Improved service to students at the heart of Austin Community College decision to partner with Higher One to distribute refunds electronically

New Haven, CT – February 22, 2008 - Higher One, a financial services and payment company focused exclusively on higher education, is excited to announce it has reached an agreement with Austin Community College to distribute refunds to students faster. ACC is the 18th institution in Texas to partner with Higher One.

ACC’s decision to embrace electronic distribution of refunds comes as a result of frustrations with the traditional practice of distributing paper checks to students.

“Currently, all refunds and financial aid disbursements are handled in-house by ACC staff, and students can only receive their refunds and disbursements by a paper check mailed to the student,” explained Ben Ferrell, Vice President for Business Services. “Bad addresses, checks received late, and lost checks are common.”

The institution wanted to deliver this money to students faster so they would be able to put it towards books, school supplies and other important expenses typically encountered during the semester.

“Higher One was selected based on their business model that provides the most options at the least cost to both students and ACC,” stated Ferrell. “Higher One provides more disbursement options for students, speeds the receipt of financial aid refunds to students, eliminates in-house check writing, frees up staff to assist students better, handles Title IV Financial Aid disbursement compliance, and provides multiple outlets of support for both students and administrators.”

With Higher One’s OneDisburse Refund Management, students are given a choice on how they receive their refunds. These options include having refunds direct deposited into a no minimum balance, no monthly fee, FDIC-insured checking account provided by Higher One—the OneAccount. Students will have the ability to use the Debit MasterCard® tied to the account to purchase items anywhere MasterCard is accepted.

“It will be a big change for both students and the College, and I wanted to have direct input from the students on whether Higher One’s benefits were important to them,” said Ferrell. “They were very impressed and supportive of the speed and options they would now have with Higher One.”

ACC plans to have the new service ready to distribute the first refunds during the summer term.

About Austin Community College:
The Austin Community College district serves as the gateway to higher education and workforce training in Central Texas, enrolling more than 33,000 credit students each year. The college provides a pathway to associate degrees, university transfer, job training, lifelong learning, and access programs that prepare students for college. ACC is dedicated to the idea that college should be accessible to all who seek it.

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.