California Community Colleges Curbing Financial Aid Fraud

New data shows that California community colleges have made progress in combating fraudulent students who scam the campuses for financial aid dollars, CalMatters reported.

For years, the system has wrestled with bots and ghost students, scammers who pose as students, enroll online and disappear with financial aid money.

Between January and March 2025, ghost students made off with almost $5.6 million in federal student aid and over $900,000 in state aid. But monthly reports show the system has stemmed the scams significantly: This spring, colleges lost about $1.5 million in federal student aid and about $330,000 in state aid to fraud, CalMatters found.

The California Community Colleges system has faced scrutiny from federal and state lawmakers over the issue. Republicans in Congress called for a federal investigation into the financial aid scams last year, and state lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans, urged a state audit.

The system has since upped its vetting processes and the chancellor’s office launched a new ID verification policy for applicants last year, which is optional for now but will become mandatory in July. About half of students have gone through the ID verification process as of this month.

College leaders are proud of the reduction in fraud. But “the ultimate goal for our system is zero,” Chris Ferguson, the system’s executive vice chancellor of finance and strategic initiatives, told CalMatters.