COC, state fight enrollment fraud

Community colleges across California have been dealing for a few years with what has been described as “financial aid fraud” — and College of the Canyons is one of them, according to a college official. 

The issue is statewide across the 116 campuses under the California Community College umbrella, according to Eric Harnish, spokesman for COC. He added that the issue is more prevalent at the community college level due to anyone being allowed to enroll, and has been going on for three to four years. 

“There hasn’t necessarily been an uptick recently, but the effort has gotten more sophisticated,” Harnish said in a phone interview. “People are developing computer programs to submit applications for multiple non-existing students.” 

According to CalMatters, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization covering issues across California, “fake community college students have stolen more than $10 million in federal financial aid and more than $3 million in state aid in the last 12 months.” Federal legislators have recently called upon U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate the fraud. 

Melissa Villarin, a communications specialist with the state Chancellor’s Office, said no representative of the office would be available for a phone interview, but Villarin did provide information via email. 

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