California community colleges appear to be gaining ground against financial aid scammers. A new CalMatters report shows schools lost far less student aid money to fraud this spring after stepping up ID checks and using new AI-based detection tools. College officials say scammers stole millions less in federal and state aid compared to last year’s peak fraud numbers. Administrators say fake student applications are still a major issue, especially in online classes, but improved screening systems are helping stop more fraud before money goes out the door