What does Tim Walz do over in Minnesota besides advocate for tampons in boys' bathrooms? Another scam was recently uncovered in Minnesota, involving at least 33 state college campuses. Reportedly, "ghost students" are collecting financial aid by enrolling in universities under fake aliases and pocketing the money before disappearing. There are more than 7,700 suspected so far.
Over 7700 suspected 'ghost students'—people who take taxpayer funds for college then never show up—found in Minnesotahttps://t.co/2GbHIBncmR
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) June 15, 2026
MORE MINNESOTA FRAUD
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 15, 2026
More than 7,700 “ghost students” found in Minnesota State Colleges last year across their 33 campuses.
Students enroll in college under a fake name, get financial aid, then disappear.
These ghost students cost taxpayers $12.5 million according to the…
Fox 9 spoke with Jennifer Kerber, a fraud expert at Socure, who explained the scam, saying:
"They enroll in college under a fake identity. Sometimes they might even show up online and pretend to engage for a period of time. They do whatever needs to be done to trigger the disbursement of financial aid, and then they disappear. So, the student never existed, but the money is real."
Beyond taking money, the scammers are taking seats away from real students. Kerber detailed one incident in which fake students filled a class, saying, "In one online class that had 50 spots, as soon as it opened up, within two minutes, all of the spots were taken. So, this professor thought he had this really hot class that he was going to be offering, and it turns out only two of the students enrolled in the class were real. The rest were all fake."
Back in December, Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon wrote to Governor Walz, telling him the scam had cost taxpayers over $12 million and that the state had reportedly been granted $3 million to verify identities and reduce the problem.
House Republicans recently passed the No Aid for Ghost Students Act in response to the uncovered fraud, but there is more work to be done. It is estimated that nearly $9 billion in taxpayer dollars have been stolen through systemic fraud in Minnesota, and that number is likely to grow as more scandals are revealed.
Tim Walz could have been second-in-command of the entire country, yet his own state is failing miserably thanks to rampant fraud. Walz needs to answer for the waste, fraud, and abuse that continues to permeate throughout Minnesota.
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