Sam Houston State’s Frank Parker, interim vice president of student services, has joined Higher One’s Product Steering Committee, designed to enhance communications with Higher One’s clients and to brainstorm new features universities want from the financial services company.

Higher One Client Faculty Member Joins Committee to Share Ideas, Best Practices

NEW HAVEN, CT – Higher One, a financial services company that provides refund management and banking services to higher education institutions, announced the addition of Frank Parker from Sam Houston State University (SHSU) to the Higher One Product Steering Committee. Higher One’s program at SHSU continues to be a great success with four out of five students at the school currently utilizing their OneAccount. SHSU has always played a vital role on the Committee and Parker’s addition will further strengthen this relationship and the cohesiveness of the Higher One Product Steering Committee.

The Product Steering Committee was created to enhance communications with and amongst Higher One college and university clients and to discuss the existing features and additions that member universities would like to see. In addition to Parker, the Committee consists of representatives from four additional Higher One schools, as well as Higher One senior executives.

“We are excited to announce that Frank is joining the Higher One Product Steering Committee. He is very tuned in to the SHSU campus and student body and we are confident that he will provide valuable insight,” said Dean Hatton, President and CEO, Higher One. “The Committee is one avenue in which our clients can make the fullest use of our services for the benefit of all clients, cardholders, accountholders, parents, and communities.”

The Product Steering Committee receives information and direct feedback from Users Group meetings and communications. This committee plays an important ongoing role in discussions about Higher One service enhancements and new developments.

The Committee’s members includes Miles Lasater, Chief Operating Officer, Higher One; Casey McGuane, VP of University Operations, Higher One; Joseph Krier, Director, Budget and Technical Services, University of Wisconsin - Stout; Dr. Karen Kirtley, AVP of Administration, Marshall University; Mary Lieto, Executive Director and Chief of Staff, Pace University; Denise Wendler, Director of Business Services, Portland State University; and the Committee’s newest member, Frank Parker, Interim VP of Student Services, Sam Houston State University.

Higher One has been providing Refund Management and banking services to colleges and universities, and their students, across the US since 2002. Higher One’s program at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, TX generated $240,000 in net cost avoidance in the first semester alone, and after subtracting the initial costs of establishing a card office - produced about $400,000 in gross cost avoidance for the year. The University of West Georgia and Kennesaw State University have both documented substantial, measurable impacts on the institutional operations and were presented with the “2004 Best Practices Award” for their implementation of Higher One’s Refund Management service by the State University System of Georgia Board of Regents.

33 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 almost a billion dollars through more than half a million individual payments.

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 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 almost 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 Horizon Capital Bank.