'Ghost Student' fraud steals $1 billion in aid

The Department of Education estimates that $1 billion is stolen every year from student aid through what it calls “ghost students.”

The DoE reports that these mistakes are especially common in California, where it is easy to enroll in community college and there is little in-person interaction.

“This scam has been going on for years,” said Rachel O’Brien, Deputy Public Policy Editor at Open the Books. “The largest community college system in California, it is a big problem there, but they are downplaying the fraud. We put the estimate for California alone at hundreds of millions of dollars wasted.”

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