California's community colleges have been battling fraudulent students for years, trying to prevent scammers from stealing financial aid money. Despite improvements in detection, the issue persists, with scammers stealing millions more dollars of student aid than in any previous period.
After a spike in fraudulent applications to California's community colleges, school officials say they are getting better at detecting and preventing fraud, though it still happens.
Between January and March 2025, scammers stole nearly $5.6 million in federal student aid and over $900,000 in state aid. By comparison, this spring colleges have reported losing just under $1.5 million in federal student aid and about $330,000 in state aid to fraudsters. Last spring was ‘really the peak,’ Hadsell said. He said he anticipates the end-of-year total in 2026 to be ‘significantly lower’ than last year.
California's community colleges have been battling fraudulent students for years, trying to prevent scammers from stealing financial aid money. Now fewer scammers are bypassing colleges' vetting systems, according to monthly reports, and school administrators say they’re better, though still not perfect, at detecting and preventing fraud. For students, colleges now are more vigilant about policing fraud, said Jory Hadsell, an executive in technology initiatives for the chancellor’s office, who pointed to better filtering practices and new software to detect fraud.
Between January and March 2025, scammers stole nearly $5.6 million in federal student aid and over $900,000 in state aid. By comparison, this spring colleges have reported losing just under $1.5 million in federal student aid and about $330,000 in state aid to fraudsters. Last spring was ‘really the peak,’ Hadsell said. He said he anticipates the end-of-year total in 2026 to be ‘significantly lower’ than last year.
Even in the worst months, such as last spring, the money distributed to scammers is less than 1% of the total financial aid distributed to community college students in California. Students use the money to help pay for tuition, books and the cost of daily living expenses, such as rent, transportation and food. But any fraud, however small, is unacceptable, said Chris Ferguson, executive vice chancellor of finance and strategic initiatives.
‘The ultimate goal for our system is zero. ’ Some anti-fraud policies have been slow to take effect. The California Community Colleges Board of Governors voted nearly a year ago to require ID verification for all students, but only about 50% of college students are doing it as of this month. Hadsell said the delays arose in part because of complications verifying information of students under 18 years old, who represent a significant portion of the student body.
The board also voted to ‘explore’ the option of charging students an application fee of no more than $10, but with the rates of fraud declining and other solutions that seem to work, the chancellor’s office is no longer pursuing that option. After blaming California officials, the U.S. Department of Education, which shares responsibility for administering federal aid and detecting fraud, said it would implement a ‘screening process’ for applicants.
It was, according to press releases from the department and statements from the California Student Aid Commission. CalMatters reached out to the U.S. Education Department five times over the last 12 months, seeking clarification, but the department has refused to respond to questions about delays with the screening process.
After classes suddenly moved online during the COVID-19 pandemic, the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office saw an increase in financial aid fraud on their application portal, CCCApply, which is used by nearly every student as the first step in applying to community college. After they apply through CCCApply, students get filtered locally at their college of choice.
In the Los Rios Community College District, which represents Sacramento, college officials suspected 64% of local applications from January to March 2025 were fraudulent. And that was after the state already vetted them through its portal, said Gabe Ross, a spokesperson for the district. The San Diego and Los Angeles community college districts also reported spikes in the number of fraudulent applications around the same time. CalMatters reached out to the five largest community college districts for an interview.
The Rancho Santiago Community College District, which includes parts of Orange County, did not provide sufficient data to draw conclusions about trends in fraud. The State Center Community College District, which represents schools in Fresno and Madera counties, did not respond to CalMatters’ questions
California Community Colleges Fraudulent Students Financial Aid Fraud Detection Improvements Scammers Student Aid California Student Aid Commission U.S. Department Of Education Screening Process Application Fee COVID-19 Pandemic Financial Aid Fraud On Application Portal Local Applications Fraudulent Applications Spikes In The Number Of Fraudulent Application California Community Colleges Chancellor's Off Cccapply
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