California's community colleges have been battling fraudulent students for years, with scammers stealing millions in financial aid. Despite improvements in detection, the issue persists, though at a lower rate than the peak in 2025. School officials are getting better at detecting and preventing fraud, but challenges remain.

The $5.6 Million Peak and Subsequent Decline

Between January and March 2025, scammers stole nearly $5.6 million in federal studennt 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 fraudstres.. According to Jory Hadsell, an executive in technology initiatives for the chancellor’s office, last spring was ‘really the peak,’ and he anticipates the end-of-year total in 2026 to be ‘significantly lower’ than last year.

Improved Detection but Not Perfect

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 Hadsell, who pointed to better filtering practices and new software to detect fraud.

ID Verification and Other Anti-Fraud Policies

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.

Federal Involvement and Unanswered Questions

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 .

Fraudulent Applications in Specific Districts

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.