Mirroring a nationwide problem, financial aid departments in the Foothill-De Anza Community College district have been forced to divert time and energy to denying fraudulent applications for financial aid and detecting those that have been approved.

Fraudulent applicants may complete the federal financial aid application for themselves, or for multiple individuals, then enroll in classes only long enough to collect the aid payment before dropping the class. The majority of fraud cases involve online-only classes that require no physical attendance.

“I would say at least probably 100 here [have been stopped] at De Anza since we’ve had our radar [up],” said De Anza financial aid director Cindy Castillo. “I’m sure there have been some that have slipped through,” 

Castillo said stories of fraudulent recipients could undermine public and legislative support for aid programs.

“It’s really important that those of us that work in a ‘public giveaway program,’ if you will, try to maintain the integrity of that program,”  Castillo said, “because there are millions and millions of students who would never be able to go to college if they didn’t have financial aid.”

To receive aid, applicants must have a valid name, date of birth and Social Security number. Information such as income, high school diploma status and household size are used to determine eligibility for aid and the amount an applicant can receive, but currently this information is not verified for most applications. 

For fraud to legally occur, an individual must receive money with no intention of using it for educational purposes.

Foothill director of financial aid Kevin Harral said his department would monitor an average of 20 to 30 aid recipients a quarter for signs that the student is not enrolled for the purposes of education. He said finding a balance between being vigilant and preventing legitimate applications can be difficult.

“[It] makes it difficult sometimes at night to sleep when you know that obstacles are catching legitimate students,” he said.

Applicants who have attended colleges, received multiple grants or loans, but have not completed many units may come under scrutiny. Multiple applications from common fax and telephone numbers or email, as well as IP and mailing addresses, may also indicate an individual is fraudulently applying or using anther person’s information.

A memo from the Office of Inspector General to the U.S. Department of Education gave recommendations for colleges that offer online-only classes to reduce fraud. Recommendations included retaining the IP addresses of student applicants and verifying the identification and high school diploma status of suspected fraudulent applicants. 

A spokesman for the district said that while both colleges do check for common email addresses, neither currently maintains a database of IP addresses.

The only fraud case to involve the district occurred in 2008, when a group of five students would enroll in online classes, collect funds, drop the class or receive an F, then re-apply the following quarter.

“I saw that pattern repeated, and these students happened to share obvious last names or addresses or connections where they were definitely a little mini web,” Harral said.

The Office of Inspector General focused on one individual who was in prison at the time he was enrolled and received financial aid. The other four applicants were not believed to be blatantly fraudulent. However, the four in question left the school after the investigation was launched, something Harral said is typical of fraudulent applicants.