[CoIT-PrivateHigherEd] [CoIT] [EXT]: Re: Question: Student Identity Verification & Aid Fraud

Wed Mar 4 15:33:59 CST 2026

Hello all

Does anyone’s institution have written policies and/or procedures about requiring an app or admissions fee? How about a policy/procedure requiring a government identification?

Jeff

On Feb 26, 2026, at 5:45 PM, Ray, Dian via CoIT <coit at lists.onenet.net> wrote:

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Hi Nishanth and Tim,

Nishanth — thank you for sharing all of this—we really appreciate how thorough your process is. This is very helpful for us as we think through our own approach. We haven’t gone quite this deep yet, but your notes give us some great areas to review.
Tim – thank you for the update! Makes sense — the fee helps, our team definitely needs to revisit it.

Thank you both again and have a great rest of your week!
-Dian

From: CoIT <coit-bounces at lists.onenet.net> On Behalf Of Whitley, Tim via CoIT
Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2026 10:20 AM
To: Council on Information Technology <coit at lists.onenet.net>
Cc: Whitley, Tim <timothy.whitley at okstate.edu>; CoIT-PrivateHigherEd at lists.onenet.net
Subject: [EXT]: Re: [CoIT] [EXT]: Re: Question: Student Identity Verification & Aid Fraud

We currently charge an application fee. However, this still doesn’t catch everything. Our admissions team is looking at Slate modules.

Thanks,

<https://go.okstate.edu/>
<image001.png>

TIM WHITLEY
Director Technology Support
Enterprise Information Technology
(405) 744-3386 • https://it.okstate.edu/<https://https/it.okstate.edu/>
timothy.whitley at okstate.edu<mailto:timothy.whitley at okstate.edu>

From: CoIT <coit-bounces at lists.onenet.net<mailto:coit-bounces at lists.onenet.net>> On Behalf Of Rodrigues, Nishanth J. via CoIT
Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2026 7:29 AM
To: DIT Man <coit at lists.onenet.net<mailto:coit at lists.onenet.net>>
Cc: Rodrigues, Nishanth J. <nr at ou.edu<mailto:nr at ou.edu>>; CoIT-PrivateHigherEd at lists.onenet.net<mailto:CoIT-PrivateHigherEd at lists.onenet.net>; DIT Man <coit at lists.onenet.net<mailto:coit at lists.onenet.net>>
Subject: Re: [CoIT] [EXT]: Re: Question: Student Identity Verification & Aid Fraud

Good morning,

At OU, ours is a manual effort at the moment.
Here's how we currently manage this - We compare locations on current address, currently attended schools, and the locations that the person is logging in from in the Slate logs for one.  If there are multiple failed payment attempts, that is usually a sure sign of fraud.  If the email on the payment data is very different from the email on the record, that is a flag.  Certain email IPs like duck.com are immediately suspect, as are email addresses that seem generated by AI.  On non-degree apps, if the explanation seems like it was generated by AI, that is a major flag.  There are some email addresses that we mark as suspect to keep an eye on, but let them move forward because there is not enough negative to flag it outright.  On some of the ones that we felt were off, but not sure, we google the address.  Some of the addresses have been stores in strip malls or vacant lots.

We are still interested in pursuing an automated solution, and exploring our options at the moment.
I hope this helps.
Thanks, take care and have a nice day!

Best regards,
Nishanth Rodrigues, Ed.D., MBA

On Feb 25, 2026, at 6:18 PM, Ray, Dian via CoIT <coit at lists.onenet.net<mailto:coit at lists.onenet.net>> wrote:

Richard and Mary — Thank you both — this is very helpful. Richard, we’ve considered an application fee, but we're worried it might deter good prospects. Given the extent of the fraud, we definitely need to revisit it. Mary, thanks for sharing
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Richard and Mary — Thank you both — this is very helpful.
Richard, we’ve considered an application fee, but we're worried it might deter good prospects. Given the extent of the fraud, we definitely need to revisit it.
Mary, thanks for sharing about Fraud AI. We’re using Recruit and will be taking a closer look at its fraud/identity features as well.

Thanks again!
-Dian

From: CoIT <coit-bounces at lists.onenet.net<mailto:coit-bounces at lists.onenet.net>> On Behalf Of Richard Reif via CoIT
Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2026 11:34 AM
To: Council on Information Technology <coit at lists.onenet.net<mailto:coit at lists.onenet.net>>
Cc: Richard Reif <reif01 at nsuok.edu<mailto:reif01 at nsuok.edu>>; coit-privatehighered at lists.onenet.net<mailto:coit-privatehighered at lists.onenet.net>
Subject: [EXT]: Re: [CoIT] Question: Student Identity Verification & Aid Fraud

NSU has application fees for graduate and undergraduate students which slows down the fraud.   This is still a hot topic on campus and I am grateful for this email thread.  Please continue sharing!!

Richard

On Mon, Feb 23, 2026 at 6:30 PM LaMack, Mary A via CoIT <coit at lists.onenet.net<mailto:coit at lists.onenet.net>> wrote:
We have an application fee on undergrad applications. Our instances have mainly been with online grad applicants where there was no fee. We implemented fraud AI in Slate and it is working very well.

https://knowledge.technolutions.net/docs/identity-verification<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/knowledge.technolutions.net/docs/identity-verification__;!!GNU8KkXDZlD12Q!5idvWlfkKXrTc4asYBYpOP28fIyC-WQnq1lta8E4U43UOB-LfPQ0PJRkscSff4Yw9Lv9qiyqByc$>

Respectfully,

Mary LaMack
Director of Information Technology
East Central University
580.559.5702
mlamack at ecok.edu<mailto:mlamack at ecok.edu>
________________________________
From: CoIT <coit-bounces at lists.onenet.net<mailto:coit-bounces at lists.onenet.net>> on behalf of Ray, Dian via CoIT <coit at lists.onenet.net<mailto:coit at lists.onenet.net>>
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Cc: Ray, Dian <dian.ray at swosu.edu<mailto:dian.ray at swosu.edu>>
Subject: [CoIT] Question: Student Identity Verification & Aid Fraud

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Hi all —

We’re continuing to combat fraudulent admissions and financial aid applications and would appreciate any insight you can share on how your institution handles this process.

  1.  Do you verify every student, only students who receive aid, or just those identified as high risk?

  1.  What tools are you using for identity verification/fraud detection (e.g., ID.me, Clear, Experian/Equifax identity services, TransUnion, Jumio, etc.)?
  2.  Which ones are you happy with — and which should we avoid?

We’re looking into ID.me. Any insights on workflows and tools that work well at your institution are much appreciated!

Thank you!

-Dian

Dian Ray | Director | Information Technology Services | SWOSU<https://urldefense.com/v3/__http:/www.swosu.edu/__;!!IMGxvw!DtPRX-hkiGzLEpjYJQxbNfQ_LEWd7KS7iWb3EV71F-olx1nabgZhcfuzIQ33LX3kDUkTM7UjTkcpgm1z$>

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