As ‘bot’ students continue to flood in, community colleges struggle to respond

Photo: Southwestern College. Photo credit: Ruben via Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 3.0. Article by Jakob McWhinney. The Hechinger Report – April 29, 2025. Article originally published by Voice of San Diego.

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. […]

Click here to view original web page at www.hechingerreport.org