Fake website calls out reality of ‘ghost student’ problem at Minnesota colleges

kstp ^ | August 24, 2026 | Eric Rasmussen KSTP

[rdcbn1]

The threat of “ghost students” has become so prevalent at Minnesota’s largest community college that administrators now say nearly a third of all applications to the school are potentially fraudulent.

That revelation recently came from Dara Hagen, vice president of Student Affairs at Normandale Community College in Bloomington.

Enrollment fraud — using stolen identities of real people with the goal of stealing taxpayer-funded student aid — has become a nationwide problem over the last few years.

“Since then, we’ve had about 29,000 fraudulent or potentially fraudulent applications that we’ve processed,” Hagen said. “We were seeing probably 42% of our applications or so being fraudulent, and now we’re down to about 31%.”

The college says that figure represents applications that were flagged for further review before any student aid was disbursed.

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TOPICS: Business/Economy; Conspiracy; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: crimecorruption; democratcorruption; democratincompetence; education; entitlementfraud; minnesota; studentloans; tampontim

[dfwgator]

Is one of them named Jonathan S. Tuttle?

[Uncle Miltie]

Prolly mohammed bein’ mohammed…

[Bookshelf]

The stench of Minnesota corruption will not abate for years to come. Who the hell would want to live there?

[Maine Mariner]

I would sure like to know who coached them to engage in this fraud.

[Red Badger]

Hank Dearborn.................

[eyeamok]

we’ve had about 29,000 fraudulent or potentially fraudulent applications that we’ve processed,” Hagen said.

AND PAID!!!

[Hyman Roth]

What the hell is wrong with Minnesota. Bunch of freaks and criminals.

[motor_racer]

Somalians want to live there, as long as they can keep the fraud tap flowing.

[PGR88]

The Left and Somalis have figured out yet another scam on public money

If nothing else, these people are CREATIVE.

[Responsibility2nd]

Phony enrollments at Learing Centers with no students is not enough. 

Now they need Ghost Students in colleges and universities to further defrauding the public.

[ComputerGuy]

ghostses

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

This leaves those poor people who's identities were stolen on the hook for the money until they can prove that it was not them.

This also becomes student loans that are in default.

We HAVE to start cracking down on identity theft.

A quick trial followed by execution sounds about right.

If they are in another country, drones and hellfire to where ever the little shoe scrapings are working out of.

[PGR88]

What the hell is wrong with Minnesota. Bunch of freaks and criminals.

IMHO the evolution of Minnesota woke stupidity:

It started when nordic discipline and Christianity met American freedom

Individualism and Northern European Christianity become "Minnesota nice."

Then came post-modernism and neo-marxist cultural propaganda

Christianity was removed and Statism was added into "Minnesota nice" to become secular Minnesota Liberalism

Once it became secular liberalism, then the neo-marxists could infiltrate

And boy have they ever.....

[A_perfect_lady]

The real way to end fraud is to end most tax-payer funded programs. Completely. Our taxes should go to the military, maybe the FDA, and not much else. I don’t even know if it’s worth it to support the Post Office anymore.

[Freee-dame]

“ The real way to end fraud is to end most tax-payer funded programs.”

Not most, ALL tax funded programs that are not enumerated in the constitution. The feds can stop collecting so much tax money from the states, swirling it around around in DC with the bigs in DC taking their cuts, distributing some to their friends and then sending a smaller amount of it back to the states with conditions.

The closer that tax money is spent to the people that provided that money, the more carefully those who collected that money have to be.

[chopperk]

The political leadership ignores the obvious fraud, maybe for a percentage. Its hard to believe Walz, Ellison, Flanagan to name a few, did not know how corrupt things were in Minnesota during their terms in office. Over 9billions dollars were wasted through fraud and the leaders of gov’t knew nothing about it.

[GOPJ]

Can we assume 'ghost' students get student loans and scholarships?

And that they'll default on the payments? And how about food stamps? Poor 'students' need to eat, right? Ghosts get hungry? Pell grants?

Honest citizens of Minnesota are being taken for a ride by the criminal 'immigrants' George Soros, commies, NGO's and evil 'liberal elites' brought to the United States with help from the CIA? China? Cuba? Muslim Brotherhood? We need to get to the bottom of the largest attack on United States sovereignty in our history. The dumping of millions of illegals chosen to destabilize OUR country. s

[Zathras]

MN has been one party rule since forever.
An occasional GOP wins governor seat but the reality is the state is ruled by DNC, WCCO and the Red Star.

[rdcbn1]

This has been going on since the Obama Administration took over the student loan program.

Student loan fraud has been so bad that the Democrat’s obsession with student loan forgiveness is driven, at least in part, by a desire to discharge the fraudulent student so investigators cannot discover it.