Texas A&M International University Signs with Higher One

Higher One’s Refund Management disbursement service will Enable Students to Receive Their Money Faster with More Refund Choices.

Laredo, TX, May, 2006 - Texas A&M International University located in Laredo, Texas today announced that they have partnered with Higher One, a leading provider of customized financial services dedicated exclusively to the higher education market to improve how refunds are disbursed to their students. TAMIU will be using Higher One's OneDisburse^® Refund Management. TAMIU is the thirty-ninth school to sign on with Higher One.

Higher One continues to experience increasing interest from colleges and universities nationwide as institutions look to improve their student services and decrease administrative costs. As more institutions learn that a solution such as Higher One's OneDisburse exists they are quickly embracing this solution to better serve their students. Some institutions have also expressed that their interest stemmed from the fact that utilizing Refund Management with an outside vendor helps the institution avoid IT and data security risks.

"We are looking forward to working with Higher One to streamline our refunds through OneDisburse and reducing the burden on our business office. Our students will have faster access to their money and more choices in how they receive it, even for our international students," said Joe Garcia, Vice President for Finance and Administration at TAMIU.

"Additionally, we have provided in our contract as awarded through an RFP, all public institutions in the State of Texas can purchase from this agreement...saving them time and effort by foregoing their own RFP."

Previously, TAMIU mailed refunds to its students which resulted in many problems including new addresses, high postage, and students without U.S. based checking accounts due to the abundance of international students. Texas A&M International University plans to implement Higher One's OneDisburse Easy Refund Refund Management, which will help the university reduce administrative costs, streamline business processes, increase student choice, and improve the student experience. Students will have the opportunity to use the OneAccount, a free FDIC insured checking account linked to their OneCard. If students choose to utilize this option their Texas A&M International University Debit MasterCard can be used worldwide everywhere MasterCard is accepted.

Higher One's OneDisburse Refund Management is more than just payments; it streamlines the entire disbursement process. OneDisburse includes the handling of all disbursements, customer service, reconciliation and other time consuming functions - eliminating many costs associated with refund delivery for the university 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 university. 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.

"We are happy to be providing Texas A&M International University with a program that offers significant cost savings for the institution as well as more choices for students," said Dean Hatton, President and CEO, Higher One. "I am certain that they will be pleased with our Refund Management along with our other dozens of customers."

Leading the trend within higher education, New Haven, CT-based Higher One has become the standard of service for American higher education institutions looking for ways to improve the payment process and student experience. Higher One handles the entire process and manages any associated exceptions or customer service needs.

Thirty-nine colleges and universities across the country have signed with Higher One to use the company's Refund Management Services. 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 Texas A&M International University

Texas A&M International University (TAMIU), a member of the Texas A&M University System, prepares students for leadership roles in their chosen profession in an increasingly complex, culturally diverse state, national, and global society. TAMIU provides students with a learning environment anchored by the highest quality programs built on a solid academic foundation in the arts and sciences. To fulfill its mission, the University offers a range of baccalaureate and master's programs and the Doctor of Philosophy degree in International Business Administration. In addition to offering excellent undergraduate and graduate programs, the University pursues a progressive agenda for global study and understanding across all disciplines.

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.