The $1.7 billion, 155,000-member FAIRWINDS Credit Unionin Orlando has been tabbed as the official student banking servicesprovider for the University of Central Florida.

FAIRWINDS said it has been the official credit union partner forthe UCF Alumni Association since 2005 and has the naming rights tothe FAIRWINDS UCF Alumni Center at the school, which has nearly60,000 students.

The credit union said its “extensive student-centered productsand services, unique perspective of being a local communitypartner, and financial strength” were the reason it emerged as thewinner in the bidding process.

FAIRWINDS will offer students, faculty, and staff theconvenience of linking their UCF ID card to a FAIRWINDSchecking account with a PIN that will allow the card to be used onand off campus at thousands of retail and ATM locations.

“It is an honor to support the students, faculty, and staff ontheir journey toward financial independence, responsibility, andultimately financial freedom,” said Larry Tobin, FAIRWINDS president/CEO and a UCF alum.

“During the course of the student banking conversations,it quickly became clear that FAIRWINDS was seeking to bemore than a business partner to the university,” said Curt Sawyer,associate vice president for administration and finance at UCF.“They truly recognized they would be investing in the very studentswho are the future leaders of our community. Otherwisestated, the higher the quality of education, the stronger thecommunity becomes. This visionary thinking was quite simply a verycompelling value-proposition for UCF.“