Jefferson College officials say they found hundreds of student admission applications from October 2024 to January 2026 that were fraudulent.
Kim Harvey-Manus, the college’s vice president of student services, submitted the report on the fraudulent applications at the Feb. 12 Board of Trustees meeting.
The report stated more than 1,500 applications had been flagged as potentially fraudulent.
Those flagged were manually reviewed by Shauna Gore, admissions technician, and/or Jacklyn Birks, director of admissions. Of those flagged, about a third were determined to be fraudulent, the report stated.
“The potentially fraudulent applications had been submitted for the spring 2025, summer 2025, fall 2025, spring 2026, summer 2026 and fall 2026 semesters,” Harvey-Manus said. “If a suspected fraudulent applicant applied for federal financial aid, we would report it to the Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General.”
She said no particular incident instigated the search for fraudulent student application; it was merely Jefferson College responding to a nationwide problem among colleges.
Also, the investigation had nothing to do with the Trump administration’s new interpretation of a 1996 legislative act announced in the summer of 2025 specifying that undocumented students are not eligible to participate in any programs supported by federal funds, she said.
“This fraud is completely unrelated, and there is a significant prevalence of fraud in the college admissions process nationwide,” Harvey-Manus said.
She said staff looks for discrepancies when seeking fraudulent student admissions applications.
“Jefferson College admissions staff began identifying discrepancies and inconsistencies in application data,” she said. “As this evolved, the college began receiving high school and college transcripts that were confirmed to be fraudulent by the sending institution.
“The main goal of these ‘ghost students’ is to receive financial aid.”
Someone whose admissions application is incorrectly flagged may correct the situation, she said.
“Applicants who have been flagged as potentially fraudulent are asked to submit a copy of their state-issued ID to the Office of Admissions,” Harvey-Manus said. “If staff are unable to determine the legitimacy of the ID via email, applicants are asked to provide the ID and proof of residency in person. The college is currently in the process of implementing the ID.me platform.”
ID.me is a company that assists individuals in securely proving their identity online, according to its website.
Harvey-Manus said the problem of fraudulent admissions applications has increased over the years.
“There have been occasional fraudulent applications in the past,” she said. “However, the amount and sophistication of fraud that the college is seeing in the application process is unprecedented.”
Jefferson College President Dena McCaffrey in a written statement said she applauds the efforts of her staff to tackle the problem of fraudulent admissions applications.
“I commend our admissions, registration and IT teams for the work they have done to stop fraudulent applications at Jefferson College,” McCaffrey said. “This is a national issue that all of higher education is facing; however, community colleges appear to be affected greater than four-year institutions.
“I am certain that we will continue to stay focused and combat the fraudulent applications challenges that exist.”
Jefferson College had 3,730 credit-seeking students enrolled for the fall 2025 semester and currently has 3,192 credit-seeking students enrolled for the spring 2026 semester, Harvey-Manus said.
“Jefferson College has been recognized as a leader in the state for its comprehensive response to fraud,” Harvey-Manus said. “The Office of Admissions has done a phenomenal job in combating application fraud.
“Staff members have presented at various state conferences, contributed to a national publication, and won a state award.”