MANATEE COMMUNITY COLLEGE SIGNS ON TO USE HIGHER ONE'S ONEDISBURSE REFUND MANAGEMENT SERVICE TO IMPROVE STUDENT SERVICES AND REDUCE COSTS

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

BRADENTON, FL, JUNE, 2006 - Manatee Community College (MCC) has announced that it has partnered with Higher One, a leading provider of customized financial services dedicated exclusively to the higher education market. MCC will be using the company's OneDisburse^® Refund Management Service to improve how refunds are disbursed to students. MCC is the 41st school to sign on with Higher One.

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

"At MCC, our priority is to provide students with convenience, choice and rapid response. Higher One will allow us to accomplish all three of these objectives while saving on administrative costs," said Dr. Carol Probstfeld, vice president, business and administrative services.

MCC currently writes and mails paper checks to its students. Implementation of the OneDisburse Non-ID Refund Management Service will give students the opportunity to use the OneAccount, a free FDIC insured checking account linked to their OneCard. If students choose to utilize this option, their MCC Debit MasterCard® can be used wherever MasterCard® is accepted worldwide.

The 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 college 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 college. Students may choose any of three options to receive financial aid and other refunds: direct deposit to the free OneAccount checking account, automatic check handling (ACH) for deposit into another bank checking account, or a paper check.

"We are happy to be providing MCC 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, Conn.-based Higher One has become the standard of service for American higher education institutions looking for ways to improve the student experience. Higher One handles the entire payment process and manages any associated exceptions or customer service needs. 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 made to students electronically. That growing trend was recently acknowledged by the Department of Education (ED). 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, and can provide it upon request.

Manatee Community College

Established in 1957 as the area's first college, Manatee Community College serves more than 9,000 full- and part-time credit students at two 100-acre campuses, MCC Bradenton and MCC Venice, and at the Center for Innovation and Technology at MCC Lakewood Ranch.

The fully accredited two-year college offers an associate in arts (A.A.) degree that transfers easily into a wide variety of baccalaureate programs at universities. Another 41 associate in applied science (A.A.S.), associate in science (A.S.) degrees and one-year certificate programs combine technical training with the advantages of a college education for graduates seeking quick entry into a rewarding career.

In addition, a Corporate and Community Development division offers noncredit classes for workforce training, professional growth and personal enrichment through workshops, seminars, online classes, and on-site training programs throughout its two-county service area.

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.