Higher One - Increases support of NACUBO, joins corporate circle for 2006

Higher One Joins Well Recognized Companies to Support NACUBO's Programs, Products, and Services

NEW HAVEN, CT, January 27, 2006 - Higher One, a leading provider of customized financial services dedicated exclusively to the higher education market, today announced they are increasing their already significant support of the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) and have officially been named a member of the NACUBO Corporate Circle for 2006.

"We have always been a strong supporter of NACUBO and we are proud to now become a member of their Corporate Circle," said Dean Hatton, President and CEO, Higher One. "With our focus on higher education, we are pleased to be among the many well-recognized companies that are supporting the association's overall efforts that benefit colleges and universities nationwide."

The NACUBO Corporate Circle gives special recognition to the companies that provide the highest level of support throughout the year. As a Corporate Circle member, Higher One will support NACUBO as a Gold Sponsor for this year's annual convention, The Campus of the Future: A Meeting of the Minds. This will be a first-of-its-kind joint conference of three leading associations that serve higher education: The Association of Higher Education Facilities Officers (APPA), the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO), and the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP).

Higher One is also increasing their support through:

Sponsorship of the NACUBO Student Financial Services Conference
Strengthened advertising commitment in Business Officer magazine
Sponsor of Student Financial Services Chapter of the College and University Business Administration (CUBA)

"The Corporate Circle membership is about more than just financial support for association activities," said Bill Dillon, Vice President for Business Development, NACUBO. "This designation is reserved for a small number of business associates who are the thought-leaders of our industry and contribute significantly to the overall welfare of higher education."

Since Higher One's inception they have been a strong supporter of NACUBO, as both organizations seek the very best in higher education, business, and financial management. By becoming a member of NACUBO's Corporate Circle, Higher One strengthens its support and joins well-recognized companies in the higher education industry such as Barnes and Noble, Follet Higher Education Group, and ARAMARK Education. Companies join the corporate circle to further support the association's programs, products, and services offered to 2,200 institutions in higher education.

Thirty-four 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 more than a billion dollars through over half a million individual payments.

Refund Management provides institutions with an easy way to increase the percentage of payments that are made to students electronically. The desire to have payments made electronically is a growing trend that was recently acknowledged in some guidance from the Department of Education. According to ED, "Institutions are increasingly changing the way they disburse funds to students by moving away from issuing checks to transferring funds electronically." Refund Management is the easiest way for an institution to help students receive their money electronically while still allowing for the option to receive a paper check if the student desires.

ED states: "In response to this trend, several companies are offering services that include: Obtaining the student's authorization to perform electronic transfers; Transferring the funds electronically to the student's bank account; Opening a bank account for the student; Issuing debit cards in conjunction with a participating bank. Companies that contract with institutions to provide these types of services, in some instances, become third-party servicers. The regulations in 34 CFR 668.2 define a third-party servicer as an entity that contracts with an institution to administer any aspect of its Title IV programs. Thus, if an institution contracts with a company to perform activities that are the institution's responsibilities under the Title IV programs, the company is a third-party servicer. In the contract between the institution and the servicer, both parties must agree to comply with all statutory and regulatory provisions governing the Title IV programs and agree to be jointly and severally liable for any violation by the servicer of these provisions. Other items that the institution and servicer must agree to are described in 34 CFR 668.25 (c). Also, a third-party servicer must submit an annual audit of the activities it performs on behalf of the institution to the Department as specified in 34 CFR 668.23 (c)."

With its sole focus on higher education, Higher One completed a third-party servicer audit prior to the release of ED guidelines.

About NACUBO
NACUBO, founded in 1962, is a nonprofit professional organization representing chief administrative and financial officers at more than 2,100 colleges and universities across the country. NACUBO's mission is to promote sound management and financial practices at colleges and universities.

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.