2 Companies Team Up To Streamline International Student Payments

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 11/05/10

Two companies are working together to give institutions an easier way to collect tuition and other payments from international students studying in the United States. Higher One Payments, which offers a student ID card blended with debit card capabilities, and Travelex Global Business Payments, which sells applications for handling international payments and foreign exchange, have teamed up to add features to Higher One's CashNet electronic payment service. Higher One acquired CashNet, a higher ed payment processing company, in November 2009.

Dealing with international payments has presented challenges to colleges and universities, according to Higher One. As the company explained in a statement, "Often a school would receive a large lump sum wire and then be forced to devote valuable staff time to tracking the funds in order to determine where the payment should be applied. Wires are also time-consuming and costly for students, and exchange rates are variable and fluctuating."

The new offering from Higher One and Travelex, scheduled for release in early 2011, is expected to be more streamlined, cost less than traditional international payment processing, and, interestingly, lock in a competitive exchange rate.

"Based on client feedback, we know that international payments are an area that needs improvement," said Dean Hatton, Higher One's CEO. "The Higher One-Travelex partnership addresses the concerns of a more global student culture and will offer easier backend processing for school administrators."

The topic of accepting international payments through Travelex is part of the agenda for Higher One's upcoming user group conference, taking place Nov. 14 through 19, 2010 in Napa, CA.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

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