ID.me Identity Verification was integrated with the OpenCCC student account system in February 2024.
Introduction
Under the direction of the Chancellor’s Office, a new third-party identity verification service is being introduced into the current admission application workflow to reliably verify and confirm the identity of students and prospective applicants before they enter the CCC system.
To improve student use of IDme for identity verification, IDme needs to be more tightly coupled with the identity verification process required to disburse financial aid funds, specifically cash disbursements such as Cal Grant and Pell Grant.
On this page:
How It Works: IDme Verification Workflow
IDme Verification Data
Verification Status Changes
Data Delivery via SuperGlue and Reporting
Integration of Student ID Verification Service
The initial phase of this project includes integrating an opt-in/opt-out “ID verification” step for all applicants age 18 years or older. The ID verification step is positioned between the OpenCCC student account system and the CCCApply admission applications, allowing colleges to capture provable personal information to confirm the student’s legal identity.
By adding digital, direct, and self-service identity-proofing software into our existing workflows allows our local A&R and financial aid staff to focus their time on the students who need extra support and the individuals who cannot easily prove their identities, such as:
Undocumented
Minors
Special Needs
Fraudulent/bad actors trying to enter the system.
About ID.me
ID.me provides a trusted pathway for students to securely verify and protect their identity information in accordance with federal standards. Additionally, ID.me specifically provides the same technology used for identity verification and fraud reduction currently used across 37 California state agencies and 15 federal agencies, notably:
California Employment Development Department
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
U.S. Internal Revenue Service
U.S. Social Security Administration
Read more: Go directly to http://ID.me for more information.
Used widely across California state agencies, over 8 million Californians already have an ID.me account making it easier to complete the new verification process.
Benefits to Students
Protects student identities
Streamlines student enrollment and financial aid disbursements
Helps prevent bad actors from stealing spots in online
Large government agencies use ID verification
Benefits to System
Reduces fraud across the system
Supports Admissions & Financial Aid Processing time
Focus more A&R staff time on student support vs fraud evaluations
Large government agencies using ID.me
Per CCC privacy laws new and existing students will have an option to opt-out of ID verification.
How It Works
All new and existing adult students (age 18 and older) will be encouraged to verify their identity during the CCCApply admissions process and when submitting a California College Promise Grant (CCPG) online application. To facilitate this, several new workflows have been incorporated into the OpenCCC account creation and sign-in processes that will guide the student to the application for admission according to their ID verification status (verified or unverified).
Below are summaries of the primary use cases and workflows, as well as how these new ID Verification processes will impact our colleges.
Use Cases & Verification Workflows
Never Verified Students
New and prospective students over age 18 who decline to complete the IDme process during the application for admission process will submit their application with a status of Never Verified (IDme Workflow Status <idme_workflow_status> = null (blank or no value).
Verified Students
Verified students will have completed the verification process during the application submission process and will maintain this status for 12 months unless an account profile change is made that requires a re-verification. If a verified student submits another application within 12 months of uninterrupted verified status, they will bypass the ID.me process entirely and will be routed directly to their intended application or service upon sign in.
Students who already have an ID.me account (from DMV) will have the opportunity to simply sign in to their existing ID.me account during the verification workflow to complete our new verification process before being routed back to their intended application or resource.
Never-Verified to Verified Status Workflow
Returning students who declined to complete the IDme verification process during the application submission process will continue to see the IDme verification screens each time they sign in to their OpenCCC account or other integrated service. These students are encouraged to Verify their identity by signing in to their OpenCCC account and clicking on the Verify Now link at the bottom of the Profile page.
Unverified Students
An Unverified status means that the student was verified within the last year (or within 365 days from last Verified status) but had a status change which caused them to be unverified. A change in status from verified to unverified happens when the student makes a change or updates specific account profile information, including:
First name
Last name
Date of Birth
Verified to Unverified Status Workflow
Never Verified vs. Unverified Status
The majority of never verified students are new and existing domestic and international students age 18 years or older who have never completed the ID verification process. These students chose to decline to verify their identity the first time they encountered the IDme Verification screens, as well as every other time they signed in to their OpenCCC account and/or submit a new - resume an in-progress - CCCApply application.
The Unverified status is different. This status indicates that the student had once been Verified (completed the IDme verification process) or Staff Verified but a change in status has occurred within the last 365 days since their IDme verification.
Staff-Verified Students
To support certain student populations including incarcerated students, the OpenCCC Account Creation Tool was developed to give colleges an option to create an account and submit an admission application on behalf of a student who isn’t able to do so themselves, and verify that account based on the identity information that the college has pre-validated. These accounts are stored with the IDme verification status of “staff verified” at the time the account is created, and will maintain this status for 12 consecutive months or until the student is able to claim ownership of the account themselves. At that time, the student will be given the opportunity to complete the IDme verification process and establish an updated status.
Staff Verified Workflows
Expired Status
A student’s “verified” status may expire if it has been over 12 months since their last verification or if they update or change certain information in their account profile, namely their first, middle, or last name, or their date of birth. The student must repeat the verification process to restore their status to verified.
For information on the ID verification status field and the different status values, see the Verification Workflow Status section below.
Verified to Unverified or Expired Status
Primary Workflow Process
To facilitate the ID verification process a series of screens guide the student appropriately after creating their OpenCCC account, signing in to OpenCCC, or updating specific account Profile information depending on the different use cases.
Unverified Student
New and existing students over age 18 may verify their identity as part of the CCCApply application process. This verification step will come right after the new student creates their OpenCCC student account or an existing student signs in to their OpenCCC account before they begin filling out an application.
Each new student following account creation will be presented with the new “CCC ID.me Verification” page (shown below). The student is encouraged to verify their identity or decline the process at that time and continue to the admission application. Following this decision point, the appropriate verification status value and timestamp is stored.
Returning students who have an existing OpenCCC account but have not yet encountered the new verification process will have a “null” verification status value associated with their CCCID. These students will land on the verification page and will have the same two options: opt-in to verify or decline to verify.
For students that already have an ID.me account at the time they encounter the verification process, assuming there has been no change to their last name or birthdate, can simply sign in to their ID.me account before being immediately redirected back to CCCApply with a verified status.
The CCC ID.me Verification Page
New and existing students over age 18 may verify their identity as part of the CCCApply application process. This verification step will come right after the new student creates their OpenCCC student account or an existing student signs in to their OpenCCC account before they begin filling out an application.
New, First-Time Students
Each new student following account creation will be presented with the new “Verify your Identity” screen (shown below). The student will have the opportunity to proceed to verify their identity or opt-out of the verification process at that time and continue to the application. Following this decision point, the appropriate verification status value and timestamp is stored.
Returning Students
Returning students who have an existing OpenCCC account but have not yet encountered the new verification process will have a “null” verification status value associated with their CCCID. These students will land on the “Verify your Identity” screen and will have the same two options: opt-in to verify or opt-out of the process at this time.
Opt-In (Proceed with Verification)
If the new or returning never verified student chooses to proceed, they are redirected to the ID.me website to start the CCC IDme verification process. Students who already have an existing ID.me account should simply sign in to their IDme account to complete our CCC IDme verification process.
Successful Verification
Once the student has completed the verification process with ID.me, they are routed back to their intended application or resource. If their CCC application session times out, they may need to sign back in to continue with their application process. They will see a “verified” status added in her account profile and will not have to re-verify for the next 12 months (or unless a change is made to their first name, last name, address or date of birth).
Decline Verification (Opt-Out)
If the student chooses not to verify their identity, they will be prompted to confirm this decision on the Decline Confirmation or return to complete the verification process. This modal informs students that if they decline to verify their identity at this point, their access to financial aid may be limited or delayed moving forward.
If the student confirms that they want to opt-out of the process, they are routed to the application or service they originally intended to access. For students proceeding to CCCApply, any application submitted after opting out of the verification process is subject to being suspended in the spam filter like every other unverified application (they can be marked as fraud).
Note: Students who choose not to verify their identity (opt-out) may proceed to their intended application or service; however, a “null” or unverified workflow status will be stored for the student in the system. This status will prompt the system to re-engage them the next time they sign in to OpenCCC or CCCApply. The student will always have the option to decline; nevertheless our goal is to encourage students to protect their personal information.
Verified Student
Once the student has completed the verification process with ID.me and their identity has been confirmed, they will not have to reverify for future applications for the next 12 months unless they make a change to specific personal information in their account profile, including their last name or date of birth. Following the 12 month period, the student will have to reverify their identity the next time they sign in to their account or access any systemwide technology application.
For colleges, once the student’s identity has been verified, the status of the new ID verification workflow status field will update from “null” to “verified” for 12 months (again unless the student makes a changes to their last name or date of birth in their account profile) which will change the status back to “null” in the system). Upon the first sign in following that 12 month period, the student’s status will be reset to “expired.”
Note: For students proceeding to CCCApply, all future applications submitted within 12 months after identity verification will pass through the spam filter without being marked as fraudulent.
Verification Status Changes
The ID.me verification process includes several workflow statuses that can change over time. The majority of new, first-time applicants are U.S. domestic and international students age 18 years or older who have not yet completed the identity verification process through ID.me. These students will encounter the IDme process after creating their OpenCCC account and before they submit their first CCCApply application. If the student opt-out of the verification process, they will have an ID.me workflow status = Never Verified (appears as no value (blank) in submitted and post-submitted application data).
Never Verified
Verified
Staff Verified
Unverified
Expired
See the complete list of IDme Verification Status Change Data fields and values and how that data is provided to the college.
ID.me Help Center & Support Process
Support for the new ID verification process will be provided by the ID.me Help Center.
Primary & Secondary Identity Verification Documents
IDme provides information on the primary and secondary Identity verification documents that may be required when a student attempts to verify their identity though the self-service option or on a video call with an IDme Video Chat Agent. These documents follow NIST identity verification standards.
Data Fields & Data Delivery
Three new data fields have been added to track the student’s identity verification status, including timestamps for the ID.me confirmation and status changes. Each of these fields support “null” values and, along with the workflows themselves, have been designed with ‘shut-off’ capabilities to prevent any issues with data delivery during our traditional application season cycles. The three IDme fields are:
IDme Verification Workflow Status - <idme_workflow_status>
IDme Opt-In Timestamp - <idme_optin_timestamp>
IDme Confirmation Timestamp - <idme_confirmation_timestamp>
IDme Data Field Name | Data Field | Brief Description |
|---|---|---|
IDme Opt-In Timestamp | <idme_optin_timestamp> | Sets a value tracking the date and time of the student’s decision to proceed with ID verification. |
IDme Confirmation Timestamp | <idme_confirmation_timestamp> | Sets a value provided by ID.me representing the date and time the student’s verification process was completed successfully. |
IDme Workflow Status | <idme_workflow_status> | Sets a value identifying the student’s ID.me verification status at various points in the process |
The ID.me Verification Workflow Status
Following this release, all students will have an ID verification status value associated with their CCCID. Students who have created an account but have not yet encountered the new verification process will have a “null” value stored as their verification status. Students who have encountered the verification system but choose not to verify (opt-out) will maintain a “null” status in the system and will be prompted with the Verify your Identity page each time they sign in until they complete the verification process. Students that successfully complete the verification process will have a “verified” status.
IDme Verification Status Change Data
These fields will be delivered to colleges with application data via the SuperGlue College Adaptor and will be available for reporting in the CCCApply Report Center and the Data Warehouse Report Server.
December 2024: New IDme Verification Status Change Data fields are released to facilitate tracking student verification status changes over time. See IDme Verification Status Change Data for details.
Account Profile Changes
The student’s ID verification status is displayed on their account profile page. A verified student may lose their verified status within the 12 months following their confirmed ID.me verification or if they change or update the following information in their account profile:
First Name
Middle Name
Last Name
Date of Birth
Address
If a change does occur, their current status will revert back to “null” (unverified), and they will be encouraged to log in to ID.me and upload the latest version of their primary and secondary documents, which would reflect these changes to their identity.
Reminder: Once a student completes the initial process they will have an account with ID.me. To re-verify, all they need to do is proceed to ID.me and sign in to their account.
Strengthening Our Fraud Prevention
Another benefit of this ID verification integration is the additional strength it brings to our fraud prevention mission. Applications from students who successfully verify their identity before they complete their college application receive a new fraud score of 7, which ensures their application data is delivered directly to the college and not paused for additional post-submission fraud evaluations.
Pilot Testing: Send Your Feedback
Pilot testing is available now! See the pilot testing instructions below. Communicate your pilot test feedback or log any bugs with our Staff Support team: staffsupportccctc@openccc.zendesk.com.
IMPORTANT!!
ID.me does not have a designated testing environment (pilot environment) which means attempts to test the IDme verification process as part of any OpenCCC or CCCApply pilot testing are taken directly to the IDme live, production service and will be required to use their real personal data and complete the verification process with genuine identity documents.
Pilot Testing Instructions for CCCApply Standard Application
Go to your college’s CCCApply pilot site or the “Unicollege” generic pilot site listed below.
Unicollege CCC Student Account & Application System login:
https://pilot.opencccapply.net/cccapply-welcome?cccMisCode=ZZ1Tip: Forgot to bookmark your college-branded CCCApply pilot site?? Copy the Unicollege link above and replace the ZZ1 at the end of the URL with your college’s MIS code.
Sign in with an existing pilot testing account, or create a new account for pilot testing
Don’t forget to tell us of any issues you encountered during your testing. Send feedback or log any bugs with our Staff Support team: staffsupportccctc@openccc.zendesk.com
Want to test specific use cases for the OpenCCC/ID.me integration?
Follow the step-by-step instructions in the document below to test three different use cases for the OpenCCC/ID.me integration release.
IDme Implementation
Following the initial integration of IDme student identity verification (February 2024), colleges must have SuperGlue College Adaptor version 4.9.0 or higher implemented in order to receive your students' initial IDme verification status data. Contact your CCCTC College Experience Manager at cems@ccctechcenter.org to ensure you have the most current version of the College Adaptor today.
Student Support
The OpenCCC Helpdesk will continue to provide student support, and as usual, the College Support Services team will respond to staff support requests.
Documentation
Please find all OpenCCC and CCCApply Data Dictionaries and User Guides in the CCCApply Public Documentation space.
IDme Resources & Toolkits
Below are links to digital toolkits and brochures college staff can use to assist students with the identity verification process
IDme Digital Toolkit & Guides
Click here to view and download the IDme digital toolkit for students.
CCC and IDme FAQs
Recorded Demo of the CCC and IDme Student ID Verification Process
Student & Staff Support Sites
ID.me Help Center: https://help.id.me
CCC Student Support website with ID.me topic: https://openccc-support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/sections/22511674592269-ID-me
CCC Staff Support website with ID.me topic: https://openccc-staffsupport.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/topics/23454507132685-ID-me