Recent Actions Highlight the Administration’s Sustained Focus On Efforts to Root Out Fraud In Federally Funded Programs

Overview
If you haven’t noticed both the White House and the U.S. Department of Education (Department) have made it a priority to expose and eliminate “widespread fraud in federally funded programs.’ The Administration frames fraud prevention as a “national security and fiscal imperative, linking it to taxpayer protection, program integrity, and political accountability.”

Over the past fifteen-to-sixteen months the Administration has made quite a few high-profile announcements, developed and implemented new policies, and established new oversight entities responsible for fraud prevention.

And not to be out done, Congress is considering its fare share of fraud prevention legislation as well.

Here is a brief update that we hope you will find helpful.

Addressing Fraud In Higher Education
Think back to last June (2025) when the Department published Electronic Announcement (APP-25-16) (centralstatesedu.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=75e01bde202d593ed21c1c91c&id=de74a7ffac&e=05bce952ad) entitled Significant Actions to Prevent Fraud through Identity Verification. In this initial directive related to identity theft and fraud prevention in higher education the Department announced their intent to “launch of a nationwide effort to eliminate identity theft and fraud in the federal student aid programs for the fall 2025 semester to protect taxpayers while significantly reducing the administrative burden on colleges and universities.”

The Department called upon institutions to enhance its verification process while the FSA Identity Confirmation process was brought on line. Less than two months later, in August, the Department posted Electronic Announcement (General-25-36) (centralstatesedu.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=75e01bde202d593ed21c1c91c&id=588804422e&e=05bce952ad) Verification of Identity Reporting Availability in FAFSA Partner Portal providing additional information on the verification of identity reporting. This information was updated several time and forms the basis for further institutional review of elevated identity verification flags.

In December the Department announced (centralstatesedu.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=75e01bde202d593ed21c1c91c&id=afa07bf52c&e=05bce952ad) that these efforts had prevented more than $1 Billion in FSA fraud and that additional actions would take place in 2026 to crackdown even more on various forms of fraud.

This brings us up to present day and the Department’s recent Electronic Announcement (APP-26-03) (centralstatesedu.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=75e01bde202d593ed21c1c91c&id=4aec04233a&e=05bce952ad) FAFSA Real-Time Fraud Detection and details regarding real-time identity fraud detection capability within the FAFSA form which went into effect yesterday.

This Thursday, on CSPEN’s regularly scheduled Federal Legislative & Regulatory Update webinar we will review the details of these key announcements and other fraud related initiatives and actions.

Congress To Markup New Fraud-Focused Legislation
On Wednesday, April 29^th, the House Oversight Committee will be marking up a series of fraud-related legislative proposals. Included in the group of bills to be considered is legislation (H.R. 8312 – The Fraud Prevention and Accountability Act) which seeks to establish a permanent Inspector General for Fraud, Accountability, and Recovery (IGFAR) within the U.S. Treasury and other bills.

CSPEN will monitor the markup and provide more details on the legislation this Thursday too.

What’s Next
We know that the higher education community is spread pretty thin right now, but we hope to help provide you with the information and resources that you need to stay on top of things. In addition to these topics, CSPEN will once again provide new details on the Earnings Accountability NPRM, the Accreditation, Innovation, and Modernization Committee’s communications as proposals start to circulate in advance of the second session, and more.