Monroe College, with campuses in New Rochelle and the Bronx in New York and St. Lucia in the Caribbean, has tapped Higher One to issue refunds electronically to its students. This marks the ninth higher education institution in New York to sign up with the New Haven, Conn. financial services provider.

“Monroe was looking for a new way to process refunds to help eliminate the lines in the bursar’s office,” said Monroe’s Daniel Sharon, director of Business Services.

Like all schools serviced by Higher One, students have multiple ways to receive refunds from the College, including two electronic options: direct deposit to the OneAccount, a no minimum balance, no monthly fee, FDIC-Insured checking account provided by Higher One, or an ACH transfer to a bank account of the student’s choice. This also means Monroe can reduce the number of paper check refunds it normally issues.

“This will mean faster refunds for our students,” said Sharon, “and shorter lines in the bursar’s office so that we can assist with real questions. We expect a large majority of students to sign up to have their refunds deposited directly into the OneAccount.”

When it comes time for the College to distribute a refund, Monroe simply sends Higher One a list of student names and refund amounts along with a wire for the total amount of the disbursement.