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The person pretending to be a student will actually turn in home work and attend virtually until the balance of the loan and/or grants are deposited into their

The person pretending to be a student will actually turn in home work and attend virtually until the balance of the loan and/or grants are deposited into their bank account. It's legit to have extra funds to pay for education related expenses.

leereeves 1y ago
The article says they don't show up at all: "Pugh said she’d normally drop three to five from her roster who don’t start the course or make contact with her at the start of the semester. But during the current spring semester, Pugh said that number more than doubled when she had to cut 11 students"
snapetom 1y ago
That seems like a bad scam that carries a lot of risk vs. low reward. These are community colleges. It's not like tuition is 30k a semester. Then you have to have a bank account to deposit the funds, which can trace you back. The article states fraud was $10 million last year. That's not a lot. I don't know. If I were a criminal I'd look for something that pays out more if I'm going to expose myself.
- Spooky23 1y ago
  Remember many people doing this stuff are stupid. I had a high school friend use student loans to buy a car and rent a shithole apartment at 19. He’s probably still paying for that Toyota Camry now.
nkrisc 1y ago
Sounds like these programs distributing aid are doing a poor job of verifying who's actually getting this money. Surely this can't be completely anomalous? Certainly it's happened before where someone enrolls, receives financial aid, and then for any number of reason stops attending school? What happens then? Or was that always a loss and now it's just easy to automate that scenario maliciously?
nine_k 1y ago
> balance of the loan and/or grants are deposited into their bank account. Here's where the system is defective. The loan's balance should go directly to the college's bank account, as a tuition payment. Suddenly, there'd be no incentive to cheat the system, while actual students who need help paying for tuition would have their tuition paid.
- DangitBobby 1y ago
  The aid is for more than just tuition, they often give you enough to live on.

leereeves 1y ago

The article says they don't show up at all: "Pugh said she’d normally drop three to five from her roster who don’t start the course or make contact with her at the start of the semester. But during the current spring semester, Pugh said that number more than doubled when she had to cut 11 students"

snapetom 1y ago

That seems like a bad scam that carries a lot of risk vs. low reward. These are community colleges. It's not like tuition is 30k a semester. Then you have to have a bank account to deposit the funds, which can trace you back. The article states fraud was $10 million last year. That's not a lot. I don't know. If I were a criminal I'd look for something that pays out more if I'm going to expose myself.

Spooky23 1y ago
Remember many people doing this stuff are stupid. I had a high school friend use student loans to buy a car and rent a shithole apartment at 19. He’s probably still paying for that Toyota Camry now.

nkrisc 1y ago

Sounds like these programs distributing aid are doing a poor job of verifying who's actually getting this money. Surely this can't be completely anomalous? Certainly it's happened before where someone enrolls, receives financial aid, and then for any number of reason stops attending school? What happens then? Or was that always a loss and now it's just easy to automate that scenario maliciously?

nine_k 1y ago

> balance of the loan and/or grants are deposited into their bank account. Here's where the system is defective. The loan's balance should go directly to the college's bank account, as a tuition payment. Suddenly, there'd be no incentive to cheat the system, while actual students who need help paying for tuition would have their tuition paid.

DangitBobby 1y ago
The aid is for more than just tuition, they often give you enough to live on.