HARDIN SIMMONS UNIVERSITY SIGNS ON TO USE HIGHER ONE’S ONEDISBURSE^SM REFUND MANAGEMENT SERVICE TO IMPROVE STUDENT SERVICES AND REDUCE COSTS

Higher One’s Refund Management Service will Enable Students to Receive Their Money Faster with More Refund Choices.

Abilene, Texas – August, 2006 – Hardin Simmons University today announced that they have partnered with Higher One, a leading provider of customized financial services dedicated exclusively to the higher education market, to improve refund disbursement to students.  HSU will be using Higher One’s OneDisburse^SM  Refund Management Service.  HSU is the 46^th school to sign on with Higher One.

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 quickly embrace this solution to better serve their students.  Some institutions noted utilizing an outside vendor as a refund management provider helps the institution avoid IT and data security risks. 

 “With Higher One, our students will be able to get refund information on line and have more options for how to receive their money,” said Don Ashmore, HSU Controller. “At the same time, our office will have a streamlined process that enables us to more efficiently make payments to our students.”

Prior to Higher One, HSU internally produced paper checks and manually distributed them to students. HSU plans to implement Higher One’s OneDisburse Refund Management Service for the upcoming semester, which will help the university reduce administrative costs, streamline business processes, increase student choice and improve the student experience.  With OneDisburse, students will also have the opportunity to choose to use the OneAccount, a free FDIC insured checking account linked to their OneCard.  If students choose to utilize this option their HSU Debit MasterCard can be used worldwide everywhere Debit MasterCard is accepted. 

Higher One’s OneDisburse Refund Management Service 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 patent pending, and the only comprehensive refund management solution available today. It   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.

“We are happy to be providing Hardin Simmons University with a program that offers significant cost savings for the institution as well as more choices for students,” said Dean Hatton, President and CEO, Higher One.  “I am certain that they will be pleased with our Refund Management Service along with the rest of our Higher Education clients.”

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.

Currently, over sixty 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.

Refund management provides institutions with an easy way to increase the percentage of payments that are made to students electronically. The desire to have payments made electronically is a growing trend that was recently acknowledged in some guidance from the Department of Education. According to ED, “Institutions are increasingly changing the way they disburse funds to students by moving away from issuing checks to transferring funds electronically.”  Refund management is the easiest way for an institution to help students receive their money electronically while still allowing for the option to receive a paper check if the student desires. 

ED states: “In response to this trend, several companies are offering services that include: Obtaining the student’s authorization to perform electronic transfers; Transferring the funds electronically to the student’s bank account; Opening a bank account for the student; Issuing debit cards in conjunction with a participating bank.  Companies that contract with institutions to provide these types of services, in some instances, become third-party servicers. The regulations in 34 CFR 668.2 define a third-party servicer as an entity that contracts with an institution to administer any aspect of its Title IV programs. Thus, if an institution contracts with a company to perform activities that are the institution's responsibilities under the Title IV programs, the company is a third-party servicer. In the contract between the institution and the servicer, both parties must agree to comply with all statutory and regulatory provisions governing the Title IV programs and agree to be jointly and severally liable for any violation by the servicer of these provisions. Other items that the institution and servicer must agree to are described in 34 CFR 668.25 (c). Also, a third-party servicer must submit an annual audit of the activities it performs on behalf of the institution to the Department as specified in 34 CFR 668.23 (c).”

With its sole focus on higher education, Higher One completed a third-party servicer audit prior to the release of ED guidelines.

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About Hardin Simmons University

Hardin Simmons University is a 2,500 student private, co-educational institution located in west Texas. Established in 1891, HSU has several unique distinctions including the oldest accredited school of music and the only Doctor of Physical Therapy degree in Texas. HSU students can major in 64 majors through its Colleges of Liberal Arts and Business, Schools of Education, Music, Nursing, Sciences and Mathematics, and Theology, and have eight choices for masters degrees. HSU stresses its community outreach program through its unique community enhancement program, its work with Habitat for Humanity, and child literacy, while boasting top athletics such as  its standout football team known as “the winningest team in Texas.” For the 6^th consecutive semester, student athletes at HSU maintained an average grade-point average of over 3.0

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 communities 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 $1.3 billion dollars in refunds for its college and university clients. More than 450,000 students, faculty, and staff at distinguished public and private institutions use Higher One's services through their ID or refund card.