California's community colleges have been battling fraudulent students for years, trying to prevent scammers from stealing financial aid money.
Recent data shows the colleges' efforts finally may be working.
Last spring, CalMatters reported that colleges were seeing unprecedented reports of fraud, with scammers stealing millions more dollars of student aid than in any previous period, according to reports submitted by colleges to California's Community Colleges Chancellor's Office.
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.Between January and March 2025, scammers stole more than five-and-a-half million dollars in federal student aid and about $900,000 in state aid.
By comparison, this spring colleges have reported losing just under one-and-a-half million dollars in federal student aid and about $330,000 in state aid to fraudsters.
In 2024, the chancellor's office suspected roughly a quarter of applicants were fraudulent.
Last spring, it was about a third, though some schools saw much higher rates.
