offer more refund choices to the more than 27,000 students on their four major campuses. The University will be using Higher One’s OneDisburse ID program.

Prior to Higher One, students at St. Louis Community College received financial aid and other refunds through a non-debit, self managed ID program. Signing on with Higher One resolved challenges facing STLCC’s refund disbursement process by providing a secure and timely process for students to receive these refunds electronically while also acting as an ID card that functions seamlessly with existing and future technical systems. Higher One’s services have alleviated administrative costs of the past system and increased student services. Through Higher One, each student will have the option of an online account for their refunds, solving one of the schools biggest financial aid disbursement issues.

“Higher One provides us an opportunity to expand our financial services and provide the benefits of electronic refunds to our students,” said Carla Chance, Vice Chancellor for Finance and Business Services. “Our partnership with Higher One will allow STLCC to improve student services and overall customer service while streamlining costs that can now benefit other student-focused programs.”   

Webster University Adopts Proven Refund Management System 

Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri which serves more than 22,000 students worldwide – recently adopted Higher One’s OneDisburse NonID Refund Management system.

Prior to Higher One, students at Webster University received financial aid and other refunds via paper check. Higher One provides Webster University a way to streamline the entire disbursement process and offer an electronic method for students to receive refunds faster while replacing the labor intensive process that was in place and alleviating administrative costs.  Through Higher One, each student will have the option of an online account for their refunds, solving one of the schools biggest financial aid disbursement issues.

“We are very excited to be working with Higher One,” said David Garafola, Vice President of Finance for Webster University. “Our students were looking for a faster and more convenient way to receive their refunds and our partnership with Higher One not only allows students to receive their refunds faster and with more options but enhances overall student services while alleviating one of our schools biggest disbursement issues.”   

Leading the trend within higher education, New Haven, CT-based Higher One has become the standard of service for American higher education institutions looking for ways to improve the payment process and student experience. Higher One handles the entire process and manages any associated exceptions or customer service needs.

To date, more than 60 colleges and universities across the country have signed with Higher One to use the company’s Refund Management Services.  Since September 2002, Higher One has helped its clients disburse more than $1.5 billion through over half a million individual payments.

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About St. Louis Community College

St. Louis Community College is the largest community college system in Missouri and one of the largest in the United States. The college serves an area of approximately 700 square miles that includes the City of St. Louis, St. Louis County and portions of Jefferson and Franklin counties. The college is the second largest institution of higher education in the state.

The college offers credit and non-credit courses through its continuing education programs. The courses, offered at more than 50 locations, represent program areas ranging from on-site career training at businesses, industries and government agencies to personal subjects to instructional television.

About Webster University

Webster University is a private, nonprofit, accredited University that offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in many fields including business, computer science, psychology, communications, international relations, science, education, fine and performing arts, and liberal arts. The home campus is located in Webster Groves, a picturesque suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1915 as a small private college, Webster has grown into an international network of over 100 campuses across the United States, Europe, China and Thailand. Currently the University enrolls approximately 22,000 students worldwide who range in age from traditional college age students to adult learners, and represent over 100 nationalities. Webster University is dedicated to academic excellence, innovation in higher education, meeting the needs of students in an ever-changing world and incorporating an international perspective throughout the curriculum.

About Higher One

Focused exclusively on higher education, Higher One provides refund management services to higher education institutions and banking services to members of their community through a card-based solution. Higher One's integrated solution helps colleges reduce administrative costs, streamline business processes, create new revenue streams, increase student customer service and strengthen the campus community. Higher One's refund service, OneDisburse^SM, provides students with more choices and better service for receiving financial refunds. Higher One also offers a suite of banking services called OneFinance^SM, which includes the OneAccount, a no minimum balance, no monthly fee checking account, the OneCard, a Debit MasterCard® card for ATM withdrawals and purchases, and exclusive features such as "Send Money", Easy Refund^SM, and Campus AutoLoad for stored value programs.  The OneFinance and OneDisburse solutions can be integrated with the institution's ID card or provided through a separate "refund only" card. 

To date, Higher One has disbursed more than $1.5 billion in refunds for its college and university clients. More than 500,000 students, faculty, and staff at distinguished public and private institutions use Higher One's services through their ID or refund card. The company was recently named one of the top 10 Rising Stars in the prestigious Deloitte & Touche Technology Fast 500 Program.

For more information visit www.higherone.com. Banking services are provided through an agreement with Frost Bank, member FDIC.