<p>I read through the letter that came with it twice. It still doesn’t make any sense. Then I talked to two students that were helping with orientation. “Oh, you need that card for all your tuition refunds or scholarships that you don’t use. Everyone has to have one.” I see no reason why we’d be rufunded any scholarship money or tuition refunds. It appears that several universities are using this card now. We’ve begun getting robo-calls telling us to activate the card. Does my student really need to activate it?</p>
<p>We did not activate. My daughter received her refund via a check. It just took longer.</p>
<p>Thanks, zeebamom. That seems easy enough. Can I ask how all these kids are getting refunds of scholarship money?</p>
<p>Welcome to the wave of the future! Our state gives state income tax refunds with a debit card…no thank you! We elected to reduce our state tax deduction so we will have to pay instead of getting a refund.</p>
<p>The last two consumer rebates we got were also with debit cards. </p>
<p>I think issuing checks is going the way of the dinosaur.</p>
<p>My school uses it for the honors program books scholarship, and the scholarships that are designated for long commute students to cover travel expenses. When I went to Sam Houston State U the HigherOne card worked as your student id and had your meals account on it.</p>
<p>If it doesn’t have a photo of your student on it and they have been given a separate student id/meals card I would not worry about it.</p>
<p>They are financial aid refunds. If the financial aid (including federal loans) exceeds the school’s direct costs, the excess is refunded to the student. My kids both lived off campus so did not have room and board charged by the school and their FA exceeded tuition/fees. They would use their refund checks to pay for their books, apartments, and food.</p>
<p>My son’s school switched to the higher one card his last year. His school did **not **give the option of receiving a check, the card was the only option. he had a bank account and did not want the money on a debit card. He had to go into the higher one account and have the money deposited from higher one into his bank account. Most kids did not realize they could do that and the card people did not make it very easy to do.</p>
<p>It may be a sign of the future. I know of one fast food franchise owner who is switching to debit cards for payroll.</p>
<p>My university gives the option of depositing the refund to a bank account or sending a physical check. Many students on campus open an account to keep thir refunds towards school expenses only. </p>
<p>I did not choose to have it deposited to a bank. I did not open account either. Just waited for the check, cashed it, and it’s sitting pretty in my bank account.</p>
<p>My son’s school had always issued checks. Then they changed to the higher one card and did not give the students the option of receiving a check.</p>
<p>My daughter’s school either direct deposited or issued a check. She went with a check because the small print for the DD had a thing about them being able to take money out of the account if they overpaid her. She would always plan to repay if they did inadvertently overpay her, but did not want to have money taken out when she was unaware of it.</p>
<p>Several years ago S2’s cc switched to the debit card. Getting it deposited to a bank account was an option, but not an easy one to find in the literature. They also repeated many times that it would take <em>longer</em> and really pushed the debit cards on the kids. I wasn’t too keen on the propaganda push. It took a few days longer to reach the bank account.</p>
<p>That’s what we found - that it was nit easy to find how do get the money deposited to the bank. I’m not sure my son would have figured it out, but I flew my helicopter in on that occasion.</p>
<p>^^Were you just reading the lice thread too? haha</p>
<p>The college that I take occasional classes at does not give me any other option for refunds.
I thought the whole thing was ridiculous. I do not need another bank account. However when I dropped a class and wanted my money back I broke down and signed up only for the option that moves the refund into my bank account. I would hold onto the info and if you figure out you need a refund at some point and they don’t give you another option you could sign up then.</p>