Richard Jacobs is director of student accounts at Flagler College in St. Augustine, Fla., which uses several of Higher One's payment management solutions. As a member of the Higher One Product Steering Committee, Mr. Jacobs has been influential in guiding the development of several of the company's products.
What’s behind your interest in electronic transactions and disbursements?
I want to move as far as possible into this world because it is what students are used to. They know technology. They do not want to go to offices to fill out paper forms.
The U.S. Department of Education recently issued rules designed to encourage colleges and universities to disburse student refunds electronically. Higher One?s Casey M. McGuane, senior vice president for client operations, provides answers to frequently asked questions about those new regulations.
Electronic payments are certainly not new. In fact, colleges and universities have been using electronic systems for payroll and vendor payments and other purposes for years. But one area that has lagged behind is student refunds.
If you are considering streamlining refund delivery, enhancing student services and reducing expenses, now is the time to act because the U.S. Department of Education has validated and encouraged the use of bank debit cards for refund delivery.
Having grown up in a world of ATMs, debit cards and online banking, students at the University of Louisville wanted a better way to receive financial aid and other types of refunds. Receiving paper checks through the mail was slow, inconvenient and unreliable.