The red flags became hard to miss at Central Ohio Technical College.
A group of applications all got filed around the same time. Applicants wanted to enroll in online-only programs and used email addresses that followed similar naming conventions. The phone numbers listed on their documents were out of service.
“It was a culmination of those patterns that made us say, ‘There’s something going on here,’” Sarah Morrison, the college’s enrollment management dean, recently told Signal Statewide.
Morrison and her team eventually figured those applications – estimated to be a few hundred – came from scammers. Now, even a few years after that instance forced them to revamp admission practices, the college still receives fraudulent documents from so-called “ghost students” each month.
COTC isn’t an outlier. It’s happening across the country. Here in Ohio, nearly all of the state’s 22 community colleges said they’ve experienced some type of application or enrollment fraud. Scammers target campuses in attempts to pocket financial aid money or access real students’ personal data via phishing schemes.
Community colleges seem to be especially vulnerable given their mission to educate more people. Some college leaders are turning to the state for help, underscoring the wide-ranging consequences these incidents can bring to campuses, students and taxpayers.
Five Ohio campuses – three community colleges and two universities – reported scam-related expenses totaling more than $300,000 in a November 2025 state report. Those findings noted the true cost is difficult to calculate and is probably higher.
Institutions may be on the hook for repaying federal financial aid money it allowed fraudsters to obtain through them. In addition, there are additional costs of safeguarding against scammers, such as purchasing identity protection software that can cost five-figures annually, and there’s the cost of employees’ time being taken away from their primary responsibilities.
Current students, furthermore, may not be able to enroll in a class if an admission spot is already taken by a scammer.
Ohio residents’ information has been stolen and used in several reported fraud cases. In some instances, schools said they didn’t have the ability to find and contact those victims.
Why scammers target community colleges
COTC’s Morrison said she initially wondered how institutions like hers – a community college in Newark, about 40 miles east of Columbus with about 3,150 students – wound up on the radar of fraudsters.
“Why are they, number one, doing this?” she said. “Number two, why are two-year colleges becoming a target, and then why [is] COTC becoming a target?”
One reason: It’s relatively easy to enroll at these campuses. They tend to offer simple applications with no fees and few required documents. These campuses also often have less money and resources compared to their four-year peers, part of the reason why universities see fewer of these incidents.
Morrison said they started to note more instances of fraud after the COVID-19 pandemic. Colleges across the country got billions of dollars in relief funding to navigate that time.
Now, COTC President John Berry told Signal Statewide, they’ve invested “thousands upon thousands of dollars” to help thwart the scammers. Multiple employees from different departments collaborate on a “fraud squad” meant to flag fishy applications. Faculty and staff receive training about what to do if a fraudulent student actually makes it into a class.
The college recently started using a software program integrated into their online application portal that tracks internet addresses and can ask questionable applicants to submit a photo. Leaders also talked about reinstating an application fee as another barrier, but eventually decided against it. It didn’t align with their open-access mission.
These preventive moves have helped decrease some of the reported fraud incidents over time. But the college still sees regular fraudulent activity, especially before the start of a new semester. Plus, Morrison said the scammers are getting savvier.
“It’s a continual process of assessing what’s happening, where are they coming from, what tactics are they using this month, and how do we adapt to that,” she said.
Report showed variety of fraud at Ohio colleges
The 2025 statewide report reads almost like a mystery novel, highlighting a dizzying number of different types of fraud.
There are repeated mentions of falsified documents, coordinated fraud rings, and the use of “synthetic identities,” or where parts of real and fake identities get combined into a new one.
In one included case study, Kirtland’s Lakeland Community College in Kirtland reported seeing 700 suspected incidents of application fraud over a recent one-year period. Columbus State Community College saw a similar number come in from what officials believed to be an organized, sophisticated attack.
And last fall, 40 fake student accounts used stolen banking information to pay for classes at Cuyahoga Community College before dropping out. Scammers try this tactic in hopes of redirecting refunds to a different form of payment.
Tri-C officials said this instance – along with a similar, bigger attempt the previous year – was unsuccessful.
“The College learned that strict refund policies, such as returning funds only to the original credit card or holding check and e-check refunds for 21 days, are essential safeguards that effectively prevent financial loss,” officials wrote.
College leaders seek state support
In that report, nearly two dozen officials from community colleges, universities and higher education groups laid out a series of recommendations for Ohio leaders.
Those include giving institutions money earmarked specifically for fraud prevention software. Those programs range from $25,000 to $100,000 for startup fees, plus additional annual licensing fees, the report noted.
They also want to create a centralized, state-managed database of previously submitted fraudulent applications that could identify repeat offenders. The group also recommends a more formal relationship with law enforcement, including as a way to help schools successfully contact residents whose identities may have been used in these schemes.
None of those have been implemented yet.
“We continue to stay in touch with the campuses and encourage them to pursue the recommendations,” the state’s higher education department told Signal Statewide via email. “As we are still in the current budget biennium, there are no funds directly allocated for the recommendations at this time — we will see whether the next budget addresses this.”
Ohio Association of Community Colleges president Avi Zaffini said that while his members deal with fraud threats “on a very regular basis,” it doesn’t occur “on the widespread level that sometimes folks may think exists.”
Still, he said the issue is a priority, including as the lobbying group prepares its next legislative agenda.
“The better our technology, our processes can be, the more time our community colleges can devote towards what their purpose is, teaching and learning with their students to help them get jobs,” he said. “That’s the cost that I think we are ultimately concerned about.”
