2008 Woodie Awards
Many college students become victims of financial aid scams
Jamie Hutchison
Issue date: 5/4/06 Section: News
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Posers are everywhere. No college students expect to have their identities stolen just because they were looking for money to go to college, but it happens.
According to Ellen Neel, director of GCC's Financial Aid Office, "There have been individuals posing as agents of the federal government calling students to gain personal information (such as) social security numbers, and bank account information."
When a student gets a call like this, Neel said, it is "just another form of identity theft."
Financial aid is a necessary concern for most students, so they are a target for scams in many different forms, but financial aid officials all agree on two pieces of advice.
First, do not give out personal information over the phone unless you have initiated the contact.
"My best advice is if someone calls you posing as a representative of the Department of Education asking for information, do not give it to them," Neel said. "Ask them for their name and a call-back number, write the information down and report the incident to the appropriate authorities."
Neel also added that the Department of Education would likely already have any information that these pretenders are seeking.
Another scam to which students often fall victim when searching for scholarships, is when they are asked to pay a company to search for the scholarships for them.
One student said she is very familiar with the student-aid scam artists.
"They are always sending me their spam in my email because, one time, I started the process of applying for their service," GCC sophomore Tracy Heitland said. "Luckily I didn't actually take it to the level where I had to pay, but they really annoy me now anyway."
Alison Dye, a high school scholarship coordinator, said students should not pay to get scholarships.
"When you are on a website, or receiving offers through the mail, or even if someone approaches you, beware that you should not have to pay in anyway in order to find scholarships," Dye said. "There are many, many resources and websites where students can apply for scholarships without paying a thing."
According to Ellen Neel, director of GCC's Financial Aid Office, "There have been individuals posing as agents of the federal government calling students to gain personal information (such as) social security numbers, and bank account information."
When a student gets a call like this, Neel said, it is "just another form of identity theft."
Financial aid is a necessary concern for most students, so they are a target for scams in many different forms, but financial aid officials all agree on two pieces of advice.
First, do not give out personal information over the phone unless you have initiated the contact.
"My best advice is if someone calls you posing as a representative of the Department of Education asking for information, do not give it to them," Neel said. "Ask them for their name and a call-back number, write the information down and report the incident to the appropriate authorities."
Neel also added that the Department of Education would likely already have any information that these pretenders are seeking.
Another scam to which students often fall victim when searching for scholarships, is when they are asked to pay a company to search for the scholarships for them.
One student said she is very familiar with the student-aid scam artists.
"They are always sending me their spam in my email because, one time, I started the process of applying for their service," GCC sophomore Tracy Heitland said. "Luckily I didn't actually take it to the level where I had to pay, but they really annoy me now anyway."
Alison Dye, a high school scholarship coordinator, said students should not pay to get scholarships.
"When you are on a website, or receiving offers through the mail, or even if someone approaches you, beware that you should not have to pay in anyway in order to find scholarships," Dye said. "There are many, many resources and websites where students can apply for scholarships without paying a thing."
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