Record bot enrollment at California CCs

[Hibush]

This semester, California CCs saw a large increase in financial aid applications and enrollment, about 65,000. It turns out they were generated by bots with arbitrarily generated demographics and courses. The Los Angeles Times has a long, paywalled, read.

It appears that financial-aid staff spotted application with unlikely characteristics. Eventually, people talked with each other and discovered something wider was going on. Fraud-detection software has since found that about 20% of applicants were fake.

Are other schools with high-aid (and dropping enrollment) targeted in the same scam but too excited about the uptick to realize it?

[mamselle]

No direct answer, but....cui bono?

Is this just for the sake of pranking/hacking a system for laffs, or do the bots' creators then flog the positions for money?

I.e., why would anyone be bovvered?*

M.

Sorry, watching a lot of C. Tate, lately...

[Puget]

No direct answer, but....cui bono?

Is this just for the sake of pranking/hacking a system for laffs, or do the bots' creators then flog the positions for money?

I.e., why would anyone be bovvered?*

M.

Sorry, watching a lot of C. Tate, lately...

It's a financial aid scam.

[ciao_yall]

No direct answer, but....cui bono?

Is this just for the sake of pranking/hacking a system for laffs, or do the bots' creators then flog the positions for money?

I.e., why would anyone be bovvered?*

M.

Sorry, watching a lot of C. Tate, lately...

Because it overwhelms the staff trying to verify the real students to get them their financial aid. And then the real students' aid is delayed.

[mythbuster]

This is primarily because the courses were all online this year. It's pretty hard for a bot to impersonate a student in a real classroom. But it will seriously mess with real student  access to aid and  required classes, which likely will impact time to degree. It also messes with assessment of true needs for hiring within departments.

[mamselle]

OK, thanks, got it.

Clearly smarter minds than mine come up with these things.

Yuk.

M.

[ciao_yall]

Another snip from the article:

Brogger is down to what she believes are six real students among 45 registered. Cuslidge-Staiano believes that more than 40 of her 60 class members are bots. She is awaiting guidance from the college before removing those students from her class.

These bots are filling up classes and crowding out real students who need these classes.

[Aster]

Hm, I wonder if I have some of these bot students in my classes. I have a few people who enrolled for online courses, but have not turned in anything, not replied to any of my emails, and whose log-in history is entirely restricted to "page viewings." A computer program could do all of that, yes?

[lightning]

I don't know anything about the admissions process, so this may be a dumb question.

How does a bot student get a SSN to put on their financial aid form? The bot students would have to be stolen identities.

[Hibush]

I don't know anything about the admissions process, so this may be a dumb question.

How does a bot student get a SSN to put on their financial aid form? The bot students would have to be stolen identities.

Probably fake SSN like everything else. "Education Department waiving most verification requirements in the application process has contributed to the problem of fraudulent bots."

Hard to put a bot in prison! Or the Russian hacker who took the Covid-relief money.

[Mobius]

There used to be a 30-day waiting period before aid was disbursed the first time for a student, and the 30-day period would apply if you went to another school.

[apl68]

Non-paywalled article about ongoing concerns about this form of financial aid fraud, and efforts to counter it:


https://edsource.org/2021/at-these-california-community-colleges-scammers-got-their-hands-on-financial-aid/663152

[marshwiggle]

Non-paywalled article about ongoing concerns about this form of financial aid fraud, and efforts to counter it:


https://edsource.org/2021/at-these-california-community-colleges-scammers-got-their-hands-on-financial-aid/663152

I  didn't see any discussion of what proportion of the money went for things like tuition and residence fees. Those would only be of use to a student who actually attends,  (because presumably they'd just reduce the bill, rather than send out cash),so they couldn't really be scammed. It's the "pocket money" portion of financial aid that is vulnerable.