The California Community College system is grappling with a surge in fraudulent applications and enrollments, particularly ghost students who enroll, access financial aid, and then vanish. This issue has intensified since the COVID-19 pandemic, with 31.4% of applications reported as fraudulent. Significant losses of about $10 million in federal aid have been incurred over the past year alone. In response, system leaders proposed a nominal fee for defensive measures, including identity verification and AI tools. Although the board hesitated on the fee, they approved exploring additional security measures for protecting against fraud.
Over the past year alone, the system found 31.4 percent of applications were fraudulent, resulting in about $10 million in stolen federal financial aid.
System administrators say the issue arose in the last five years, with fraudsters eager to access federal aid made available to students.
#california-community-colleges #fraudulent-applications #financial-aid #ai-tools #identity-verification
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