HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN FLORIDA EXPAND THEIR SERVICES AND INCREASE EFFICIENCY WITH HIGHER ONE’S ONEDISBURSE® REFUND MANAGEMENT SERVICE

Service will Enable Students to Receive Their Money Faster with More Choices.

New Haven, CT -- May 17, 2006 – Flagler College, Lynn University and Manatee Community College, all in Florida, announced today that they have recently joined over 40 other higher education institutions in implementing Higher One’s OneDisburse Refund Management Service. Higher One, a leading provider of customized financial services dedicated exclusively to the higher education market is providing the 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 happy to be partnering and providing a solution to these schools,” said Dean Hatton, President and CEO, Higher One.  “Our ability to meet the needs of higher education institutions has been proven through the success dozens of clients have had with our program.”

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.

Flagler College Adopts Proven Refund Management System 

Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida serves 2,300 students – recently adopted Higher One’s OneDisburse NonID Refund Management system.

Prior to adopting OneDisburse, Flagler issued paper checks for student refunds and students were required to pick up their check at the business office, resulting in long lines during heavy refund periods. This process caused uncomfortable confrontations, aggravation and impatience among students and staff. The institution turned to Higher One for a solution that could offer their students a easy electronic options, eliminate long lines and the stress on students and staff. Flagler will be using Higher One’s program to efficiently manage their refund process as well as to meet the needs and ease the stress students and faculty face during the semester refund periods. 

"We are very excited about implementing Higher One’s OneDisburse system," said Kenneth S. Russom, Vice President of Business Services at Flagler College. "Under our current process, our students wait in line to pick up their paper checks, once the new process is implemented it will improve services, giving students a faster and more convenient way to access their money."

Lynn University Enhances Refund Management Process

Lynn University, located in Boca Raton, Florida recently adopted the Higher One program to offer more refund choices to their 2,200 students. The University will be using Higher One’s OneDisburse ID program.

Lynn University looked to Higher One for help with student refund disbursements and to increase the services offered through their ID card, the Lynn OneCard.  Lynn wanted to add banking services so that the students could easily use their card off campus. Prior to Higher One, Lynn had close to 100% of students using ACH for refunds but faced frustrations with managing the student bank account information and also worried about data security issues. With OneDisburse Higher One handles data security as well as all exception handling and customer service.

“This is a win-win process for Lynn,” said Laurie Levine, vice president for business and finance. “First, we improve service to our students because they receive their money more rapidly. Second, it frees our Student Administrative Services staff to focus on other needs instead of processing thousands of checks every year.”

Manatee Community College Delivers Improved, Student-Centric Refund Solution

Manatee Community College, located in Bradenton, Florida has chosen Higher One’s OneDisburse Non-ID program to effectively handle their refund disbursement process.

MCC was looking to eliminate writing and mailing paper checks and to provide an electronic disbursement options for their students. Prior to Higher One, payments to students and staff were paper based, complex, inefficient and costly. The institution was frustrated with the accounting and reconciliation of each individual payment. Manatee also felt that collecting and managing student bank account information to provide an ACH direct deposit option was difficult and time consuming. With Higher One’s program they have eliminated all of their concerns and believe they now have an effective program that meets their needs, and the needs of their students. Manatee has expressed pleasure with the fact that with OneDisburse, their students have three choices for receiving their refund and an optional free checking account with MasterCard debit card that can be used on campus and everywhere Debit MasterCard is accepted. Additionally, when it comes to refunds, Higher One handles the entire disbursement process, and provides on-line administrative reports and provides the institution with ATM's on all three of their campuses. 

“At MCC, our priority is to provide students with convenience, choice and rapid response. Higher One will allow us to accomplish all three of these objectives while saving on administrative costs,” said Dr. Carol Probstfeld, vice president, business and administrative services.

More than 49 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 a billion dollars through over half a million individual payments.

Higher One’s OneDisburse Refund Management Service is more than just payments; it streamlines the entire disbursement process.  OneDisburse includes the handling of all disbursements, customer service, reconciliation and other time consuming functions – eliminating many costs associated with refund delivery for the university and increasing customer service for students.  Higher One’s service is the only comprehensive refund management solution available today and features no setup costs, minimum involvement with schools’ IT systems, and a unique revenue-sharing benefit for the university.  With OneDisburse students can choose any of three options to receive financial aid and other refunds: direct deposit to the free OneAccount checking account, ACH to another bank checking account, or a paper check.

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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 universities 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 a billion dollars in refunds for its college and university clients. More than 375,000 students, faculty, and staff at distinguished public and private institutions use Higher One's services through their ID or refund card.

 

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