The proposal comes after news broke last year that the 1.8 million-student California Community Colleges system received some 65,000 fraudulent student financial aid applications. The applications prompted the U.S. Department of Education to launch an investigation, and at least six community colleges told EdSource they suspect they’ve given financial aid to fake students.
The proposal could help the system improve its cybersecurity, according to a legislative analysis. The analysis recommends that lawmakers approve $23 million of the proposal devoted to ongoing funding for cybersecurity staff, which would ensure each community college district has at least one employee devoted to such efforts. It also recommends that lawmakers approve the bulk of the one-time funding but allocate funds in a way that gives the least prepared colleges the most money.