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Fraud in California community colleges triggers call for Trump investigation

The headquarters of the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C, on on March 12, 2025.
Mark Schiefelbein
/
AP Photo
The headquarters of the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C, on on March 12, 2025.

Following CalMatters reporting, California鈥檚 Republican representatives are calling for the U.S. Department of Education and Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate how California鈥檚 community colleges are handling financial aid fraud.

Nine Republican U.S. representatives are calling on U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to at California鈥檚 community colleges. In a separate letter sent Wednesday, state Assemblymember Blanca Rubio, , asked the state to on the matter.

This rare moment of bipartisan concern comes after CalMatters reported that fake community college students have stolen more and more than $3 million in state aid in the last 12 months.

In their April 11 letter to Bondi and McMahon, which cites CalMatters鈥 reporting, California鈥檚 Republican representatives say that investigating fraud at California鈥檚 community colleges should be part of President Donald Trump鈥檚 ongoing efforts to 鈥渃urb wasteful federal spending.鈥

The California Community Colleges Chancellor鈥檚 Office has 鈥渘ot been contacted by the U.S. Department of Education or the U.S. Attorney General about an investigation,鈥 said Chris Ferguson, one of the office鈥檚 executive vice chancellors, in an email to CalMatters Thursday.

Assemblymember Rubio鈥檚 letter calls for a state audit that would examine the scope of fraud and the efforts to prevent it. State legislators will decide this June whether to pursue that audit, which could take years to complete.

California community colleges have been struggling to address fake students and financial aid fraud . Last spring, CalMatters reported that scammers and that community colleges reported giving away over $5 million in federal funds and over $1.5 million in state and local aid. Earlier this month, CalMatters found .

鈥淎llowing this rise in fraud to go unaddressed is negligent on the Community College system, as these bad actors take away opportunities from real students in impacted courses such as accounting, nursing, etc,鈥 wrote the California Republican representatives in their letter.

While students, faculty and community college administrators in California agree that it鈥檚 a serious and growing problem, they question whether an investigation or an audit will lead to a better solution.

Fraud is 鈥渁 legitimate concern,鈥 said Larry Galizio, president of the Community College League of California, which represents the interests of the state鈥檚 73 community college districts 鈥 but the letter to the education department and the attorney general is 鈥渄isingenuous鈥 and 鈥渏ust flat wrong鈥 in claiming that it鈥檚 gone unaddressed.

California has allocated more than $150 million since 2022 to improve cybersecurity at its community colleges.

鈥淏laming the victim and then cutting resources to the very entities that are trying to combat the fraud is not a policy approach that鈥檚 going to be effective,鈥 Galizio said.

Overwhelmed with the number of fake students in their classes, 鈥渟ome of our faculty members feel like they鈥檝e been screaming into the void,鈥 said Stephanie Goldman, executive director of the faculty association of California Community Colleges. She said the federal scrutiny is particularly ironic, given that the Trump administration has dismantled the U.S. Department of Education and hampered its ability to investigate fraud.

Representative Young Kim 鈥 who flipped her Orange County district in 2020 鈥 led the effort to write the congressional letter. Her spokesperson, Callie Strock, refused to respond directly to criticisms when CalMatters asked about them. She said Kim is still learning about the issue and that 鈥淐alifornia has a long history of abusing taxpayer dollars.鈥

Top priority: getting money to students in need

Since Trump鈥檚 inauguration in January, the federal government . The U.S. Department of Justice is for allegedly discriminating against students in the name of 鈥渄iversity, equity and inclusion鈥 鈥 even though affirmative action has been illegal in California since 1996. The administration is also going after numerous UC campuses, as well as Sacramento State and Santa Monica College, for allegedly allowing .鈥

California is fighting back by working with other states to file numerous lawsuits, such as one that attempts to stop the Trump administration from and another to prevent the

But in this instance, the call to investigate California鈥檚 higher education system for fraud stems from California鈥檚 elected representatives, not from Trump or his cabinet. Kim鈥檚 spokesperson did not clarify whether officials from the Trump administration would actually pursue an investigation.

For Ivan Hernandez, a student at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, fraud is a low priority. Hernandez is the president of the community college students鈥 association, and while he said he suspects that some of the students in his online courses are fake 鈥 or at least are using AI to submit assignments 鈥 he鈥檚 more concerned with homelessness and food insecurity, which affect of California鈥檚 roughly 2 million community college students.

Financial aid is supposed to pay for tuition, but low-income community college students pay little or no tuition in California, so the money goes directly into their pockets to offset the state鈥檚 high cost of housing and food. Most students who attend California鈥檚 community colleges are low-income and work a part- or full-time job.

Ferguson, with the state chancellor鈥檚 office, said 鈥渋t鈥檚 crucial to emphasize鈥 that many fraudulent students are stopped before they can enroll. 鈥淔or the nanoscopic number of criminals that did get past the application stage and moved to the enrollment stage, an even smaller number was able to breach the financial aid stage,鈥 he said.

鈥淔inancial aid fraud in the California Community Colleges system is extremely low relative to the billions of dollars of state and federal aid disbursed 鈥 about 0.21% in FY 2023-24. That means 99.8% of financial aid was disbursed to real students in our system.鈥

Adam Echelman covers higher education for CalMatters, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics, and a JPR news partner
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