ID.me Identity Verification Integration
ID.me Identity Verification was integrated with the OpenCCC student account system in February 2024.
Introduction
ID.me is used to reliably verify and confirm the identity of students and prospective applicants before they enter the CCC system.
To improve student use of ID.me for identity verification, ID.me 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
Implementation: New ID Verification Fields
To access your students' http://ID.me Verification data and status change notifications, colleges should work with their ESS Implementation engineer to get started on the following updates:
Update your SuperGlue College Adaptor schema to version 5.1 or higher;
Request access to the http://ID.me Status Change Report
Contact Enabling Services & Support
For more information or to get started with http://ID.me data, please contact your CCCTC College Experience Manager at cems@ccctechcenter.org for assistance.
ID.me Verification Service Overview
The initial phase of this project includes integrating an 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 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, more than 8 million Californians already have an ID.me account making it easier to complete the 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
To comply with CCC privacy laws, new and existing students will have an option to opt-out of ID verification.
Primary User Flow Processes
To facilitate the ID verification process, a series of screens guide the student to create their OpenCCC account, sign in to OpenCCC, or updating specific account Profile information depending on the different use cases.
The CCC ID Verification Page
New and existing students over age 18 are encouraged to verify their identity as part of the CCCApply application process using one of these methods:
DMV Wallet with Mobile Driver’s License
ID.me
Manual verification at the home college
Whenever possible, students are encouraged to use one of the online options, DMV Wallet or ID.me. The verification step comes immediately following the OpenCCC account creation process for new users, and immediately upon sign-in existing account-holders before applying or reapplying to CCCApply.
This page describes how to use ID.me for identity verification. For DMV Wallet instructions, see Verifying Identity with the CA DMV Wallet.
New Students
Following OpenCCC account creation, new applicants are presented with the CCC ID Verification screen where they are presented with two available options to complete identity verification online, including the CA DMV Wallet or ID.me. Students also have the option to decline the verification process and continue directly to the CCCApply application.
Following this decision point, a verification workflow status and a confirmation timestamp is stored. If the student chooses to Decline and continues to the application without completing a verification process, their verification status will be null (blank) and no values are stored or delivered with their application data.
Returning Students
Returning students who have an existing OpenCCC account and have submitted an application in the past without completing the ID.me verification process will encounter the CCC ID Verification screen the next time they sign-in to their OpenCCC account or attempt to submit a new or resume a CCCApply application.
The CCC ID Verification page does not display if the student has successfully verified their identity with ID.me within the past year (365 days), otherwise the Re-Verify Your Identity page will display prompting the student to update their ID verification status.
Proceed with Verification (Opt-In)
If the student chooses to proceed with verification, they are presented with the Sign In to ID.me screen to start the ID.me verification process.
Already have an ID.me account? Students who have an existing ID.me account should simply sign in to verify or re-verify and complete the verification process.
Successful Verification
Once the student has verified their identity with ID.me, they are routed back to CCCApply or their intended application or service. Once returned, if they find that their CCC application session has timed out, they may need to sign back in to their OpenCCC account through the college’s CCCApply application link to continue their application session. They will see a “Verified” status in their account profile and will not have to re-verify for the next 12 months (or if a change is made to their first name, last name, address or date of birth).
ID.me Account: If a student completes the verification process with ID.me, they will have an account with the ID.me vendor. When it’s time to re-verify, they can simply proceed directly to ID.me and sign in to their account.
Decline Verification (Opt-Out)
If the student chooses not to verify their identity, they will be prompted to confirm this decision on the Decline Verification screen or return back 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 decline to verify, they are routed to the application or service they originally intended to access.
Note: Students who choose not to verify their identity (opt-out) may proceed with their intended application or service. This will set their identity verification status to blank or null (which means they’ve never verified). This status will prompt the system to re-engage the student each next time they sign in to OpenCCC or CCCApply; however, the student will always have the option to decline online identity verification and opt to verify manually with their home college.
Updated OpenCCC Account Information
Some personal information entered during the OpenCCC account creation process must exactly match the information entered during ID.me verification.
The information that ID.me expects to match exactly, including case tense and spelling, are:
Legal First Name
Legal Last Name
Date of Birth
Social Security Number
If any of those fields do not match exactly, OpenCCC will display a message onscreen the next time the student logs in to their OpenCCC account profile.
The message reads, “Some values on your Profile may have changed, depending on what information you provided during the identity verification process. If you successfully verified your identity, it is recommended that you leave the new values in place.”
Verification Process & Statuses
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 verification 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 verification status workflows and how these processes will impact our colleges.
The verification status workflows are:
Never Verified User
New and prospective students over age 18 who decline to complete the ID verification process during the CCCApply application process will submit their application with a status of Never Verified (idme_workflow_status = (blank or no value)).
Verified User
Verified users who have completed the verification process as part of a CCCApply application process can maintain their verified status for 12 months (365 days) unless they make a change to or update certain personal information in their OpenCCC account profile which then requires a re-verification. If a verified student submits another application within 12 months of uninterrupted verified status, they bypass the verification process entirely and are taken directly to their intended application or service upon sign in.
Never Verified to Verified User Workflow
First-time or returning students who declined to complete the identity verification process during the application submission process will continue to see the verification prompt screens each time they sign in to CCCApply or their OpenCCC account. Never Verified students will also see a Verify Now link at the bottom of their Edit Account Profile page.
Unverified User
An Unverified status means that a previously Verified student has either 1) made changes or updates to their Account Profile information; or 2) has not re-verified within the last year (it’s been > 365 days since they last verified or re-verified). An edit or update to the following profile information will move a verified student to unverified:
First name
Last name
Address
Date of Birth
Social Security Number
Never Verified vs. Unverified Statuses
The majority of never verified students are new and existing CCC students age 18 years or older who have never completed the ID verification process. These students have declined to verify their identity, the first time they created their OpenCCC account and every opportunity after when signing in to CCCApply or updating their account profile.
An Unverified status is different. An Unverified student was once Verified or Staff Verified; however their status has become Unverified due to a change or update to their Account Profile information or 365 days or move has lapsed since their last verification.
Staff-Verified User
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 application on behalf of a student who isn’t able to do so themselves. Through this process, the college staff is “pre-verifying” the student’s account information. These Staff Verified accounts can maintain this status for 12 months (365 days) at which time the verification status technically expires. When the student is able to reclaim ownership of their account, upon first sign in they are presented with the Re-Verify page and encouraged to verify - otherwise they become Unverified.
Expired Status
Any status - other than Never Verified - will expire if it has been more than 12 months (365 days) since their last verification or re-verification. If >365 days has lapsed since last verified or staff-verified confirmation, at next sign-in the user is presented with a Re-Verify Your Identity page. If the previously Verified or Staff Verified student declines to re-verify, at next sign-in they will become Unverified.
To re-verify, the student is directed to the ID.me website and asked to sign in with their ID.me account credentials and security code, which will be sent to their mobile device or other MFA method. Once completed, the user will be routed back to the CCCApply application or other service to continue.
Verification Status Changes
All students will have an ID verification status value associated with their CCCID.
While the current process strongly encourages students to verify their identity at the time of OpenCCC account creation, some students are unable to complete the process at that time or simply choose not to verify at that time. Similarly, many existing or returning CCC students created their OpenCCC accounts and applied prior to the 2024 ID Verification integration. In both cases, these students are considered “never verified” until the next time they return to OpenCCC or CCCApply and complete the verification process.
Colleges are notified when a student’s ID verification status changes from never verified to Verified or Staff Verified, from Verified or Staff Verified to Unverified, and Unverified to Verified.
Status Change Workflows
The identity verification processes relies on workflows that will change a student’s verification status over time and due to changes to their Account profile information. If our system detects a verification status change, the college is notified through an Identification Verification Status Change Report and/or a change notification delivered by SuperGlue to the college’s Events Table.
Workflow | Status Change | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Student becomes Verified |
| Colleges are not notified if the student’s verification status is Never Verified (blank). Colleges are not notified when the student’s verification status changes to Expired. |
Student becomes Staff Verified |
| Pertains to new accounts created by college staff only. |
Student becomes Unverified A change or update is made to the student’s Account Profile data required for identity verification. |
| Changes or updates to the following Account information will automatically require the student to re-Verify their identity: First Name |
Status Changes from Account Profile Changes
A Verified or Staff Verified status will change if an update or change is made to any of the following fields in their OpenCCC Account Profile:
First Name
Last Name
Date of Birth
Address
Social Security Number (SSN)
If a change does occur, the student’s current verification status will be set to Unverified and the student will encounter the Re-Verify Your Identity page upon their next sign in attempt to OpenCCC or CCCApply.
Note: Similarly, a student with an expired status will encounter the Re-Verify Your Identity page and encouraged to complete the re-verification process upon each subsequent sign in.
The student’s ID verification status is displayed at the bottom of their Account Profile page.
ID Verification Data Fields & Status Change Notifications
In order to keep colleges informed of post-submission and account profile status changes, event-driven notifications can be delivered to the college in two formats:
Events-driven status changes delivered to the new Events Table via SuperGlue
These notifications will allow colleges to track the student’s current ID.me verification status for eligibility for financial aid and other fraud prevention activities.
Both status change notification vehicle deliver changes is slightly different formats and field names. For data element definitions and breakdowns to interpret each notification vehicle, see the Identification Verification Status Change Data Fields page.
When a student’s ID.me (verification) status changes:
this vehicle… | …indicates the status change value through this field |
|---|---|
Status Change Report | <current_idme_workflow_status> |
Events Table | <idme_status> |
Regardless of the vehicle, the “status” field values are the same.
See Identification Verification Status Change Data Fields page for data fields, values, and how to interpret the change notification vehicles.
OpenCCC 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.
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
ID.me 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 ID.me Video Chat Agent. These documents follow NIST identity verification standards.
Documentation & Resources
Please find all OpenCCC and CCCApply Data Dictionaries and User Guides in the CCCApply Public Documentation space.
ID.me Resources & Toolkits
Below are links to digital toolkits and brochures college staff can use to assist students with the identity verification process
ID.me Digital Toolkit & Guides
Click here to view and download the ID.me digital toolkit for students.
CCC and ID.me FAQs
Recorded Demo of the CCC and ID.me 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