‘Ghost Students’ Defrauded Utah Taxpayers of Almost $1 Million
24th July 2026
According to a recent report from the Utah legislative auditor general, the state’s higher education system lost over $830,000 in recent years to “ghost students” who apply to receive financial aid and run off with the money without pursuing a degree.
“Institutions reported disbursing $834k to suspected fraudulent applicants and spending over 15,000 hours working to mitigate enrollment fraud,” the 2026 Performance Audit on Enrollment Fraud in Higher Education report noted.
Salt Lake Community College alone saw at least 2,000 fraudulent applications in recent years, the report highlighted.
The community college did not respond to the Daily Signal’s request for comment.
It’s easy to defraud the government because nobody has a vested interest in pursuing such fraid—after all, it’s just Free Government Money. If education were paid for by the consumer (student/parents), such fraud would be far less frequent, and more likely prosecuted.