• Financial aid fraud has been on the rise in California's community colleges.

• Scammers stole roughly $8.4 million in federal financial aid and more than $2.7 million in state aid in 2024.

California community college officials are working to overcome a serious predicament involving hundreds of thousands of fake students and hefty financial aid losses.

It's possible this multimillion-dollar problem could be solved, in part, with a $10 fee.

At a meeting last month of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, officials discussed a proposal to charge prospective students a $10 application fee — applying to one of the state's 116 community colleges has historically been free.

As officials prepare to put into place measures to prevent fraud, the charge is one more possible way to weed out those who are gaming the system to steal millions in financial aid dollars. At the May 20 meeting, the proposal seeking approval to explore the implementation of a "nominal" application fee was met with lengthy and spirited debate — with some fearing the fee would be seen as an obstacle for new students, many of whom are low-income.