Faced with increasing financial aid fraud, the board of California’s community colleges is considering ways to charge students an application fee and tighten its identity verification process.

Scammers stole more than $10 million in financial aid last year by fraudulently enrolling in California's community colleges. State and federal officials are working to combat the rising fraud.

The numbers show that across the state, community colleges saw a nearly 17% drop in enrollment from Fall 2019 to Fall 2020. The decrease for Santa Ana College was twice that of the state, at 34%.

California's community colleges have a mission to serve every Californian and they're funded primarily based on the number of students they enroll. When applying, students sign an affidavit ...