How California became a ghost student scammer paradise
Conn Carroll
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At first, former Deputy Sheriff Kim Rich agreed to teach two 40-person classes at Pierce College near Los Angeles. But when those two classes filled up, she agreed to teach a third, which also filled up in a week. That should have been 120 students.
But when it came time to teach, less than half of those 120 students ever materialized. It turns out many of those enrolled were actually “ghost students,” fictional enrollments initiated by scammers trying to get Pell Grant checks from the federal government.
AMERICANS DESERVE ACCOUNTABILITY ON DOMESTIC SPYING
“It is a 100% disservice to every single taxpayer,” Rich told the San Francisco Chronicle. “These criminals wouldn’t still be doing this if they weren’t getting the money.”
According to the state Chancellor’s Office, about 20% of California’s community college applications are “ghost students.”
Here is how one scam worked, according to a Justice Department indictment of three scammers. Thieves use a victim’s personal data to enroll at community college. They then applied for student loans and Pell Grants from the Education Department and then directed the money to bank accounts they controlled. These three women alone stole almost $1 million from taxpayers.
And California law makes it easier for them to do so.
To make it easier for illegal immigrants to go to community college, California does not require community college applicants to have a Social Security number. As a result, it is especially easy for scammers to create fake student applicants at California community colleges. Applicants can create an online student profile just by checking a few boxes and entering a name. They don’t even need an address.
If it were just California taxpayers on the hook for these fraudulent Pell Grants and student loans, it would be up to them to fix it. But these are federal tax dollars that are being stolen. Congress must step in and either make states tighten their higher education benefits or cut them off.