Ghost student fraud becoming issue in California and other colleges.

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WhatInThe

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Ghost students/scammers becoming an issue in California college enrolling just to get access to financial aid. The scammers register with fake IDs with some going so far as to complete some assignments.

Once registration is complete that makes them eligible for student financial aid. Last year ghost students got over 10 million dollars in financial aid dollars.

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/ghost-students-creating-problem-calif-colleges-20311708.php

Did a quick check also a problem in other states like Minnesota.

Southeast Minnesota colleges are contending with a new kind of fraud: Ghost students

As suspect much of the fraud occurs where there's online classes. But isn't there an attendance procedure for online classes? Although if using tech they could use fake or altered people.

In the end just criminals exploiting loopholes although it takes a little longer to get their loot.
 

WhatInThe said:
Ghost students/scammers becoming an issue in California college enrolling just to get access to financial aid. The scammers register with fake IDs with some going so far as to complete some assignments.

Once registration is complete that makes them eligible for student financial aid. Last year ghost students got over 10 million dollars in financial aid dollars.

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/ghost-students-creating-problem-calif-colleges-20311708.php

Did a quick check also a problem in other states like Minnesota.

Southeast Minnesota colleges are contending with a new kind of fraud: Ghost students

As suspect much of the fraud occurs where there's online classes. But isn't there an attendance procedure for online classes? Although if using tech they could use fake or altered people.

In the end just criminals exploiting loopholes although it takes a little longer to get their loot.
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How does registering for college get you money?

I graduated from the Naval Academy and received my degree in Social Sciences. I also received a monthly stipend to cover the costs of essentials. Each year I was there, the stipend was increased.
 

Been There said:
How does registering for college get you money?

I graduated from the Naval Academy and received my degree in Social Sciences. I also received a monthly stipend to cover the costs of essentials. Each year I was there, the stipend was increased.
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They become eligible for financial aid and loans they'll never pay back. They might get some kind of grant money.
 
WhatInThe said:
They become eligible for financial aid and loans they'll never pay back. They might get some kind of grant money.
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Thanks for the information. I was studying how much money DOGE was able to find that was actually a handout or was legally stolen through filling out felonius paperwork. The numbers were amazing. I always thought there was oversight on the grant applications, but now believe in many instances, the money was just handed out instead of vetting the paperwork.
 
The reality is the "honor" system does NOT work and many people need to be supervised and followed up on.... in person classes or
even online check ins or ways to see if person was present.....

I set up many training sessions for a workplace..... many different training sessions were online.
as organizer I could literally see how many minutes people attended training... so when they told me they attended and I could show their supervisor 7 minutes of an hour class..... guess who had to repeat .
People do not seem to have follow thru or think anyone else was watching got thru the whole campus that it was a stupid move to fake attending if i was listed as organizer.
 
The scammers also gain access to cloud storage and vpn server as a student which they can use for other crimes.
 
WhatInThe said:
Ghost students/scammers becoming an issue in California college enrolling just to get access to financial aid. The scammers register with fake IDs with some going so far as to complete some assignments.

Once registration is complete that makes them eligible for student financial aid. Last year ghost students got over 10 million dollars in financial aid dollars.

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/ghost-students-creating-problem-calif-colleges-20311708.php

Did a quick check also a problem in other states like Minnesota.

Southeast Minnesota colleges are contending with a new kind of fraud: Ghost students

As suspect much of the fraud occurs where there's online classes. But isn't there an attendance procedure for online classes? Although if using tech they could use fake or altered people.

In the end just criminals exploiting loopholes although it takes a little longer to get their loot.
Click to expand...
This is the first I'm hearing about the problem. There is accountability for online students. My granddaughter's first semester of college was done completely online. Now she's a junior and some of her classes are online although she lives on campus. Students have to submit the assignments to get credits. If I'm not mistaken, a certain amount of credits must be maintained per semester to qualify for grants and aid.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
This is the first I'm hearing about the problem. There is accountability for online students. My granddaughter's first semester of college was done completely online. Now she's a junior and some of her classes are online although she lives on campus. Students have to submit the assignments to get credits. If I'm not mistaken, a certain amount of credits must be maintained per semester to qualify for grants and aid.
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They need just enough attendance/time to get a couple of checks and/or use the college internet services. So even if a teacher turns them in for absenteeism the crooks already got what they wanted and probably 'left'.

Would they even cut off loan or grant money for absent student in real time or is it done at the end of the semester.

How soon would a grant or loan check take after a student has registered and completed the loan paper work?
 
This has been happening a very long time, more twenty years I am aware of. Online classes make it easier. Instructors are often blamed for the dropout rate, and blame themselves for losing students. In some colleges, they can lose their jobs. Administrators are glad for the money, even ill-gotten, I assume yet are held accountable. It's a grift that is too common. A reason why learning is unimportant in their mind, ...money is.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
This is the first I'm hearing about the problem. There is accountability for online students. My granddaughter's first semester of college was done completely online. Now she's a junior and some of her classes are online although she lives on campus. Students have to submit the assignments to get credits. If I'm not mistaken, a certain amount of credits must be maintained per semester to qualify for grants and aid.
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Diva - where there is a will there is a way. In my banking days I did the annual mandatory in-house training for my managers. After the first douzed or so I had regulations down pat.
 
Twostep said:
Diva - where there is a will there is a way. In my banking days I did the annual mandatory in-house training for my managers. After the first douzed or so I had regulations down pat.
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Yeah Twostep...scammers always find a way! :mad: I just hope this doesn't affect the ability of legitimate, hard working students to get financial aid. My granddaughter has been a straight A student since grade school. She still has a few more college years left. She gets scholarships and loans, but with the exception of her first two semesters, not enough to cover the entire bill. I'm the one who pays a majority of what's left of her tuition.
 

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