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According to the State Chancellor's Office, 20% of applications for California community colleges are fraudulent. A radiation oncologist at UC Davis is one of the thousands who have had their identity stolen to create fraudulent student applications with the intention to steal federal aid, a practice that has resulted in an unprecedented influx of ghost students. City College of San Francisco reported 59 fraudulent students and has identified 29 ghost students who have received $22,418 to date.

San Diego Ashford University, and its parent company, Zovio, have been fined US$22.37 million for fraudulent admissions tactics that left some students in serious debt and without degrees. According to San Diego Superior Court judge, the college has made bogus claims about career outcomes, costs and financial aid to lure vulnerable students to enrol in the online university programmes.

California community college officials uncovered the state’s biggest financial aid scam attempts: over 60,000 aid applications compared to 2019, from students older than 30 earning less than US$40,000 annually and seeking a two-year degree rather than a vocational certificate. Faculty were also beginning to question whether many of their ‘students’ were actually fake bot accounts. California community colleges have received more than $1.6 billion in emergency COVID-19 relief for low-income students.

The French Embassy in Haiti calls for vigilance on fraud attempts related to higher-education scholarships in France. To avoid being misused, the French Embassy recommends that you refer to its website and contact Campus France if you are interested and need more information.

Action News Jax Investigates has obtained an operations audit of the Clay County School District completed by Florida's Auditor General. The 31-page report included the district’s direct responses to the state’s findings and recommendations. In one of the 13 listed findings, the report states the district disbursed a total of $31,200 in ‘"Florida Best and Brightest Scholarship Program" awards to 22 prekindergarten teachers. Auditors found those teachers did not meet the statutory definition of a “classroom teacher,” and were not eligible for the awards.

The U.S. Education Department last week proposed new rules that would loosen a ban on incentive compensation for college recruiters and get rid of a financial-aid regulation. The proposal to eliminate the 12-hour rule follows years of debate. Distance-education providers have pushed the department and Congress to throw out the regulation, but others have cited fears that relaxing the rule would lead to fraud.