UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON-DOWNTOWN SIGNS ON TO USE HIGHER ONE'S ONEDISBURSE<sup>®</sup> 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.

Houston, Texas - September, 2006 University of Houston-Downtown (UH-D), 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. UH-D will be using Higher One's OneDisburse^® Refund Management and is one of more than 60 schools sign on with Higher One since September 2002.

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 really excited about offering the HigherOne Card option to our students," said Ed Apodaca, VP for Student Affairs and Enrollment Services. "We feel that the new Gator Card will help us improve the quality and timeliness of services to students. We are looking forward to using the card to provide new links between the various auxiliary services and our day-to-day functions."

Prior to Higher One, UH-D handled the process internally to produce paper checks and mail them to students. UH-D officials expressed frustration with this slow and costly method and plan to implement Higher One's OneDisburse ID Refund Management. Higher One's program will help the university reduce administrative costs, allocate time back to its staff, and streamline business processes. With its diverse student body, UH-D is a very student service oriented campus and is looking to increase student choice and improve the student experience with Higher One.

"UH-Downtown is looking forward to enhancing the level of service provided to our students through the introduction of the Higher One Card program," said David Bradley, VP for Administration and Finance. "Reducing the turnaround time on student refunds will greatly benefit our students, and make life considerably better for the front-line staff in our Student Accounting and Financial Aid offices. I believe that as we expand functionality to include food/vending services, parking and access control, our students, faculty, and staff will come to wonder how we ever operated without this level of technology."

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 UH-D Debit MasterCard can be used worldwide everywhere MasterCard is accepted. Higher One's OneDisburse Refund Management is more than just payments; it offers students more choice and convenience while the school sees a direct cost and time savings.

Higher One's OneDisburse Refund Management 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 school's IT systems, and a unique revenue-sharing benefit for UH-D. 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 UH-D 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 the rest of our Higher Education Clients."

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.

About University of Houston-Downtown
UH-Downtown is a public university, offering a wide variety of undergraduate degrees, as well as graduate programs in criminal justice, professional writing, security management and teaching. One of four distinct universities in the UH System, UHD is nationally recognized for its student diversity, academic opportunity, wireless environment and productive community partnerships. At UHD, the emphasis is on excellence in teaching and student success.

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.

UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON-DOWNTOWN SIGNS ON TO USE HIGHER ONE'S ONEDISBURSE® Refund Management TO IMPROVE STUDENT SERVICES AND REDUCE COSTS

UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON-DOWNTOWN SIGNS ON TO USE HIGHER ONE'S ONEDISBURSE^® Refund Management TO IMPROVE STUDENT SERVICES AND REDUCE COSTS