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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Guide Weather Subscribe Contact Us January 11, 2005 Higher One cards become reality By Jennifer Squires Ashland Daily Tidings Higher One has arrived at Southern Oregon University. After educational forums about the new student ID card and petitions to renege on the five-year agreement with Connecticut-based Higher One, SOU students were issued the ID cards by mail in December and began using them to check out library books, attend school functions and, for those students who chose to open a Higher One account, as a debit card receive their financial aid. Student Brandy Hille uses her new Southern Oregon University identification card Friday to check out a library book from Tim Allen. Denise Baratta | Ashland Daily Tidings "It seems to be running very, very well," said Craig Morris, the director of business services at SOU. The lines to help students activate the cards "are virtually nonexistent now. I have not heard any complaints." However, a group of students remains opposed to the company-produced student ID cards that double as debit cards for financial aid. "They're just students who are concerned, that don't really want to let this slide, as I think we're supposed to," said SOU senior Steve Ryan. "We're supposed to get over it and it'll go away." The One Cards contain the MasterCard logo, though they can only be used as debit cards if students choose to activate a debit account. Students can still receive their financial aid via a paper check or through an electronic deposit to a private bank account. The new ID cards are not credit cards and students will not be extended credit through Higher One. A week into the program, the breakdown of how many students chose the check, direct deposit and the debit account is not available. "I just activated it (the card) and then did direct deposit," said Joshua Berger, a junior physics major who said he skipped the debit card-option because he has a checking account with a private bank. "The thing I don't like about it is, if you don't read very carefully on the Web site, you'll end up with a [Higher One] checking account." Complaints about the Higher One Web site and lag time in receiving paper checks top the list of student issues with the One Card right now, according to Ryan. "I know people who still haven't gotten their financial aid checks who did activate the card and ask for a paper check and now their rent is late," said Ryan, who is not using his One Card yet. He picked up a paper check from the Business Services office, a method to receive financial aid that will not longer be offered after this term. The student group fighting Higher One on campus, which totaled about 15 students at its last meeting, plans to reach out to students at other Oregon University System campuses to educate them about Higher One before those schools enter into contracts with the company. The administration of Oregon Institute of Technology has been considering an agreement with Higher One and Portland State University students also began using the One Card this month. "Personally, I see one of the major ways to take action, to take direct action regarding this issue is by alerting students on other campuses about some of the experiences the people on this campus and PSU's campus are having," said Ryan. An on-going transition Although Higher One has been shouldered with the responsibility of financial aid disbursement, the shift to the new student ID cards will not be complete until fall. Students who use their ID cards to pay for meals in Cascade Dining Hall and in the Stevenson Union will continue to pay for food with the old IDs because the food service card system needs to be upgraded to work with the One Cards. The system overhaul will happen over the summer and, beginning in the fall, the One Card will be the only ID students need on campus. The university plans to pay for the upgrade, which requires all-new machines, with the Higher One profit-sharing program. Morris estimates the profit-sharing, a term of the agreement SOU administration signed with Higher One officials last year, to a be a "conservative" net gain of $30,000 to $40,000 a year. "It's part of the share of how many accounts get open and how much money gets exchanged," said Morris, explaining how the university's percentage of the Higher One profits is derived. All financial aid disbursements made to Higher One accounts are free. However, the university - not students - is charged 10 cents per direct deposit to a private bank and $5 per paper check mailed out. According to Morris, the university will not encourage students to open Higher One accounts even though the school makes money from those transactions and must pay for the other two methods of financial aid disbursement. "The university's not taking a position that students should [open accounts]," Morris said. "We're not taking that position at all." 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