Examples of Education Fraud
Schools that receive state and federal funds are required to meet specific standards to maintain support from the government for those programs. The following is a partial list of some of the types of fraud activities that occur within these organizations:
- Enrolling students under false pretenses, where counselors admit unqualified students by deception through such means as claiming the student is of an ethnic background or financial status than is verifiably true.
- Misusing school funds or resources in such circumstances as supporting teachers' union initiatives on political fronts, or to allocate resources in ways overtly not consistent with the budgeted intent. When money is received for one purpose and used for another, those providing the resources may have been mislead in order to receive those dollars.
- Submitting false financial aid information, for Pell Grants or other types of federally guaranteed grants, that have information which has been purposely distorted or changed in order to mislead or qualify the student for a program for which they would not otherwise meet the required criteria.
- Misusing schools, school resources, students and other assets for personal or other purposes.
- Enrollment counselors admitting unqualified students by altering the results of their entrance exams, giving the students the answers to the exams, or allowing them to take the exams multiple times until a passing score is achieved.
- Improper financial incentives given to enrollment counselors, inducing them to meet certain enrollment quotas which are not in alignment with assigned Federal or State objectives.
- Pressuring teachers to pass unqualified students to progress in order to meet "retention quotas" or similar goals to achieve school funding or other rewards.
- Career counselors committing fraud by developing false reports which show more students hired than is actually the case, or indicating that these individuals "waived placement" after graduation to make the school's placement record look higher than it actually is.
- Schools misleading applicant students about job prospects and salary ranges for graduates.
- Charter or public schools creating false expense reports, misusing federal funds or hiring unqualified teachers.
Being Rewarded for Stopping Education Fraud
Stopping education fraud is everyone's responsiblity. Every dollar you save the government allows it to be applied appropriately to the education of our young and improving the quality of life across our country for everyone. If you have knowledge of deception by a teacher, a university, a union leader, a public or private school - perhaps even you yourself have been pressured into misleading students to take loans they are not qualified for or to create performance reports with false data in order to improve recruiting efforts or collect government funding - then your desire to correct these wrongs and end this abuse of our education system can and should be rewarded. Speak to someone with OffRecord to assess the merits of your claim and see if they may be the right partner to assist you in righting this wrong and making our schools a better learning environment for everyone. In some cases there are maximum time frames for which a crime can be reported; therefore, it is important for you to take action sooner rather than later.
