Senate Introduces Companion Bill to Combat Student Aid Fraud
By Maria Carrasco, NASFAA Staff Reporter
A group of three senators on Tuesday introduced companion legislation aimed at preventing federal student aid fraud by targeting “ghost students,” dubbed the Student Aid Fraud Oversight and Accountability Act.
The Student Aid Fraud Oversight and Accountability Act was introduced by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Sens. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) and Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), who both co-chair the HELP task force to eliminate fraud in education.
The bill, which was previously introduced by Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-Penn.) in the House, would amend the Higher Education Act (HEA) to require the Education Secretary to prioritize program reviews of institutions that disburse federal student aid without verifying the identity of a student whose FAFSA “presents a reasonable suspicion of identity fraud.”
Specifically, the bill states that the Education Secretary would identify each institution that has disbursed, on or after October 1, 2026, federal financial aid to a student who presented a reasonable suspicion of identity fraud, as determined by the identity fraud detection system used by the Department of Education (ED).
Institutions would be able to establish that a student is not of reasonable suspicion of identity fraud—and disburse federal student aid—by confirming the student’s identity through in-person verification or live, synchronous audiovisual verification.
Back in April, ED launched its own fraud prevention measures for the FAFSA, where the department screens and assesses each FAFSA for fraud risk before it is submitted.
The Student Aid Fraud Oversight and Accountability Act has already advanced out of the House Education & Workforce Committee in March, with a 33-0 vote, along with two other bills aimed at tackling student aid fraud – the No Aid for Ghost Students Act and the FAFSA Verification Efficiency Act.
While Rep. Bobby Scott (D-Va.), ranking member of the House Education & Workforce Committee, voiced concerns that the Student Aid Fraud Oversight and Accountability Act could harm institutions for singular errors, ultimately he and other Democrats voted in favor of the legislation. The House has not yet taken the legislation up for consideration.
It’s unclear when the Senate HELP Committee will consider the Student Aid Fraud Oversight and Accountability Act. Stay tuned to Today’s News for more updates on this legislation.
Publication Date: 5/21/2026
Anthony M | 5/21/2026 1:56:18 PM
Shame on the Senate for pushing a bill that penalizes higher education institutions for the systemic failures created by the government itself. Let’s be clear: the Department of Education completely botched the FAFSA rollout and dismantled functional oversight, creating the very vulnerabilities that fraudsters are now exploiting. Meanwhile, institutions are left heavily burdened with the chaotic implementation of OB3 requirements, forced to shoulder the operational fallout of these administrative missteps.
Instead of taking accountability for the administrative disaster they presided over, politicians are trying to pass the buck. Forcing colleges to act as federal fraud investigators under the threat of aggressive program reviews is a lazy, cynical deflection. If Congress actually cared about protecting students and taxpayers, they would stop using institutions as scapegoats and focus on fixing the broken federal systems and disastrous policy decisions that caused this mess in the first place.
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