Higher One Partners with EverFi to Enhance Financial Literacy Among College Students

NEW HAVEN, Conn., March 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Higher One, the technology and financial services company focused exclusively on the higher education, announces its partnership with EverFi, an online financial education company, to better educate college students about financial responsibility.

Financial Intelligence is a web-based financial literacy program that allows higher education institutions to help their students become financially literate in a way that is resource-effective, engaging for students, and rooted in high-quality content. Financial Intelligence is a turnkey solution that Higher One offers to colleges and universities to educate students on important financial matters that will prepare them for life post-graduation.  

Higher One incorporates financial literacy into its student services by offering unique features that help students actively learn money management skills. These features include budgeting tools and mobile alerts, as well as clear explanations of banking terms.

Following the recent financial crisis, Higher One determined it should add a new, more comprehensive service to better educate the student community.

"We are in a unique position in that we provide services to higher education institutions with an aggregate student population of over 4 million students. We strive to give students the appropriate knowledge and resources to help them make better financial decisions," stated Dean Hatton, CEO of Higher One.

Because of the growing need for financial education resources at institutions, Higher One has hired a financial expert who will focus on coordinating Higher One's financial literacy efforts, promoting the importance of financial education, assisting colleges and universities with finding grant opportunities to expand financial education programs and acting as consumer advocate for students on Higher One's business processes.

"Now more than ever students need tools to help them manage their money, avoid unnecessary debt and make smart financial choices.  While there are many resources available to assist students, having an interactive program that keeps them engaged is key," stated Mary Johnson, Financial Literacy and Consumer Advocacy Program Manager from Higher One.

Higher One felt the next step in its effort improve students' financial literacy was to offer an online educational program. The interactive course teaches students realistic financial concepts through a game-based approach that includes new media and web technologies, such as 3-D gaming, animations, simulations, videos, humorous hosts and Twitter-like applications. The EverFi platform currently powers programs for leading foundations, corporations, school districts, in universities across the United States.  

"Today's students want to be involved hands-on with their education; and therefore, we are always looking for new ways to capture their attention and get them immersed into learning. We were looking for a way to teach students through electronic channels," explained Kristy Vienne, Director, Bearkat One Card & Student Money Management Center at Sam Houston State University. "When we heard that our long-standing partner in financial disbursements, Higher One, was developing a product to teach financial literacy, we were eager to view the product. We knew the product would be developed for the college student in mind and would be a perfect fit for our audience."

The flexible learning path allows students to easily navigate topics such as saving and budgeting money, understanding credit cards and managing debt, taxes and insurance, managing loans to finance education, and consumer fraud and protection. In order to progress through each module, students must resolve the issues at hand by making appropriate choices.

About Higher One

Founded in 2000, Higher One is the leading company focused on helping college business offices manage operations and provide enhanced service to students. Through a full array of services from refunds, payments, electronic billing, payment plans and more, Higher One works closely with colleges and universities to ensure students receive financial aid refunds quickly, can pay tuition and bills online, make on-campus and community purchases, and learn the basics of financial management.

Higher One provides its services to distinguished public and private higher education institutions throughout the country that have a total enrollment of more than 4 million students. More information about Higher One can be found at HigherOne.com.

SOURCE Higher One