It's unclear the state of California has done that after the disastrously run COVID-era unemployment scam and the billions unaccounted for in payouts to grifters in the Homeless Industrial Complex. Medicaid for all illegal aliens is draining the system for citizens. And now this. California's community college financial aid program is being plundered by scammers, grifters, and criminals. At least 25% of the money being given out in loans is sent to imaginary people who appear to be using AI to complete assignments, collect checks, and then disappear.

Indeed, as CalMatters reported, the number of these "Pell runners" has grown dramatically. 

"After enrolling at a community college they apply for a federal Pell grant, collect as much as $7,400, then vanish," according to the California Community College Chancellor's Office. 

As usual, during COVID, paddle boarding alone, gathering with friends, and meeting in a classroom were verboten, but stealing from the state was a breeze. The people in charge of watching over the money—looking at you Julie Su and Gavin Newsom— crammed the money into one of those T-shirt guns and fired it in the general direction of those they thought might need it: prisoners, Nigerian princes, and fake students.

Good luck passing an audit. 

CalMatters reported:

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government loosened some restrictions around financial aid, making it easier for students to prove they were eligible, and provided special one-time grants to help keep them enrolled. Once these pandemic-era exceptions ended in 2023 and some classes returned to in-person instruction, college officials said they expected fraud to subside. 

It hasn't. In January, the chancellor's office suspected 25% of college applicants were fraudulent, said Paul Feist, a spokesperson for the office. 

"This is getting significantly worse," said Todd Coston, an associate vice chancellor with the Kern Community College District. He said that last year, "something changed and all of a sudden everything spiked like crazy."

And here's the reason why this problem for taxpayers may continue.

Stephen Frank reports that instructors know that cutting fake students means that they won't get funding for those students.