San Bernardino Community College District to Offer Students Immediate, Unencumbered Access to Financial Aid Funds With BlackboardPay™
San Bernardino, CA (PRWEB) January 28, 2014 -- San Bernardino Community College District (SBCCD) has selected Blackboard to automate the delivery of financial aid, student payroll, and other forms of student credit balances. By using BlackboardPay™, SBCCD expects to save hundreds of thousands of dollars per year through increased administrative speed and efficiency, while offering all students a secure and reliable way to manage their money.
Chancellor Bruce Baron said, “This service will allow us to better serve students in a safe, efficient, effective manner. Blackboard is a reputable, experienced company and we look forward to implementing the BlackboardPay program will allow us to better serve students in a safe and effective manner.”
“Rapid, accurate funds disbursement to thousands of students each semester is an extremely challenging process and, up until now, a very costly one for colleges and students as well,” said John Muskavitch, director of financial aid for SBCCD’s Crafton Hills College. “In our research, we found there is no other system like BlackboardPay. Our campuses will eliminate the expense of processing checks and issuing short-term loans, and students will receive safe and immediate access to their funds. It’s a win-win for everyone.”
Designed to ensure that every student – including international and California AB540 students – can participate, BlackboardPay allows students to set up prepaid debit accounts or use their own existing bank account into which financial aid and student payroll funds are automatically delivered. BlackboardPay offers students immediate access to their financial aid and work-study funds while reducing schools’ expenses associated with distributing paper checks.
The prepaid account helps protect students from debt exposure, overdraft fees, or a PIN debit fee. Funds are available on the day they are disbursed and held in FDIC-insured accounts. Students can use the prepaid account to make purchases at more than 8 million Discover® merchant locations nationwide, or make surcharge-free withdrawals at any of the 55,000 Allpoint® Network ATMs, America’s largest surcharge-free ATM network. Students can also cash checks for free at thousands of MoneyNetwork® locations, including Walmart stores. Cardholders are protected by Discover’s zero-liability policy.
“The entire premise of the BlackboardPay program is to relieve students of the onerous fees that are often associated with other financial aid disbursement options or traditional bank accounts,” said David Marr, senior vice president of Blackboard Transact. “The feedback that we routinely receive from our BlackboardPay clients is that their students appreciate not only the speed and ease of receiving their financial aid disbursements, but also the many options they have for accessing those funds without any type of fees being assessed.”
“When I tell students that next year we’ll have a system that will give them secure, immediate access to their funds, without fees, and without having to stand in line at the Bursar’s Office, they say, ‘Sign me up!’ BlackboardPay is absolutely the best system to meet the needs of San Bernardino and all other California Community College Districts,” said Muskavitch.
For more information about BlackboardPay please visit: https://www.blackboard.com/platforms/transact/products/financial-services/blackboardpay.aspx.
About San Bernardino Community College District
The San Bernardino Community College District (SBCCD) is one of 72 community college districts within the California Community College system, the largest educational system in the world, which encompasses 112 community colleges. The SBCCD has an 86-year history of providing its community and students with quality and affordable vocational certificates, associate’s degrees, and preparation for transfer to a four-year college or university through San Bernardino Valley College (SBVC) and Crafton Hills College (CHC). In addition, the Economic Development and Corporate Training Division (EDCT) and KVCR TV-FM provide professional development and cultural and educational information to the community at large.
Leslie Eicher, Eicher Communications Inc., http://www.eichercommunications.com, +1 (314) 965-1776, [email protected]
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