Waycross College to Distribute Refunds to Students More Quickly with Help of Higher One's OneDisburse Refund Management

Waycross Becomes 19th Georgia School to Work with Higher One

New Haven, CT – October 12, 2007 - Higher One, a financial services company focused exclusively on higher education, announced today that Waycross College, located in Waycross, Georgia, has elected to become the 88th institution of higher learning to deliver the college's refunds to students through OneDisburse Refund Management.

Waycross, like many schools, had a process of issuing paper check refunds to students. The method was time intensive for the college staff and expensive for the school.

University System of Georgia had signed a contract with Higher One in March of 2006 enabling schools within the system to go through a bid process. The system then signed an extension in June of 2007. 16 schools within the University System of Georgia have decided to buy off of this contract so that they can take advantage of the service Higher One offers.

The fact that other schools within the system had begun offering OneDisburse Refund Management to their students and had experienced success was a motivating factor in the decision making process for the college, according to Bill Deason, VP for Business Affairs at Waycross College.

This was not the only reason Waycross decided to move forward on a deal with the company.

"We considered two other options and [Higher One's] solution seems to be the easiest to implement and maintain," Deason explained.

OneDisburse Refund Management provides students with a choice between three different ways to receive their refunds from the college: direct deposit to the OneAccount, Higher One's FDIC-insured checking account tied to a Debit MasterCard, an ACH sent to the student's third party bank, or a paper check sent to the students' address on file.

"Our administration and student leaders have reviewed the program and are excited to be able to offer and to receive options for receiving financial aid and refund disbursements," said Deason.

With two electronic options of receiving payments, Waycross anticipates streamlining the refund disbursement process.

"We want to allow students to have funds transferred directly to their existing checking account or to an ATM card that can be used in numerous locations and to make our student funds disbursement process more efficient and save staff time," said Deason.

The other 15 University System of Georgia schools that have decided to distribute refunds through Higher One have experienced an average electronic distribution rate of 86%, meaning that students chose one of the two electronic means of receiving their payments from the school.

Waycross will begin issuing refunds through OneDisburse refund management in January of 2008.

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.

About Waycross College

Since 1976 Waycross College, a two-year unit of the University System of Georgia, has existed to provide programs of higher education for citizens of the immediate and surrounding communities. The College's philosophy is to provide opportunities for those who need special preparation for regular college-level courses, while giving well-prepared students immediate access to transfer courses that can be applied toward advanced study appropriate to their academic goals.

Waycross College is located on South Georgia Parkway at Augusta Avenue in Ware County, Georgia, within the city limits of Waycross. The campus is located on a tract of approximately 150 acres of beautifully wooded land which includes two small lakes, a par course, and an attractive, convenient area to be developed for recreational use, including an outdoor amphitheater and an outdoor classroom area.