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The Hechinger Report 

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.”

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Federal Student Aid 

May 1, 2025

Dear Colleague:

Currently, under section 496(h) of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, (HEA) (20 U.S.C. 1099b(h)), an institution seeking to change its accrediting agency must submit all materials relating to the prior accreditation and materials demonstrating reasonable cause for changing the accrediting agency to the Secretary. The Department has implemented this statutory requirement via 34 CFR § 600.11, which requires an institution to provide all materials related to its prior accreditation or preaccreditation and materials demonstrating reasonable cause for changing its accrediting agency (or having multiple accrediting agencies), so that the Department can provide approval of the switching or adding of the accrediting agencies. The law and regulation do not dictate a robust or onerous process for receiving the Department’s approval for a change in accrediting agencies or maintaining multiple accreditation. Therefore, consistent with statutory and regulatory obligations, the Department will conduct expeditious review of applications received except in rare cases where an institution lacks a reasonable cause for making a change.

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Inside Higher Ed

Jessica Blake

April 29, 2025

The proposal is part of Republicans’ broader plan to pay for Trump’s tax cuts and other priorities.

House Republicans are planning to upend how students and families pay for college in order to cut $330 billion in federal spending, according to draft legislation released Monday.

Lawmakers and supporters of the sweeping plan, which includes cutting off subsidized loans to undergraduates next year, capping loans for existing borrowers and ending the graduate student loan program, say the changes are necessary to address the student debt crisis and hold colleges accountable. But student advocates fear it will make college inaccessible.

The House Committee on Education and the Workforce will mark up the legislation Tuesday. Among other changes, the bill would put colleges partially on the hook for unpaid student loans, consolidate income-driven repayment plans, repeal Biden-era regulations and make changes to which students and programs are eligible for the Pell Grant.

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