Education officials said the pause of anti-fraud measures during the COVID-era created opportunities for scammers.
The Department of Education said it has prevented more than $1 billion in federal student aid-related fraud so far this year, including schemes in which scammers posed as students to steal money from the taxpayer-funded program.
The department said on Dec. 11 that this was achieved by strengthening oversight of how colleges and universities verify identities and distribute student aid dollars. These measures include mandatory identity verification for certain first-time student applicants enrolling in the summer term, as well as a permanent screening process for all applicants beginning this fall.
Under current rules, students filing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form must present an unexpired, government-issued photo ID—either in person or over a live video conference—to a school official authorized to verify identity. The schools must keep a record of the ID review.
“American citizens have to present an ID to purchase a ticket to travel or to rent a car—it’s only right that they should present an ID to access tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars to fund their education,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement.
Since taking office, McMahon has reinstated several anti-fraud safeguards that had been suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic. These include a post-screening system that automatically flags students who have exceeded their lifetime eligibility for Pell grants, preventing college officials from awarding additional aid to the students.
The department also resumed flagging financial aid applicants suspected of using another someone else’s identity. This is done through data-analysis models that detect potentially suspicious or inconsistent information submitted on the FAFSA form.
The Biden administration had paused these checks during the pandemic in an effort to make applying for financial aid easier for students. The Trump administration, however, warned that the pause created opportunities for fraudsters to exploit the FAFSA system.
In May, the department reported that nearly $90 million in federal aid had been improperly disbursed to suspected scammers during the pandemic-era suspension of safeguards. That included more than $30 million sent to deceased individuals between 2022 and 2025, uncovered through a cross-check of student aid payments against the Social Security Death Index.
By Bill Pan
