Higher One Expands, Again

What can you buy for $47.25 million?

If you’re New Haven tech powerhouse Higher One, that much money will get you an existing company with 60 employees and several hundred clients.

Higher One got all that when it bought Sallie Mae Campus Solutions on Tuesday. It purchased the company and its assets outright in an ​“all-cash transaction valued at approximately $47.25 million,” the company reported.

It’s the second acquisition in less than a year by Higher One, a fast-growing Science Park-based New Haven-bred company that symbolizes the city’s and state’s bet on tech as an engine of urban job creation.

Campus Solutions, a division of student loan company Sallie Mae, offers similar services as Higher One: Helping college and universities process financial transactions.

Specifically, Campus Solutions helps schools administer tuition payment plans, helps schools accept electronic payments, and helps disburse financial aid, according to Miles Lasater, president of Higher One.

“Those are three product lines that Higher One already has products and experience in,” Lasater said. ​“By combining our organizations, we’re excited to grow and increase our sales and bring expertise in from Campus Solutions.”

“At the end of Q1 we served universities representing 11 million students,” Lasater said. ​“After this deal, the total number of students is a little over 13 million.” The deal expands Higher One from 1,300 to about 1,600 campuses, he said. ​“It’s a nice healthy growth.”

Higher One had about 650 employees before the deal, about 225 in New Haven. The deal adds about 60 more employees from Campus Solutions, he said. Most of those people work out of an office in Newton, Mass.

The value of the deal for us, we hope, is continued growth in the company,” Lasater said. ​“Which will drive hiring as well.”

Lasater said current Campus Solutions clients will continue to use their products for now. ​“The ultimate objective is to move clients on to existing Higher One products.”