WHEREAS, 1 in 4 California Community College students are suspected to be represented by bots [1], it is imperative endorse fraud mitigation through additional identification efforts to prevent fraudulent bots from registering for class seats and financial aid meant for real students [2];
WHEREAS, The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and state grants are disbursed every semester to students to provide college tuition assistance based on eligibility requirements including but not limited to financial need, citizenship, and enrollment in an eligible degree [3] and eligible students must verify their identification through ID.me to create an openCCC account to be given access for financial aid [4]; and
WHEREAS, Current mitigation strategies involve machine learning, strong identity proofing, and liveness verification, they have proven to be ineffective at preventing fraud within admission applications, enrollment, and financial aid fraud and with over 116 California Community Colleges, collectively reporting a loss of more than 7.5 million dollars to financial aid fraud last year [5][1]; Now, therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the Student Senate of California Community Colleges research implementing additional technological methods to further screen for legitimacy per every applicant at California Community Colleges and at the individual colleges’ discretion and implementation;
RESOLVED, That the Student Senate of California Community Colleges advocate for additional mitigation strategies at California Community Colleges and anti-bot solutions to OpenCCC apply portal; and
RESOLVED, That the Student Senate of California Community Colleges advocate for California Community Colleges to increase formal records and reports, including financial loss caused by fraudulent applicants and new applicants, to fellow legislative governing bodies such as ASGs’ for awareness and possible courses of action.
Citations:
[1]https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2024/04/financial-aid-fraud/
[2]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvzOZ2F_uY [3]https://studentaid.gov/understand-aid/eligibility
[4]https://help.id.me/hc/en-us/articles/21080256775063-Verifying-for-California-Community-Colleges