Enrollment Fraud Mitigation
You work hard to attend college. Scammers work even harder to steal your money and identity. Protect your most valuable asset.
- Report Financial Aid Fraud and Identity Theft: If you suspect your student information has been stolen, act quickly to report it.
- How to Protect Your Identity: Learn how to protect yourself when applying for financial aid.
- Beware of Student Loan Debt Relief Companies: Don’t get scammed by false promises.
- Report identity theft: Report if your identity is being misused in any way (not just related to financial aid).
Faculty and Staff Share Critical Roles in Enrollment Fraud Mitigation
As required by the SBCTC Policy Manual, the colleges are required to eliminate inactive enrollments by the enrollment census date (usually the 10th day, but as early as the 8th day during short quarters). See Chapter 5: Enrollment Reporting and Tuition and Fees.
Inactive enrollments are defined as students:
- Identified as a no-show
- Officially withdrawn from the course
- Dropped from the course(s) due to no longer participating
- Excessive unexcused absences
Faculty Play a Key Role in Defense
At most colleges, faculty have the responsibility to verify student attendance and provide the college financial aid office with the last date of attendance if the student does not participate the entire term.
Verification for both in-person and online classes takes place through a variety of means of contact between the instructor and student, such as:
- Class attendance
- Class participation
- Direct engagement with the instructor for asynchronous courses
- Completion of assignments
- General communication through any medium
Cooperation is Essential
College leaders and staff role
At the beginning of each term, college leaders and staff should proactively update their staff and faculty on local processes and deadlines to report inactive enrollments.
This information should be available in an easily accessible and high-traffic location. Ideally, faculty will also receive instructions directly.
Faculty role
Faculty should be aware of their college's processes and deadlines for reporting inactive enrollments by the census date.
Meeting these deadlines significantly reduces the likelihood financial aid is disbursed fraudulently or colleges receive state funding fraudulently.
Engaging with students prior to the census deadlines improves retention and support for real students and eliminates fraudulent non-students early enough to allow real students to enroll.
