Thieves have figured out a new way to steal thousands of dollars without a gun. All they have to do is apply to colleges.

Collin Binkley of The Columbus Dispatch reports.

Fake students steal college grants

By the time colleges realize they’ve been scammed, it’s too late.

Swindlers enroll long enough to receive federal grants paid through the school and then drop out. Many never attend a class. They keep the money — totaling an estimated $187 million nationally over four years — and then vanish.

Some schools have raised tuition to cover their losses. Efforts to track down the scammers often lead to unsuspecting people whose identities were stolen and used to take out financial aid. Their credit scores plunge.

New measures to catch scammers at Columbus State Community College have led to some improvement, officials there said. Like other colleges, Columbus State is on the hook to repay the government when someone gets away with the scheme, though the school has not raised tuition in response.

Losses from variations of the scam have grown rapidly in recent years, federal education officials have reported.

Community colleges and online programs have been the primary targets. The Pell grants sought under the scheme must cover tuition costs before schools turn the rest of the money over to students, so lower tuition translates to a larger check.

“We’re easily accessible, and we have a very low tuition point — which is great for students who are here for legitimate reasons — but it makes us the primary target for fraudulent activity,” said Martin Maliwesky, the dean of enrollment services at Columbus State, one of the largest community colleges in Ohio.

It’s difficult for schools to pinpoint how much they lose. Students who withdraw and don’t return their financial aid for any reason leave similar paper trails. Columbus State has been losing about $4 million a year from all of those cases, at least some of which is a result of fraud, officials said.