University of Mississippi and William Paterson University choose Student Advantage’s “SA Cash” to expand their one-card programs

 Students can use their ID instead of cash or credit at local merchants

BOSTON, June 10, 2002 – The University of Mississippi, Oxford, and William Paterson University have selected Student Advantage, Inc.’s (Nasdaq: STAD) SA Cash program to launch an off-campus stored-value “cashless” program for more than 22,000 students, faculty, and staff at the two schools.  Both programs are scheduled to be up and running this fall.

Adding the SA Cash function to the school’s IDs will enable students, faculty, and staff at Ole Miss and William Paterson to buy food, necessities, and entertainment at off-campus businesses in Oxford, MS and Wayne, NJ, respectively. Students at the two schools currently use their IDs for on-campus dining, laundry facilities, building access, printing and copying services, and vending machines.

Student Advantage builds its off-campus networks, in conjunction with the university, by screening, recruiting and offering marketing support for local merchants. Student Advantage also provides merchants with proprietary transaction processing equipment that is compatible with the university’s host system and permits transaction settlement through the university.  In addition, Student Advantage offers university card programs Web site maintenance and development services, and a communications plan that will inform students about the ID and its applications.

“We wanted to enhance our card programs by providing our students and staff with the convenience of using their Ole Miss Express card at off-campus merchants but we did not have the staff and resources to implement the program.  SA Cash is the answer we were looking for,” said Kathy Tidwell, Manager of Contractual Service.

"Not only will the SA Cash program provide William Paterson students with more dining options and greater flexibility, it will also allow us to grow our relationship with the local community," said Tony Cavotto, Director of Hospitality Services.  "The expansion of the Pioneer Express Card is a win-win situation for local businesses, students, and the university alike."

The University of Mississippi and William Paterson University are the latest in a growing number of campuses that have adopted the SA Cash Program. Other schools that have added Student Advantage’s SA Cash function to their IDs include Dartmouth, Princeton, Johns Hopkins, Carnegie Mellon and American University.

About Student Advantage

Student Advantage, Inc. (Nasdaq: STAD) is a leading integrated media and commerce company focused on the higher education market. Student Advantage works in partnership with more than 1,100 colleges, universities and campus organizations, and more than 15,000 businesses to develop products and services that enable students to make purchases less expensively and more conveniently on and around campus. Our university and business relationships allow us to sell campus-specific consumer products and licensed collegiate sports memorabilia directly to parents, students and alumni. We reach our consumer base offline through Student Advantage Campus Services, which includes the Student Advantage Membership, SA Cash and OCM Direct, and online through our highly-trafficked Web sites studentadvantage.com, CollegeClub.com and FANSonly.com, the hub site for our Official College Sports Network.