Those signing up since January, representing 173,000 students, include:

• Austin Community College, Austin, Texas
• Brookdale Community College, Lincroft, N.J.
• Career College, Illinois (6 locations), Hoffman Estates, Ill.
• Davenport University, Grand Rapids, Mich.
• Kansas City Community College, Kansas City, Kan.
• Laredo Community College, Laredo, Texas
• Mohave Community College, Kingman, Ariz.
• Mt. Hood Community College, Gresham, Ore.
• Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Ariz.
• University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, N.D.

“Partnering with more than 100 colleges and universities is big milestone for Higher One,” says the company’s President and CEO, Dean Hatton. “We are thrilled that our commitment to provide administrations and students with cost-effective and time saving financial solutions is making a difference at schools nationwide. These 15 new colleges and universities signify that the higher education community, across all institutional types, is embracing solutions such as those of Higher One to improve their student services and decrease administrative costs.”

As Sharon Berning, University of North Dakota’s controller, put it: “We decided on Higher One because the company offered a great product for our students while freeing up time for our Student Account Services department to concentrate on quality customer service. Higher One’s product is unique and gives students more options to receive their financial aid refunds. We realized Higher One could give us the ability to increase the use of electronic disbursement of financial aid to students as compared to other options.”

Designed for college students, the Higher One OneAccount provides students with tools to manage their finances, including online bill pay, the ability to send money into another OneAccount, money wires, online statements, and the ability to make purchases using a MasterCard debit card tied to their accounts. In addition to the online statements, students are notified via mobile messaging when they have received their refund.

Schools benefit from the elimination of time-consuming functions, paper checks and errors while realizing cost savings.

“The program has been well received by both parents and students,” says Audrey Wilson, director of the ASU OneCard Program at Angelo State University. “Many parents are glad to know that they do not have to open a local bank account for their son or daughter when they come to ASU and they like the fact that they can send them money electronically. An increasing number of our graduates are excited to learn that they can continue to use the OneAccount beyond their graduation date. Students participating in our international programs like the ability to have their refunds deposited to their OneAccounts so they can use their OneCards when they are out of the country.”

Since September 2002, Higher One has managed the disbursement of $4 billion for its client institutions. In that time period, over one million students, faculty, and staff at these institutions have used Higher One’s services through their ID or refund card.