A nationwide survey reveals college students have an overwhelming preference to receive financial aid funds on a debit card over traditional check disbursements.

Heartland Campus Solution, a division of Heartland Payment Systems, surveyed more than 6,000 college students, questioning their preference regarding debit cards, and of that surveyed approximately 92% said they were in favor of receiving financial aid on debit cards over checks.

As college administrators debate student preferences for receiving financial disbursements, this research provides evidence that students favor debit cards, as checks become widely unpopular with an increasingly cashless generation.

Heartland offers colleges and universities financial disbursements and payments processing through its OneCard solution. With it, campuses can simplify all their financial needs from billing to student payments, to alumni donations. Acceluraid and Discover Debit Card also offer students convenience and ease-of-use without charging fees for minimum balances, overdrafts, insufficient funds or PIN debit transactions.

The survey also uncovered student satisfaction with Heartland’s customer service, with 90% of students rated their wait time when calling the customer service hotline as short or very short, and 94% felt their issue had been fully or mostly resolved after speaking with a Heartland customer service representative.