Easy money

Three bogus applicants earning bogus degrees at a bogus college almost collected $55,000 in student loans. Congressional investigators probing the Department of Education pulled off the scam.

One of the phony students was called "Susan M. Collins." She was named after the real GOP Senator from Maine who asked for the investigation. The investigators set up a fake graduate school, the "Y'Hica Institute for the Visual Arts" in London, and federal bureaucrats quickly certified it for student loans. Investigators then went online and applied for money.

Nellie Mae Student Lending and Sallie Mae Servicing approved loans for the "students" under the Federal Family Education Loan Program. Only Bank of America, a private lender, smelled a rat and rejected the fake applications. The GAO released a letter from Sallie Mae congratulating one of the phony students: "We wish you the best as you continue your education," it told "Collins."

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February 08, 2003, Vol. 18, No. 5

America's best & worst Feb. 1, 2003	State of the Union 2003 Jan. 25, 2003	30 years of destruction Jan. 18, 2003
Lord of the box office Jan. 11, 2003	Year in Review 2002 Dec. 28, 2002	Fact & Fiction Dec. 21, 2002