Colleges are deploying AI defenses to counter bot-driven fraud, according to college officials.
California’s community colleges are grappling with a surge in fraudulent enrollments, with 1.2 million fake applicants last year accounting for nearly 30 percent of new students, blocking real students from classes and costing millions in stolen financial aid, according to college officials.
The problem, exacerbated by the shift to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, affects at least 90 of the state’s 116 campuses, said Marvin Martinez, chancellor of the Rancho Santiago Community College District, and Jeannie Kim, president of Santiago Canyon College.
Before the pandemic, most classes were in-person, making fraud more difficult, Martinez said. But with 80 percent of courses moving online, bots and fake students can enroll from anywhere, including other states or countries.
“It’s happened on a massive scale,” Martinez told Epoch TV’s California Insider host Siyamak Khorrami. “What’s made this situation of fraudulent enrollment so different than anything that I’ve seen before in my 36 years in higher ed is that it’s happened in almost 80 percent now of the campuses.”
At Santiago Canyon College, fall 2024 enrollment initially spiked 10 percent to 13 percent, Kim said, but faculty discovered many registrants were fraudulent. In one anthropology course, administrators raised the enrollment cap by 30 daily, only for bots to fill slots instantly, leaving just 12 to 15 genuine students.
Faculty identified fakes through non-engagement, identical assignments, or invalid contact details, like phone numbers tied to businesses or defunct entities. Removing fraudulent enrollments cut the college’s headcount by 10,000 to 12,000 spots, with some bad actors enrolled in up to five classes each.
The fallout is severe. Real students are denied access to required courses, delaying graduations, certificates, and transfers to four-year universities.
“Counselors saw the crestfallen faces of students unable to get classes they needed to graduate,” Kim said.
Among faculty, morale has gone down as classes shrink to single digits, making them cost-inefficient yet necessary for student progress. “Faculty teach because they love their discipline, but it’s devastating to see classes dwindle,” Kim added.
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