A controversial program at the City Colleges of Chicago to put student loan refund money on pre-loaded debit cards now has enrolled about 6,300 students from all seven campuses.

The program started last fall at Kennedy-King College in Englewood. At the time, students complained they felt they had been forced to sign up for the debit cards to get their loan money. The cards, provided by JPMorgan Chase, carry high fees for withdrawing money, checking balances and talking with a bank teller.

While those fees remain, students from several campuses say they have the option of getting their money direct-deposited into their own bank accounts so they don’t have to deal with the debit cards.

“Just having the option and making the students aware and educating them that they do have that option, it’s huge, it’s the difference between night and day,” says Gerald Johnson, the president of Kennedy-King’s student government association.

Typically, federal student loans include an additional amount of money above the cost of tuition, known as a refund. Students can use that money for things like rent, groceries and gas.  

Traditionally, students received paper checks with that money. But the City Colleges had to combat problems with fraudulent and stolen checks. When the district switched all of its banking to JPMorgan Chase last year, it began the debit-card program.

The Chase cards for students differ from those available with standard Chase checking accounts.

While it’s usually free to get money from Chase’s 14,000 ATMs, City Colleges students using their Chase debit cards must pay $2 each time. Talking with a teller is $10, something that's free for all other Chase customers. Even checking account balances on the Chase cards costs $1.25.

“With the high fees, having to do the withdrawals and having it cost so much, getting the card is not even worth it,” says Wright College student senator Christopher Collier.

Christine Holevas, a spokeswoman for Chase, was unable to explain why the fees are so high.

“I can’t answer this question, I just don’t know,” she says.

The student governments at Wright and other campuses have done most of the work warning students about the cards and the high fees they carry.

“We’ve had seminars, we’ve had meetings with certain students,” Collier says. “We as a student government body have really put the word out.”

So far, he said, few students at Wright have complained about the fees on the cards since they know they can get their refund money other ways.

But Collier says it would still help if college administrators would visit each campus and clearly explain the cards, along with other options students have for getting their refund money. While officials have sent students plenty of e-mails, not everyone checks their City Colleges e-mail accounts regularly, Collier says.

“The whole issue we had upfront was there was not an option,” Johnson says. “It was, this is the process, this is how you guys have to get your money.”

That’s no longer the case, he says, but he estimates that fewer than 10 percent of Kennedy King students are using the debit cards, while many others are opting for direct bank deposits or paper checks.

Elsa Tullos, the district’s spokeswoman, says that across all seven campuses, about 6,300 students have signed up for the Chase debit cards this semester, while another 1,700 are getting their loan refunds direct-deposited. Because the spring semester registration period just ended, those numbers will likely change, Tullos says.

But when asked what kind of feedback the district was receiving from students, and how the numbers of students enrolled compared to the district's expectations, Tullos simply repeated the enrollment statistics.

“That’s the extent of our response at this time,” Tullos says.

Collier says while the cards are costly, he expects them to become the standard way for students to get their refunds.

“Pretty much by this time next year, everybody should be doing it,” he says.

Clarification: The Chase debit card program is not a student loan. It is one of several ways CCC students can access student loan funds. The headline of an earlier version of this article was not clear on that point.