The De Anza College financial aid office provides its students with a new disbursement refund program designed for faster refund delivery. Using the FHDA Money Card, a debit card, financial aid recipients can take advantage of faster refunds and online banking service.

In February, the Foothill-De Anza Community College District partnered with the online bank. Higher One offers services including the OneAccount, an FDIC Insured checking account, and the OneCard, a Debit MasterCard.

“Going with Higher One, we were allowed to migrate to a new system and open some doors for some other improvements,” Director of De Anza Financial Aid Cindy Castillo said.
Financial aid students receive an FHDA Money Card from Higher One, and can use the card after activating it and creating a checking account through FHDAMoneyCard.com.
In the old financial aid system, recipients had only two options for disbursement: a paper check and a direct deposit to their bank account. This made the recipient have o wait several business days to receive funds.

A third option, the FHDA Money Card, was added to make the refund process more efficient.

“The students can get their refund amount into their bank account immediately instead of waiting two or three extra days,” Castillo said.

The financial aid office has advertised the program to recipients through posters and fliers.  So far, 2,700 cards have been produced, 1,300 students activated the card, and 2,400 students opened a Higher One bank account. The financial aid department is now in the process of installing Higher One ATM’s at both De Anza and Foothill. This would allow the holders of the card to withdraw cash without having to pay the extra fee, according to Castillo.

Financial Aid office is located in the lower level of Campus Center. They can be reached at 408-864-8718 for more information.