Posted inHigher Education As ‘bot’ students continue to flood in, community colleges struggle to respond
Jakos McWhinney
April 29, 2025
In some California colleges, determining whether a student is fake or real can be difficult
Community colleges have been dealing with an unprecedented phenomenon: fake students bent on stealing financial aid funds. While it has caused chaos at many colleges, some Southwestern College faculty feel their leaders haven’t done enough to curb the crisis.
When the spring semester began, Southwestern College professor Elizabeth Smith felt good. Two of her online classes were completely full, boasting 32 students each. Even the classes’ waitlists, which fit 20 students, were maxed out. That had never happened before.
“Teachers get excited when there’s a lot of interest in their class. I felt like, ‘Great, I’m going to have a whole bunch of students who are invested and learning,’’ Smith said. “But it quickly became clear that was not the case.”
