{"id":2015,"date":"2026-06-17T19:10:04","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T19:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=2015"},"modified":"2026-06-17T19:10:04","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T19:10:04","slug":"audit-ghost-students-cost-utahs-higher-education-system-over-840k-last-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanmovershub.com\/?p=2015","title":{"rendered":"Audit: \u2018Ghost students\u2019 cost Utah\u2019s higher education system over $840K last year"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A legislative audit released Tuesday found Utah\u2019s higher education landscape has experienced a surge in enrollment fraud.<\/p>\n

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Typically, the audit said, this occurs when people \u2014 commonly known as \u201cghost students\u201d \u2014 use false or stolen identities to enroll in higher education institutions to obtain financial aid or other resources.<\/p>\n

When fraudulent attempts succeed, the colleges are required to pay the federal government back for the loss.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a waste of both money and time that Utah is no stranger to, as Utah System of Higher Education institutions reported disbursing $834,000 to suspected fraudulent applicants and spending over 15,000 hours working to mitigate enrollment fraud from 2025 to 2026, according to the audit.<\/p>\n

\u2018Institutions did not prepare\u2019<\/h3>\n

Salt Lake Community College alone has received 2,000 fraudulent applications in the last five years, and at Utah Valley University, ghost students were able to enroll in required classes, making real students sit on waitlists, hoping to get a spot.<\/p>\n

A systemwide lack of preparation could be at fault.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstitutions did not prepare as a system to implement fraud prevention practices and scrambled to develop reactive solutions when enrollment fraud spiked. These ad hoc and siloed approaches resulted in significant amounts of wasted time and money,\u201d said the audit.<\/p>\n

The audit explained that there is currently no formal approach to address enrollment fraud as a larger system, suggesting that the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education coordinate with institutional leaders to implement and support an official forum or task force, comprised of stakeholders from all institutions, focused on preventing fraud.<\/p>\n

Another avenue toward addressing enrollment fraud, per the audit, is increased data sharing.<\/p>\n

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The audit noted that staff at multiple institutions were concerned that the same stolen identities were being used at several schools but were hesitant to alert other USHE institutions due to data privacy limitations.<\/p>\n

To that end, the audit suggested the Utah Legislature clarify state code to allow USHE institutions to share data on fraudulent applications with \u201cappropriate safeguards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other recommendations concluded:<\/p>\n