Fraudsters are engaging in schemes involving fake students registered for community college in California. Up to 20 percent of traffic for online applications is identified as “malicious and bot-related,” leading to one professor to root out fraudulent bot activity throughout the state.
A professor at Pierce College in Los Angeles, California, has taken it upon herself to root out fake student bots since learning several months ago that an unknown number of fake students registered for classes throughout California’s community college system, according to a report by the Los Angeles Times.
Kim Rich, a Pierce College professor and department chair, has reportedly alerted administrators about the bots, which she says could even be multiplying. The fake students could also be linked to widespread fraud involving obtaining financial aid.
“This is something you can’t wait on,” Rich said. “If someone is committing financial aid fraud, that is taxpayer money.”
Over the summer, the California Community Colleges Chancellor reportedly estimated that 20 percent of recent traffic on its main portal for online applications was “malicious and bot-related,” and was believed to be connected to financial aid fraud.
More than 60,000 suspected bots have applied for financial aid, the California Student Aid Commission told the Times. Moreover, at least hundreds of thousands of dollars in financial aid has been sent to fraudsters running bots, according to officials at six different colleges.
At Pierce College, professor Rich has grown frustrated over the pace of the school’s broader investigation into the fraudulent bots.
In October, Rich suspected more bots when she detected a potential new surge connected to late-start classes after she increased enrollment capacity for a class to accommodate students on the waiting list.
Within 48 hours, the class filled again, which the professor says is “completely unheard of” with regards to the amount of time it takes for a class to reach capacity again. And when Rich looked through other class rosters, she noticed an unusual number of the same names registered in the same classes.
“That many students taking that many of the same classes with the same teacher at the same time was extremely unusual,” Rich said.
After hearing Rich’s concerns, Pierce vice president of academic affairs Donna-Mae Villanueva emailed late-start professors suggesting they require interactive engagement from students during the first week of classes in order to confirm they are real.
Villanueva added that vetting out fake students while not violating a real person’s privacy is a delicate matter, and told professors to drop an inactive student that they do not hear from within 24 hours.
The Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) said that the college system and Pierce College officials are aware of Rich’s concerns, and are addressing enrollment issues and reviewing class registration.
“Due to pending reviews, as well as for security reasons and the protection of personal information, the District is not releasing specific details at this time about the situation,” an LACCD spokesperson told the Times. “All concerns raised by faculty are reviewed and responded to as quickly as possible.”
Rich says Pierce administrators contacted her in October to learn more about her bot findings, but have not followed up.
The professor’s frustration with the district’s handling of the situation has, in part, caused her to submit her resignation as department chair at the end of January, reports the Times.
Rich also expressed her bewilderment over an email sent by a Pierce College official touting the winter 2022 headcount being at 93 percent of what it was last winter.
“Great, enrollment is up. But what percentage are fake students?” the professor said.
Bots are not a new phenomenon in the world of academia, the Times notes. People have been known to use fake student email addresses to get discounts requiring an “.edu” email address. Officials throughout California, however, have acknowledged that this year’s spike in fake students is worse than ever.
Increased federal aid opportunities and a shift to online courses appears to have created an environment ripe for new bot activity.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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