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This story was first published by Voice of San Diego and is reprinted with permission.
Community colleges are confronting a rising crisis: fraudulent students attempting to exploit financial aid systems. At Southwestern College, concerns have emerged among faculty regarding the adequacy of administrative responses to this growing problem.
As the spring semester commenced, Southwestern College professor Elizabeth Smith found herself enthusiastic with full enrollment in her online classes, each hosting 32 students. Additionally, her waitlists were also filled to capacity. However, this excitement was short-lived.
“Initially, I was thrilled—so many eager students. It felt promising,” Smith reflected. “But it soon became evident that many were not genuine students.”
After just two weeks, she reduced her registrants from 104 to a mere 15, identifying the remainder as fraudulent entries, commonly referred to as bots.
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“It’s a surreal and disheartening experience,” Smith described. “Instead of teaching, I feel like I’m in a policing role.”
Smith isn’t alone in facing this issue. Following the shift to virtual classrooms prompted by the pandemic, community colleges have greatly expanded their online course offerings. This transformation has provided much-needed flexibility for students, yet it has also paved the way for an alarming trend—fraudulent students are now overwhelming faculty members like Smith.
These bots aim to take advantage of state and federal financial aid by enrolling and maintaining a presence long enough to secure funding. Many of them submit artificially generated coursework to meet enrollment criteria. Accessibility policies that allow all applicants to register have made community colleges particularly susceptible to this type of fraud.
This situation has placed educators at the forefront of combating fraud, complicating the teaching dynamic and creating obstacles for genuine students trying to enroll in classes. Some instructors at Southwestern feel that leadership has not sufficiently addressed the issue.
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Reports of bots infiltrating student classes by organized fraud groups began surfacing around 2021. These bots often comprise networks of individuals operating under fake student identities, increasing their potential to siphon financial aid.
Fast forward to 2024, and the trend shows no signs of slowing down; more than $11 million in aid has been reported as stolen from California community colleges this year alone—more than a twofold increase from the prior year.
Last year, officials estimated that 25 percent of applicants to community colleges were bots. Despite the staggering sum, state officials assert that this amount represents a small fraction of the approximately $3.2 billion allocated in financial aid. However, educators, especially those in online settings, note that the presence of these fraudulent students radically transforms their roles, as Eric Maag, with 21 years at Southwestern, observed.
“In the past, every student was human, but now we face skepticism about authenticity. We find ourselves questioning, ‘Are you real? Is your work genuine?’” Maag shared. “This complicates the fundamental teacher-student relationship.”
Detecting fraudulent students has become increasingly challenging, according to professors. While some bots may evade participation altogether, others use AI-generated submissions to masquerade as legitimate students. This adds complexity to their assessment process, particularly as real students also resort to AI for assistance.
Although certain trends have been noted—such as asynchronous courses and those with larger class sizes facing heightened risk—protecting the integrity of the educational environment is paramount.
Caree Lesh, a counselor and president of Southwestern College’s Academic Senate, remarked, “Establishing a welcoming community while identifying bots is a monumental challenge.”
Identifying and removing these fraudulent enrollees before the third week of the semester, particularly before financial aid is distributed, is crucial. If not, these bots risk claiming financial aid intended for genuine students, while the situation creates a chilling effect on class enrollment as educators worry about maintaining class sizes.
Nonetheless, the challenges persist even after bots are dropped from rosters.
Professors often encounter a flood of near-identical emails from individuals requesting to join classes, raising red flags. Their language tends to be awkward—phrases like “I kindly request” or “I look forward to your positive response”—that trigger memories of similar AI-generated content.
This fraudulent rush for class spots has disrupted enrollment, as authentic students find themselves edged out. Consequently, a network of communication has arisen among faculty, recommending that students reference them by name when attempting to enroll in classes.
Kevin Alston, a business professor with nearly two decades of experience at Southwestern, shared alarming experiences, including conversing with students mistakenly enrolled in his classes who were unaware of their registration. “One told me, ‘I’ve moved; I’m not even in California anymore,’” Alston recounted. “The ‘bots’ had commandeered their identities, enrolling them to siphon financial aid.”
The future remains uncertain for institutions dealing with this persistent fraud. The evolving nature of these bots, akin to rapidly advancing technology, poses continuous challenges. Mark Sanchez, Southwestern’s superintendent/president, described the college’s efforts to preemptively combat these issues with an Inauthentic Enrollment Mitigation Taskforce, which convenes to devise strategies against the bots. Recently, around 1,600 suspected fraudulent students were dropped from the 26,000 enrollments and required to verify their identity, with very few complying.
Sanchez is keen to keep the specifics of their investigative methods confidential to prevent informing those exploiting the system. “We’re using a comprehensive set of parameters that I can’t reveal,” he stated, “to avoid giving fraudsters insights that would allow them to find loopholes.”
Ultimately, Sanchez believes state intervention is crucial. Since students enroll through a statewide application system, many fraudulent entries reach the college already included in these lists.
“We urge the state to implement stronger measures in the CCC Apply system,” Sanchez emphasized.
While the California Community College system has increased resources for fraud detection and formed partnerships with technology firms like ID.me for better student validation, the bots still persist. By March, scammers had already misappropriated nearly $4 million in financial assistance.
Tracy Schaelen serves as the distance education faculty coordinator, where she regularly engages with online instructors. She highlighted the unsustainable nature of requiring faculty to devote considerable time to vetting students. “Teachers are meant to instruct, as that is their specialty and what students need from them,” she remarked.
Schaelen noted that eliminating online courses isn’t a feasible solution. Community colleges increasingly cater to older, working students who favor online learning opportunities. “Restricting access would harm legitimate students,” she explained. “The focus must be on preventing bots from infiltrating, not limiting access for real learners.”
This story was first published by Voice of San Diego and is reprinted with permission.
Source
hechingerreport.org