CheatGPT — California community colleges engage in a cyber battle with scammers who are stealing learning opportunities and millions of dollars in financial aid meant for legitimate students

One in three student applications is fake

Fake students are a big problem in California community colleges, and the problem is growing.

According to CalMatters, in 2021, the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office reported that 20% of applicants were likely fake. That jumped to 25% in 2024. Now, the state believes one in three student applications — 34% — is fake.

"Those are all the ones that are stopped,” John Hetts, executive vice chancellor for the data team at the chancellor’s office, told CalMatters.

Colleges report that the imposters have stolen millions in financial aid in the past few years; the scammers have siphoned off more than $10 million in federal funds and $3 million in state funds in the past 12 months alone.

While it's true that this is just a small share of the $1.7 billion in federal aid and $1.5 billion in state aid distributed to California's community colleges, it's still a lot of money lost to fraud.

Since 2022, officials have spent $150 million on cybersecurity to fight back against the growing scam. The chancellor's office even enlisted the help of tech companies. Individual schools have contracted with ID.Me to provide ID verification for enrollees.

Hetts said it’s an ongoing battle, as every time colleges update technologies to keep fraudsters out, the bad actors adapt with new techniques.

Hetts added that many students accepted at California's community colleges, including foster children and undocumented individuals, don't have much documentation, making the process of separating legitimate applicants from fraudsters even harder.

Invest in real estate without the headache of being a landlord

Imagine owning a portfolio of thousands of well-managed single family rentals or a collection of cutting-edge industrial warehouses. You can now gain access to a $1B portfolio of income-producing real estate assets designed to deliver long-term growth from the comforts of your couch.

The best part? You don’t have to be a millionaire and can start investing in minutes.

Learn More

How is this affecting students and teachers?

Federal and state funds are likely to continue to flow to the thieves, as real students who need financial aid and a good education are competing with bots for space.

Teachers are now forced to take on a policing role and root out fake students. They have to do it fast as it’s difficult to remove students after the first week of school.

Then there is a financial penalty for dropping students — even if they’re fake. Funding is pegged to enrollment.

“If they see I’m running a class that starts with 35 students and ends with 15, that looks terrible," said librarian Heather Dodge, who teaches an online research course at Berkeley City College.

Federal officials helped fight such fraud in the past, with the Department of Education opening an investigation in 2022 into a fraud ring using the identities of 57 individuals that stole $1.1 million in student aid over four years. However, community leaders already felt the federal government could do more, even before the cuts.

Unfortunately, leaders at these colleges warn that the Trump Administration's recent cuts to the Department of Education are likely to exacerbate this growing problem, especially given that the office in charge of administering federal financial aid has lost around half of its staff since Trump took office.

“When you direct less resources to combating fraud … you’re going to get more fraud,” Hett said.