Instead of a paper check in their mailboxes, students at Santa Fe College, Gainesville, Fla. are receiving anothert option of having their financial aid checks deposited directly into their accounts.

Ginger Gibson, the college’s vice president of finance, said the switch to the Higher One-backed service has been nearly a decade in the making, spurred by student input.

“They were the ones who came to us initially,” she said. “They’ve always wanted options.”

As with other institutions serviced by Higher One, students can receive their financial aid in one of three ways: deposited directly into the bank of their choice, deposited into a OneAccount managed by Higher One and linked to the card, or mailed as a check.

Read more here.

The BlackboardPay Campus Card Program was honored as the best government-funded prepaid card program in the 2011 Paybefore Awards. Winners in each of 15 categories will now compete in the Best-in-Category distinction which will be announced during an award ceremony at the Prepaid Expo USA on March 7 at the World Center Marriott in Orlando, Fla.

David Marr, president and COO, Blackboard Transact, stated that the BbPay financial aid and refund distribution offering was honored because of its ability to “(ensures) that students have free and clear access to their financial aid without being subjected to onerous service and transaction fees.”

“We are extremely honored to have BlackboardPay receive the 2011 Paybefore Award for Best Government Funded Prepaid Card by the global community,” said Marr. “This award reaffirms that we have developed a disbursement solution for our institutions that properly serves the most needy students by respecting the intent of the federal programs.”

“Paybefore Awards were created to celebrate the innovators in our industry who are using prepaid to transform payments with ever-more efficient and accessible products,” commented Loraine DeBonis, Paybefore editor-in-chief and chair of the judging panel. “Our industry is growing rapidly because companies such as this year’s winners continually improve their products and services or create new ones.”

New Haven, Conn.-based Higher One says it is now featuring a podcast series of the Federal Deposit Insurance Company (FDIC) called Money Smart on Higher One’s student financial education destination One For Your Money (formerly Game Time.)

The FDIC Money Smart program is part of the FDIC’s national financial education curriculum designed to help young adults improve their financial skills and learn the basics of money management. The podcasts cover a range of relevant topics including budgeting, account management, savings and identity protection, as well as tips for parents.

One For Your Money is an online community built specifically for students to address their money management needs. The site hosts a variety of interactive content to help students become financially savvy.

To view these podcasts and other financial literacy content, visit the Web site here.

Seattle University is in the middle of rolling out new campus cards thanks to a new contract with U.S. Bank. To make it easier for students to get the new cards, the university is allowing them to pick up the cards at several locations around campus. The current cards will cease to function by Jan. 31.

The school announced last year that it had signed the U.S. Bank agreement to provide banking services free of charge to its students.

The deal adds debit card functionality to the new cards, and the university has also agreed to enable bank representatives to come on campus to perform informational financial seminars.

If students do choose to set up a checking account, they will also benefit from one waved overdraft fee, four free non-U.S. bank ATM transactions per month, and personalized e-mail and text messages.

Read more here.

Need a new ID card printer, particularly one that could apply a hologram or provide lamination? There’s a blog discusses some of the intricacies of a few of the printers out there manufactured by well-known companies such as Evolis, Fargo and Magicard.

The article discusses clear overlaminates that provide an additional layer of security coupled with increased durability. Also, holograms that can display a university logo, for example, can provide even greater security. It also makes it harder for someone to duplicate the card.

Read more here.  

It takes young adults–those between the ages of 18 and 24–some 132 days before they realize they’ve had their identity stolen. In that time, they’ve lost five times the amount of money compared to other age groups, according to Washington State University’s student newspaper.

Quoting a report from the Better Business Bureau, the newspaper notes that areas which should be carefully monitored include the Internet, emails and the trusty telephone.”Don’t trust caller ID,” says a BBB consultant.

In general, students need to be better educated on how they can have their IDs stolen and what they should do if the unthinkable happens. Read more here.  

Three Auburn University students aren’t thrilled with the school’s mandatory meal plan. They’re so “not thrilled” that they’ve filed suit against the university, claiming the plan violates restraint of trade and Alabama law.

The lawsuit claims that the University’s policy to charge a mandatory dining fee in addition to the cost of tuition is unfair.

Beginning with the class of 2012, which started in August 2008, the dining plan was made mandatory. Those who live on campus are charged $995 per semester, while off-campus students pay $300, both in addition to the cost of tuition.

Read more here.

That’s the word from Stanford’s Information Technology Services in response to phony emails that have been sent to students that seek their user name and password. The emails are similar to scammers seeking bank account numbers. For example, one email sent to Stanford students included the subject line “Webmail users maintenance notice,” and requested recipients to send their user email ID and password to the fictitious “email Management Team.”

Some fake messages use fear. One email that circulated on campus last summer carried the subject line “Warning Notice!!!” and asked recipients to send their SUNet ID and password to a phony “upgrade team” to avoid having their email accounts “terminated immediately.”

Read more here.  

The CBORD Group is helping colleges and universities protect their one-card access control investments by integrating its campus ID card systems with Ingersoll Rand Security Technologies’ new Schlage AD-Series security platform. The modular design of the new AD-Series lets higher education users customize door openings by credential reader, networking, finish and levers without replacing the lock or even taking it off the door.

Additionally, the system is built on an open architecture platform, allowing for seamless integration with CBORD solutions for campus ID systems. By combining these products, CBORD is providing campus administrators with adaptable and scalable security solutions they can tailor to their campuses while being able to improve their one-card solution in the future as needs and industry technologies evolve.

“Components that have been traditionally located around the door are now integrated into the lock itself to yield a smarter solution and more value for the investment,” said Cindy McCall, CBORD’s vice president of marketing. “Few campus administrators can predict their electronic access needs years in the future. This new AD-Series platform allows customers to plan for today and be ready for the future.”

“From classrooms to sports complexes, labs, residence halls, common areas and beyond, the AD-Series was designed with the understanding that no two campuses or their security applications are the same,” said Beverly Vigue, Ingersoll Rand’s vice president for education markets.

The CBORD Group has formed Integrated Security Solutions Group designed to focus on the company’s growing security business. The new sector is expected to support the deployment of CBORD’s growing catalog of security hardware and software. Mathew Birnbaum, Integrated Security Solutions Group manager, will lead the new business unit.

Integrated Security is intended to be a resource, including system consulting, design, and implementation, strategic partner selection and management, product strategy and management and marketing.

CBORD’s partner program, known as the CBORD Data Xchange Program, includes a variety of security providers such as Ingersoll Rand, HID, NICE Systems, Pelco and Cisco Systems.

The security group’s aim is to extend the reach of security systems to provide more complete control of campus security operations, including one-card transactions, access control, video surveillance, alarm management and emergency notification.

“In the ever-changing field of security technology, a fully integrated system and service mentality is key,” said Tim Tighe, CBORD’s president and CEO.