Nelnet Campus Commerce Surpasses $602 Million in Title IV Refunds in 2025
In 2025, Nelnet Campus Commerce, a recognized leader in payment technology for higher education, reached a significant milestone by processing over $602 million in Title IV refunds. This accomplishment not only underscores the robust capabilities of their refund solutions but also highlights their commitment to enhancing transparency and efficiency within the student payment experience.
With a staggering 230,000 automated clearing house (ACH) refunds processed, along with more than 60,000 paper check refunds totaling nearly $90 million, Nelnet is setting a new standard in how educational institutions handle financial disbursements. The company’s efforts are part of a larger multi-year initiative known as Project Horizon, designed to modernize their payment technology and improve both user experience for students and operational efficiencies for institutions.
Streamlining Student Refund Processes
The complexities involved in processing student refunds often leave institutions overloaded with inquiries from students about the status of their payments. Brittany Hubbard, the director of product strategy at Nelnet Campus Commerce, explains that traditional refund processes can be cumbersome and time-consuming. Many institutions struggle with keeping students informed about their refunds, leading to a barrage of calls to bursar’s offices asking, "Where's my money?"
Nelnet Refunds addresses these issues by automating the refund process, providing institutions with a means to manage disbursements effectively while offering students a variety of options to receive their funds. The platform allows students to check the status of their disbursements any time via an intuitive online portal, significantly reducing the volume of inquiries directed towards administrative offices.
Cassandra Nash, the student accounts and cashiering manager at Palomer College, shared her positive experience, stating, "We've used Nelnet Refunds for the past six months now, and I cannot imagine going back to the manual process we used before. We're finally able to offer our students direct deposit, and it has significantly simplified the refund process for our staff."
The Vision Behind Project Horizon
Project Horizon is not just about implementing effective technology, but rather revolves around creating a holistic approach to transforming the payment experience in higher education. The initiative emphasizes informed innovation and aims to build partnerships with clients, facilitating solutions that tackle complex processes in a straightforward manner. Jackie Strohbehn, the president of Nelnet Campus Commerce, elaborated that the initiative aims to deliver outcomes that align with the operational realities of today’s higher education institutions while also preparing them for the challenges of the future.
Anchored by key pillars of engagement, product, and support, Project Horizon aspires to offer solutions thoughtfully designed by keeping the feedback and needs of clients at the forefront. The significant achievement of processing nearly 300,000 refunds this year is a testament to Nelnet’s commitment to responsive innovation driven by client feedback.
Strohbehn expressed pride in the partnership with educational institutions, stating, "We are proud to have supported our higher education partners by efficiently processing nearly 300,000 total refunds this year. Incremental innovations based on customer feedback can lead to better campus payment experiences, and these figures confirm that. However, we view this merely as the beginning of the progress we aim to accomplish through Project Horizon."
About Nelnet Campus Commerce
Nelnet Campus Commerce, traded under the NYSE number NNI, provides versatile payment solutions to nearly 1,000 higher education institutions and serves roughly 8 million students throughout the United States. Leveraging cutting-edge technology, Nelnet enables seamless payment experiences encompassing a wide range of services from payment processing and disbursements to tuition payment plans and online storefronts. With PCI Level 1 validation, Nelnet Campus Commerce integrates well with all major enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, simplifying the payment landscape for educational institutions.