News You Might Have Missed--5/1/26
A roundup of items related to higher education and college admissions over the last week.
New Anti-Fraud Tool Arrives on FAFSA Website
Some users who encounter the Free Application for Federal Student Aid website may find a few extra steps in creating an account. A new identification verification tool has been added to the FAFSA during account creation. The announcement from the Department of Education touted that this tool helps take out AI bots, fraud schemes, and “ghost students.” The DOE also took swipes at the Biden Administration by asserting claims that it found $1 Billion in Federal Financial Aid fraud.
What the statement does not do is explain either precisely how the tool works or how many users would be flagged. The tool appears to be a video identification process that requires showing government IDs on camera. It also will only be triggered if the system suspects an applicant is likely to be attempting fraud. How precisely that is assessed or what students can do to avoid that before the verification step was not mentio…
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