Over 7700 suspected 'ghost students'—people who take taxpayer funds for college then never show up—found in Minnesota

Over 7,700 suspected "ghost students" have now been flagged in the Minnesota public education system. This comes as the federal government is working to crack down on fraudsters and scammers across the nation.

Scammers known as "ghost students" enroll in colleges, claim financial aid, then disappear with taxpayer funds, and the Minnesota State system, which has 33 colleges and universities, has now identified over 7,700 in the 2024-2025 school year in the public university system.

The Minnesota education system was recently given $3 million to verify students as well as identify scammers. Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon has previously said in a letter to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz that "ghost students" have cost the Minnesota public university system $12.5 million in taxpayer-funded grants.

"In Minnesota, 1,834 ghost students were found to have received $12.5 million in taxpayer-funded grants and loans. They collected checks from the federal government, shared a small portion of the money with the college, and pocketed the rest—without attending the college at all."

The Republicans in the House recently passed the No Aid for Ghost Students Act, sponsored by Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT).

“Taxpayers deserve confidence that every dollar spent by the federal government is protected from waste, fraud, and abuse. When fraudsters exploit federal student aid programs, taxpayers foot the bill, and legitimate students lose out,” Owens said when his bill passed the House last week.

In addition to taking away taxpayer funds, "ghost students" can often take away spots in classes from actual students. Fraud expert Jennifer Kerber told Fox 9 about one case seen in another state, "In one online class that had 50 spots, as soon as it opened up, within two minutes, all of the spots were taken. So, this professor thought he had this really hot class that he was going to be offering, and it turns out only two of the students enrolled in the class were real. The rest were all fake."