Online Meeting Information

This meeting will be held online via Zoom.

Agenda & Take-Aways

Roll Call

News & Updates

Data, Metrics & Report Center Survey

Spam Filter Update

• Update on Spam Issue 
• Current Performance
• Communication coming from CCCTC and Chancellor's Office
  • White Paper & CO Memo
• Monthly College Spam Filter Discussion
• Support for Colleges Finding False Negatives 

Current Performance

Despite the recent uptick in fraud, the most recent numbers from the machine learning data science team is that the CCCApply spam filter service is accurately identifying and filtering 96% of all fraud across all colleges.

From colleges that are diligently managing (tagging) the applications suspended by the model, we find the filter is performing at 99% accuracy. 

Underlying Causes

(Taken from the CCCApply White Paper (see below))

In order to combat fraudulent applications, it is important to understand the motivation of the bad actors who submit them. Investigation has shown that most of these applicants are seeking to obtain an academic email address, otherwise known as a “.edu” email account, which may be used for financial gain or myriad other benefits, including:

• Sell to other bad actors
• Obtain free software licenses
• Get confirmations of residency
• Use residency to get California IDs
• Potential for serious security attacks

It is widely discussed on hacking forums that most California community colleges generate a .edu email address for a student minutes to hours within receipt of a completed application. Fraudulent applicants receive a fully functioning .edu email account without ever having to register for classes or even attend orientation.

CCCApply Fraudulent Applications White Paper | January 2020

In an effort to reduce the number of incoming fraudulent applications through CCCApply, the CCC Information Security Center has published a two-part white paper exploring the leading causes behind the ongoing fraud craze, and a step-by-step tutorial describing three methods of restricting use of .edu accounts is available to California community colleges.  

• WHITE PAPER: Reducing Fraudulent CCCApply Applications A Guide for California Community Colleges | January 2020
• TUTORIAL: Restricting .edu Email Access A Guide for California Community Colleges | January 2020

What else are we doing about the spam issue?

1. Ongoing Development - Enhancements to the machine-learning spam filter model and user interface with regular model updates 
2. Manual Model Updates (see below) - Supporting colleges by receiving any "false negatives" that the model did not catch but you did. Send them to us and we will update the model with their "fraud status" manually.
3. Monthly Discussions - Third Monday of each month.  Next meeting = March 16 at 3pm

Support:  Send Us Your False Positives

If your college identifies a quantity (20 or more) of fraud applications that were NOT caught and suspended by the spam filter, please send them to us using the instructions below.

CCC MyPath

Update - Currently 46 colleges are actively implementing MyPath  (Seeing great numbers of students interacting with MyPath after submitting CCCApply application - upwards of 85% are engaged. 

Working on tracking statistics and getting reports to deploy in the Report Center

Distributing usage and access instructions for MyPath users

Working on first version of MyPath SIS integration using SuperGlue.  Highly requested feature enhancement.

Orientation Platform:  MyPath to work directly with your SIS data using rules engine - using what you know about the student and the rules (Mike can fix this)

• Fixing and updating registration information
• Focusing on four SIS fields
  • Orientation
  • Ed Plan
  • Admission Status 
  • Enrollment Status
• Also working on the reverse of this integration with these fields > from your SIS to MyPath 

MyPath CISOA - Tuesday, March 3

Interesting in a demo of MyPath?  Contact Mike Caruso, Product Manager, mcaruso@ccctechcenter.org

Roadmap & Development

Goals & Milestones: Addressing Key Concerns

Release: CCCApply 6.7.0 - Spring 2020

2020 Development Roadmap (Tentative Projects for FY19/20)

Schedule

• PILOT Release:  February 28, 2020
• PRODUCTION Release:  March 27, 2020 - 5:00pm 
• Pre-Release Webinar - Wednesday, March 11 at 12:00pm 

Release Highlights

Internationalize CCCApply Applications (Spanish)

• Spanish-language translation throughout Standard & Noncredit Applications
• Spanish-language translation throughout International Application
• Spanish-language translation throughout the Promise Grant Application

Enhance OpenCCC System (Legacy)

• Mobile-friendly User-Interface
• Spanish-language translation throughout the OpenCCC Account creation & recovery 

Revised the Social Security Number Question - New Language & Layout

• Shortened and streamlined all onscreen language, including legalese
• Simplified the layout with unambiguous Yes/No format
• Removed SSN Type and SSN Exceptions from layout
• No backend data field changes - No IT hassles for colleges

Changes in the HS Transcript Information Section

• Implement new question and data field: Highest Grade Completed
• Remove Completed Eleventh Grade question from UI and deprecate data field
• Expand display conditions for "all US high school graduates or equivalent" 

CCCApply Redesign Enhancements

• Removed residency flag for California homeless applicants that don't provide address(es)
• Language Updates to Support Undocumented Students - Part 1
• Replaced AB540 Eligibility Affidavit on Special Links Page
• New California Dream Act Application Link on Special Links Page
• Bug Fixes

Ongoing Development Projects

Concurrently to the upcoming CCCApply 6.7.0 release, the development team is working on the following ongoing projects. 

• UI Styles Alignment with Chancellor's Office Style Guide
• Language Enhancements - Gathering Requirements
• In-Progress Applications Data Project - Gathering feedback on development proposals
• CA Legislative Updates
• Data Integration Microservices - Gathering requirements/feedback

On Deck:

Preparing for Impacts to CCCApply from OpenCCC 2.0 Launch

CCCApply Report Center Upgrade

Professional Development & Training

FY19/20 Quarterly Release Schedule

CCCApply Sub-Committee Meetings - December 2019

During the month of December 2019, a series of topical discussions were held with college using CCCApply.  An open invitation was sent through the CCC-ADMISSIONS and CCCAPPLYSTEERING listservs with dates, times and Zoom links. These hour-long discussions were extremely fruitful and we walked away with a wealth of feedback, action items and next steps.  

Each meeting was recorded and discussion notes were captured for historical reference. The ability to meet with college staff on a variety of issues was so successful that we hope to continue with this format in the upcoming months.

Due to the number of meetings held, I put together a page of summary descriptions and action items (at-a-glance):  Summaries & Conclusions

• Fall 2019 Schedule of Sub-Committee Meetings
• ARCHIVE: Fall 2019 Meeting Recordings
• Recurring Spam Filter Web Service User Group Meetings

Priority Topics - Need Follow-Up Meetings

• Language Changes 
  • Remove language barriers for Undocumented Students Part 2 (Immigrants Rising Org)
  • Parent/Guardian Information Question Changes
• Citizenship & Immigration Section Changes
  
  • DACA students
  • No Documents
• AB540 Eligibility - Changes needed in CCCApply?
• Access to In-Progress Application Data

Spring 2020 Topics for Sub-Committee Meetings:

• International Application User Group
• CCCApply Report Center 
• CCCApply Administrator: Enhancements to the Majors Module / Meta Majors

Discussion Notes

SB554 - What needs to be changed in CCCApply to identify Special Adult Admits (dual enrollment)?  

• Patty will contact Linda Vann, V.C., to setup call to discuss alignment with MIS

Users of the Noncredit Application proposed two change requests to be reviewed by Noncredit App sub-committee:

• App-specific Terms (Noncredit needs to be able to have different terms than the Standard App)
• Different language needs to be used in the Abandoned Application emails (24hr/7d) for the Noncredit Application

2020 Steering/User Group Meeting Schedule