Congressional investigators decided to test the Department of Education’s loan program for students attending foreign colleges. Their mission: Create a fake university in London and obtain loans to attend it.
This imaginary university, named the Y’Hica Institute for the Visual Arts by investigators, obtained certification allowing the institution to take part in the loan program. Three “students” were then created and eventually approved for several $18,500 dollar loans.
According to reports, officials from the Department of Education failed to second-guess the institution due to credentials the university was thought to have. These qualities consisted of a website, a school president, a catalogue and apparent students in need of financial assistance.
These Congressional investigators also left an open clue behind the doors of this institution. Susan M. Collins was an “enrolled” student at the university in need of aid. However, U.S. Senator Susan M. Collins, R-Maine, does exist and was the specific lawmaker who requested the investigation.
The loan program would have been scammed out of a total of $55,000 dollars in loans had the final transactions gone through. However, loan companies became suspicious, and the undercover agents stopped the investigation.
Officials at the Education Department’s Federal Student Aid Office have insisted they would have caught the errors before the loan money was awarded, because a lender noticed irregularities in the student applications and notified the department.
“This situation is definitely shaded,” University of Wisconsin junior Bobby Roshan said. “I didn’t receive any financial aid when I studied abroad, and any way that they could have provided assistance would have been helpful.”
In hopes of correcting the program the department will now make visits to all foreign schools that apply for entrance to loan programs.
Students who choose to study abroad have the possible option of receiving federal aid in order to complete their desired venture to another continent. More than 14,000 U.S. students receive federal aid annually to help them study at more than 500 colleges and universities in 41 countries.
However, Roshan and UW junior Tim Sherman were unaware this aid existed when they decided to study abroad. Sherman is traveling to Paris, France, this upcoming February through a UW program and mentioned his existing student loans transferred over, but was unaware any other options for aid were available.
Similarly, Roshan ventured to Florence, Italy, last year and strongly believes aid should be made more readily available to students.
“The Department of Education should follow where the money goes to ensure that something like this can’t happen,” Roshan said. “They should also tighten cash controls.”
UW offers more than 65 different programs to study abroad all over the world. Financial aid is offered in numerous areas through UW as well.
According to the UW’s International Academic Programs and study-abroad office, if a person already receives aid, they may qualify for additional funding to offset the extra costs sometimes associated with study abroad.
In addition, if a person has not received aid in the past, they may still be eligible for a loan to help with their study-abroad expenses. Several scholarships are also available for students looking to study abroad.