Higher One Financial Aid or Financial Pain

 In a previous post I wrote about how students were talking about being spammed.  I noticed on the Students Against Higher One Facebook page that some students complained about Higher One spamming them via email. Also in another post I wrote about how some of the decision being pushed by our Administration would make college more expensive for our students.
Here are a series of articles that make me wish I had helped students take a harder stand against the company that is operating on our campus. I found this article from New York Times and this article from Western Front and this article from Boston Globe and many more about the card company Higher One. This is the same company used at Rio Hondo College.
I remember a lively debates about this at both the Senate and PFC. Some faculty (lead by me) were uncomfortable about bringing in this company onto our campus because of the ATM fees. I feel strongly that these concerns were pushed aside by Administration assuring us that if students did not use their PIN they would not be charged, and a Higher One ATM would be installed at Rio Hondo for student to withdraw their cash without paying fees. I regret putting aside my skepticism of financial institutions.