City College Strengthens Defense Against 'Ghost Students'
New technologies implemented across California Community Colleges and within City College’s enrollment system are yielding strong results, vigorously combating financial aid fraud.
By Qi Mai
Education Secretary Linda McMahon estimates that $1 billion in taxpayer dollars is stolen every year by Ghost Students, the National News Desk reported in August.
California Community Colleges reported losing $3 million in federal aid and $700,000 in state funds in just the first few months of 2025.
Lily Su, a Healthcare student at City College, said ghost students had stolen some of her classmates’ identities, which stopped them from enrolling in classes.
Su said it is very important for students to check and reply to the college’s emails quickly. Some of these emails request that students verify their identity through the college’s internal system. If students do not respond on time, they may be blocked by the system and encounter further issues.
However, since the college has begun rolling out its fraud detection software, the Information Technology department has reported a substantial reduction in fraudulent enrollments compared to the previous academic year.
System Update
Multiple tools have been deployed to strengthen fraud mitigation efforts while maintaining the appropriate security measures. The IT department conducted an informal survey by asking faculty to report what changes they have seen for Fall 2025.
Chief Technology Officer Patrick Ekoue-Totou stated that one faculty member expressed excitement over a 250% increase in enrollment for online classes.
Other technologies, such as ID.me, are being introduced to enhance identity verification. Advanced data models are also being developed to analyze patterns of fraudulent behavior, and new inter-college data-sharing agreements allow suspicious activity detected at one California Community College to be reported to others across the system.
Another new identity verification method, the California mobile DMV app for mobile driver’s licenses, was tested in late October and will be implemented for student identity verification in mid-November.
“The situation is improving as we gain a better understanding of the various types of attacks being employed and add additional methods to counter those attack strategies,” Ekoue-Totou said.
Progress Made
New technologies implemented across California Community Colleges and within City College’s enrollment system are yielding strong results, vigorously combating financial aid fraud. By mid-August, approximately 16% of statewide applicants had been identified as “ghost students,” and more than 25,000 fraudulent applications were blocked from entering the community college system.
The most recent data on ghost students for Fall 2025 shows that, out of a total of 28,058 students, 2,459 were flagged. Among these flagged students, only 112 were confirmed as actual cases of financial aid fraud. The term “flagged” refers to students who were identified as suspicious but did not receive any financial aid.
Frederick Teti, Interim Dean of the School of STEM and the Evans Campus, expressed strong support for the Technology Committee’s policy change that reduced the window for dropped students to prove their identity from seven days to three days.
Computer Science courses were hit particularly hard over the past year. However, the department has now largely returned to its former stability.
“It sounds like the problem is much smaller than it was in spring,” said Jonathan Potter, chair of the Computer Science Department. “In Spring 2025, Computer Science had sections whose enrollments were in the single digits by census day, even after being filled from a full waitlist before day one.”
Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Lisa Cooper Wilkins shared that the improvements implemented since the fall semester have had a noticeable positive impact, noting that both students and faculty have expressed that things feel better overall.
“The change from a seven-day to a three-day student enrollment verification process has proven to be highly effective and is the result of tremendous teamwork,” Cooper Wilkins said. “I’m very proud of all the hard work across all offices and departments.”
Police Response
In the fall semester, the police department received about 30 phone calls from students reporting financial aid fraud and stolen accounts. Some students reported that their identification information was used by others, they were unable to enroll in classes, their bank information was stolen, or they did not receive college checks.
Chief of Police Mario Vasquez and Sergeant Richard Allen explained how they have been working to protect students from ghost student attacks.
One morning in July, a police officer was patrolling the Ocean Campus when he received a call from dispatch at 9:55 a.m. to go to the Administration Department. A few minutes later, he met a student who reported that her California ID card had been stolen, her college email account had been reset by someone, and her student account password had been changed without her permission. She also stated that there was an attempt to obtain financial aid in her name, and she had not yet received any bank card charges.
“I knew immediately it was an unknown suspect who hacked her account from another IP address in an attempt to gain financial aid awards,” the officer said. He wrote a report, sent it to the office, and informed the Student Affairs Department.
The Police Department urged students to stay alert and advised students to change their account passwords at least once every six months and use two-factor authentication with email or text. City College also sends students text messages, in addition to emails, so students should keep their contact information private. They also reminded students to check their credit history often and make sure no one has opened an account in their name.
“Always think that someone might be watching what you’re doing. There are people out there waiting for you to make a mistake. Be careful and protect your information,” Sgt. Allen said.
Due to recent policy changes and ongoing challenges related to “ghost students,” City College encourages students to enroll in classes earlier, secure their spot and stay on track for Spring 2026.
