Thanks for Ruining FA for the rest of us.....

Well, I'm glad some democrats are calling for a "crackdown" on the financial aid fraud that is going on in the country. First of all, here is the article I'm commenting on, though for greater background on exactly what these looters are doing, read this. Oh, and if you're interested, here's the letter written by the democrats calling for a crackdown on these criminals.

Basically, what these "ringleaders" do is find "straw" students (fake students) to enroll in online courses at various colleges, and apply for financial aid for them, take these "fake" courses, and then receive a kickback of $500 to $1500 worth of Pell Grant money from these phony students. Since the courses are online and it's difficult to verify that those online are who they say they are, the ringleaders have been able to get away with millions of dollars worth of fraud!

I think there are several difficulties in catching these ringleaders. Rio Salado got lucky (so to speak) and was able to catch someone because a financial aid officer noticed the same handwriting on several applications...but what if he hadn't? How do you go about catching these kinds of people? According to the article, some current investigations involve up to 400 people!

While I think there can be some benefit to online courses, the fact that there is no way to know who is on the other end is a problem, and I think we are still a ways away from really doing anything to improve the process. Also, if online classes are very large and involve little involvement beyond multiple-choice quizzes and exams, it is even easier for criminals to capitalize on these opportunities.

I think the biggest question, aside from "How do we catch these criminals?" is "How can we verify that students are who they say they are in online classes?" I think we're several years away from an answer.