Higher One - Texas Schools Choose Higher One

Higher One to Provide Comprehensive Refund Management That Reduce Costs and Increase Student Services

NEW HAVEN, CT, August 29, 2005 - Higher One, a leading provider of customized financial services dedicated exclusively to the higher education market, today announced that four campuses within the Texas State Technical College system and Texas Woman's University (Denton, TX) have signed on to use Higher One's OneDisburse^® Refund Management disbursement service. The program will enable the universities to save substantial costs and increase service by having Higher One handle all refund disbursements, related exception handling and customer service. Both universities will implement the program through a new co-branded "refund card," which will also provide students with use of a free FDIC insured checking account called the OneAccount.

"We are thrilled to sign on Texas Woman's University and four campuses within the Texas State Technical College system," said Dean Hatton, President and CEO, Higher One. "The new partnership brings us to a total of ten schools within the state of Texas and 31 schools across the nation. Word is spreading that Higher One's services not only save schools money, but also enhance the services these schools can now offer their students."

Texas State Technical College's Harlingen, Marshall, Waco, and West Texas campuses plan to implement Higher One's OneDisburse^® Refund Management through the Tech OneCard which will streamline the entire disbursement process for both the college and the students. OneDisburse includes the handling of all disbursements, customer service, exception handling, reconciliation and other time consuming functions - eliminating many costs associated with refund delivery for the college and increasing customer service for students.

The Waco campus plans to launch before Fall refunds and the Harlingen, Marshall and West Texas campuses are expected to launch by January 2006. Texas Woman's University expects to begin operation of the new electronic funds disbursement, card and banking program in the Fall 2005 term.

Higher One's OneDisburse^® Refund Management disbursement service is more than just payments; it streamlines the entire disbursement process. OneDisburse includes the handling of all disbursements, customer service, exception handling, reconciliation and other time consuming functions - eliminating many costs associated with refund delivery for the school and increasing customer service for students. Higher One's service is the only comprehensive Refund Management available today and features no setup costs, minimum involvement with schools' IT systems, and a unique revenue-sharing benefit for the school. 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. No matter which method the student uses, Higher One handles the entire process, making the payment and managing any associated exceptions or customer service needs.

Higher One provides every client with program management to ease the setup process. Once up and running, Higher One services including the management of student refund preferences; collection and archiving of ACH authorization forms; exception handling; refund returns; rerouting of checks; refund reversals; reconciliation and archiving; customer service; and online reporting of refund statuses.

Higher One offers two versions of its service: OneDisburse ID^SM and OneDisburse Non ID^SM. OneDisburse ID is Refund Management that is provided with a card that also serves as the Campus ID. The program is fully integrated with the campus card system. OneDisburse Non ID is Refund Management that is provided with a co-branded "refund card" that is not integrated with the ID card system. OneDisburse is available to smaller institutions - 5,000 students or fewer - through the non-co-branded "Easy Refund Card" platform.

Higher One has been providing Refund Management to colleges and universities across the US since 2002. Higher One's program at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, TX generated $240,000 in net cost avoidance in the first semester alone, and after subtracting the initial costs of establishing a card office - produced about $400,000 in gross cost avoidance for the year. The State University of West Georgia and Kennesaw State University have both documented substantial, measurable impacts on the institutional operations and were presented with the "2004 Best Practices Award" for their implementation of Higher One's Refund Management disbursement service by the State University System of Georgia Board of Regents.

More than 31 Colleges and Universities across the country have signed with Higher One to use the company's Refund Management. Since September 2002, Higher One has helped its clients disburse almost a billion dollars through more than 475,000 individual payments.

About Higher One

Founded in 2000, Higher One provides higher education institutions and their students with efficient, convenient and easy-to-use solutions to handle financial disbursements. These include: student refunds, on-campus and community purchases, payroll and employee expenses, as well as the collection of payments from students, parents, and sponsors.

Higher One offers a suite of online banking services including the OneAccount, an FDIC-insured checking account, and OneCard, a Debit MasterCard^®. To date, Higher One has disbursed over $4 billion dollars in refunds for its clients to more than 1,000,000 students, faculty, and staff at distinguished public and private higher education institutions throughout the country.

Higher One recently ranked # 85 on the 2007 Inc. List of the 500 Fastest Growing Companies in the United States. Higher One is based in New Haven, CT.