Student Loans and Foreign Schools: Assessing Risks Could Help Education Reduce Program Vulnerability

摘要

Recent events have increased concerns about the potential for fraud in Education's student loan programs related to loans for U.S. residents attending foreign schools. In 2002, GAO's Office of Special Investigations created a fictitious foreign school that Education subsequently certified as eligible to participate in the student loan program. GAO investigators subsequently successfully obtained approval for student loans totaling $55,000 on behalf of three fictitious students. Over the past decade, Education's Inspector General has investigated many instances of suspected student loan fraud involving individuals applying for loans for purported attendance at foreign schools. The conference report accompanying the 2001 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act mandated that GAO examine and report on fraud, waste, and abuse with respect to student loans for Americans attending foreign schools.