Flagler College signs on to use Higher One’s refund management service
Florida-based Flagler College has signed on to use Higher One’s Refund Management Service to give its 2,500 students more refund choices and to allow them to receive their money quickly without having to stand in line or deal with paper checks.
Flagler College, St. Augustine, Fla., announced that it has 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 its students. Flagler will be using Higher One’s OneDisburse Refund Management Service. Flagler is the fifth school in Florida 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 a refund management program with an outside vendor helps the institution avoid IT and data security risks.
“We are very excited about implementing Higher One’s OneDisburse system,” said Kenneth S. Russom, Vice President of Business Services at Flagler College. “Under our current process, our students wait in line to pick up their paper checks, once the new process is implemented it will improve services, giving students a faster and more convenient way to access their refunds.”
Currently, Flagler issues paper checks to its 2,500 students and requires a manual refund process. Flagler plans to implement Higher One’s OneDisburse Non-ID Refund Management Service, which will help the college 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 Flagler Debit MasterCard can be used worldwide everywhere MasterCard is accepted.
Higher One’s OneDisburse Refund Management Service 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 solution available today and features no setup costs, minimum involvement with schools’ IT systems, and a unique revenue-sharing benefit for the college. 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 Flagler 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 Service 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.
Over forty 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.
About Flagler College
Flagler College is a co-educational, four-year public institution of higher education. The college is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award a Bachelor of Science in 20 majors and offers over 26 minors in liberal arts, business, and education. Flagler College is named after Henry M. Flagler and the campus’ major landmark, Hotel Ponce de Leon, is named after the famed explorer, reflecting Flagler’s commitment to preserving its architecturally and historically unique campus structures. The school’s location in St. Augustine is the nation’s oldest European settlement and its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean allows its students and faculty to appreciate the aesthetics of Northeast Florida.
About Higher One
Focused exclusively on higher education, Higher One provides refund management services to higher education institutions and banking services to members of their community through a card-based solution. Higher One’s integrated solution helps universities reduce administrative costs, streamline business processes, create new revenue streams, increase student customer service and strengthen the campus community. Higher One’s refund service, OneDisburse, provides students with more choices and better service for receiving financial refunds. Higher One also offers a suite of banking services called OneFinance, which includes the OneAccount, a no minimum balance, no monthly fee checking account, the OneCard, a Debit MasterCardr card for ATM withdrawals and purchases, and exclusive features such as “Send Money”, Easy Refund, and Campus AutoLoad for stored value programs. The OneFinance and OneDisburse solutions can be integrated with the institution’s ID card or provided through a separate “refund only” card.
To date, Higher One has disbursed more than a billion dollars in refunds for its college and university clients. More than 375,000 students, faculty, and staff at distinguished public and private institutions use Higher One’s services through their ID or refund card. For more information visit www.higherone.com. Banking services are provided through an agreement with Frost Bank, member FDIC.
