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     A top Trump administration Education Department official exposed a pair of blue states that he says are among the worst for federal student aid fraud as officials crack down on scammers who are exploiting the taxpayer-funded programs. They should be arrested and found guilty.

     In 2025, the Department of Education said it prevented $1 billion of fraud in the aid programs. Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent said these schemes are not only a waste of taxpayer money, but also disproportionately affect low-income students trying to pay for their education.

     "We talked about California being certainly a hub of fraud, waste and abuse, but we also see Minnesota, for example," Kent told Fox News Digital. "You know, one of the things that has been brought to light over the course of the last couple of weeks is the enormous amount of fraud, waste and abuse under the governor's leadership there, and this is something that the federal Department of Education had lifted up and highlighted months ago."

     "And to kind of put that into perspective, that's 1,700 Pell Grants for low-income students that that money could have gone toward," Kent continued. "So when we think about limited resources, we think about taking away these things that low-income and middle-income students really need in order to get in and through their educational journey."

     During a 12-month period between 2024 and 2025, scammers stole at least $10 million in federal financial aid from community colleges in California. According to one report, 34% of applications to community colleges in the state last year were likely fake.  Kent explained that in many cases, "ghost students" are to blame.  

     "What we see often in terms of financial aid fraud are what we call ghost students, and these are students who really never intend to enroll in post-secondary education," he said. "They never intend to take classes and to graduate. They enroll for the sole purpose of defrauding the federal student aid program."