Secretary of Education Linda McMahon revealed that she is carrying out the Trump administration’s pledge to combat waste, fraud, and abuse within the federal government, announcing that reforms to the FAFSA program have prevented “ghost students” and even deceased individuals from receiving taxpayer-funded aid. According to McMahon, the changes have already saved as much as $60 million within the first couple of weeks.
She went on to say that her broader anti-fraud efforts within the Department of Education have saved taxpayers billions of dollars since the Trump administration took over.
🚨 WINNING! Trump’s Education Secretary Linda McMahon just blew the lid off insane student loan fraud:
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) May 18, 2026
Dead people, bots, and ghost students were collecting BILLIONS from the federal government.
“We enforced and tweaked the entire system so we have real-time fraud identity… pic.twitter.com/YFMqZhI4Gh
"I'm really proud of one of the things that we've done, and that is we've just really totally revamped the FAFSA program, which is the application that students fill out, you know, for student aid as they're going to college. But, as like many things in the government, we found that there was a lot of fraud going on," the Education Secretary said. "That there were bots that were applying for these loans, there were ghost students, there were dead people who were getting these loans, etc. And so we really did enforce and tweak this entire system so that we have this real-time fraud identity now."
"And it's as simple as showing an I.D. online to show who you are when you're applying for these loans," she added. "And last year, we kept a billion dollars of fraud money from going out. And just in the first, you know, two weeks of revamping this program this year, we've saved, you know, about $60 million. So it's very effective. And I'm very pleased that we are going to be able to save taxpayers, you know, billions of dollars with this identity program."
This comes as McMahon has been tasked with the ambitious goal of shutting down the Department of Education by the end of the Trump administration. While the department was originally created to support public education, critics argue that it has become a waste of taxpayer money, pointing to declining student performance nationwide despite increased spending.
It also comes amid the Trump administration’s efforts to combat government waste, fraud, and abuse. That effort began with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and has since spread throughout every level of the administration. The latest anti-fraud initiative was the creation of the White House Task Force on Fraud, led by Vice President JD Vance.