With their contract with Higher One coming to an end, NIC is looking at other alternatives to replace the Higher One card.
ASNIC is leading the charge with their proposal on asking the college to look towards other options.
“We’ve heard a lot of complaints from students,” said Jeremy Gerhardt, an ASNIC senator, “I think it’s time that we take some action to direct the will of the students to fix the problem.”
Unfair fees is the serious issue that ASNIC has with the Higher One card. It also does not offer many other options to students.
“For instance, it’ll take three weeks for them to personally mail you a check if you choose not to go through the Higher One card, which we think is unfair because it basically forces a lot of people that don’t have a lot of money to acquire this card,” said Gerhardt.
Another complaint surrounds the fact that there is only one ATM available for the Higher One card on campus in Lee-Kildow hall. However, if a student needs to withdraw money after the hall has closed, they are forced to pay a fee.
According to Gerhardt, NIC and the College of Southern Idaho are the only colleges in Idaho that use Higher One.
The NIC business office is also joining the collaboration. ASNIC met with Chris Martin, the vice president for finance and business affairs, and the issue of the Higher One card was brought up during the meeting.
“We are early in the process and will be actively engaging students in the process as we have options to present,” said Martin.
ASNIC is planning on passing a resolution at their March meeting to formally state their opinion about Higher One.
Meanwhile, the business office is also pursuing other options to deliver a service similar to what the Higher One card does.
“Over the years I’ve heard from students pretty consistently that they’re not super excited about the Higher One card,” said Heather Erikson, assistant director of student development.
Erickson cited the amount of confusion about the card that she witnessed for the few years that she worked for the orientation program. Students usually received the card before orientation, so many didn’t know what it was or why they had received it. Thinking it was junk mail, some students even threw their card away
“The terms of use on there [Higher One card] are extremely long and the service for the card isn’t actually that good either, I can tell you that,” said Gerhardt.
According to Martin, the college is meeting with several local financial institutions to gauge their interest in working with the college to offer a refund solution to NIC students.
Erikson voiced the opinion that it would be great for NIC to take their business to local branches and banks.
“It would be great to work with one of our community partners and then we’re teaching students to not only invest in our community, but also have someone to help them with resources, financial guidance, that kind of stuff as well,” said Erikson.
The board of ASNIC and the business office are the only groups that are officially backing the new proposal in its early stages.
“Our primary goal is to ensure the service and convenience that our students have come to expect when it comes to receiving refunds,” said Martin
