Ask the Expert: Beyond Ghost Students: Building a Cross-Campus Response to Identity and Financial Fraud

Ghost student cases have revealed a challenge that extends far beyond traditional financial aid fraud. Institutions are encountering student accounts used to launder money rather than pay tuition, fraud indicators scattered across multiple offices without coordination, and identity verification processes that were never designed to withstand sophisticated, well-funded adversaries.

This session is designed as a facilitated discussion rather than a formal presentation. Participants will explore what their institutions are seeing, the risks that concern them most, and how campuses are addressing, or struggling to address, these evolving threats. The discussion leader will share lessons learned from a year of investigating ghost student cases, including efforts to aggregate data across enrollment and financial systems, as well as unresolved challenges that remain. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own experiences, questions, and complex cases for a candid peer exchange.