HIGHER ONE HOLDINGS, INC 
By DECATUR, Ga.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 12, 2013-- Higher One and Georgia Perimeter College today announced a partnership with EverFi, Inc., the nation's leading education technology company, to bring critical financial education to Georgia Perimeter students at no cost to the institution. Transit - Financial Wellness™ is an interactive, web-based financial management program designed to empower students with the skills to understand their finances and successfully transition into and out of the college experience.
The initiative, which is being offered to more than 21,000 Georgia Perimeter College students across five campus locations and through the online degree program, stems from recent research indicating that effective financial education must start early in students' lives. In February 2013, Higher One and EverFi released Money Matters on Campus, a survey of 40,000 first-year college students' financial attitudes and behaviors. It found that nearly 80 percent of college students frequently worry about debt and are experiencing debt-related stress in their daily lives.
"Financial pressures are one of the top three reasons that students drop out of college," said Mary Johnson, Financial Literacy and Student Aid Policy Director at Higher One. "Higher One is committed to furthering student success through tools that assist in money management, academic success and degree completion."
Though many traditional financial education programs are reactionary and taken closer to graduation, Money Matters on Campus makes a strong case for infusing programs with attitudinal and behavioral components early on to help students increase their ability to make sound financial decisions during college. With a large population of Georgia Perimeter's students pursuing degrees through mostly online coursework, Transit's web-based format allows for easy accessibility.
"As funding declines, institutions are being asked to solve this problem with limited resources and grappling to find the tools to provide timely, relevant financial education to students as they transition into and out of school," said Carole Jones, Default Prevention Coordinator in the office of Student Financial Services at Georgia Perimeter College. "Our goal is to maximize students' success from their first year to graduation and beyond, and we are proud to offer this program to all students, not just those with student loans."
Transit is web-based and tablet friendly, providing students with a self-paced, interactive experience that can be accessed and revisited at any point. Six interactive modules cover a range of financial scenarios and topics, including paying for school, managing personal expenses and planning for post-graduation decisions. Each student benefits from a customized and adaptive action plan that provides personalized feedback based on his or her current financial situation, including level of student loan debt, credit card usage and other self-reported
