Former Suffolk University employee sentenced for student loan fraud
A former Suffolk University employee was sentenced Wednesday for fraudulently obtaining over $40,000 in federal student loans by falsifying her records and changing her grades to make it seem like she was a graduate student when she was not, the U.S. Attorney’s office said in a statement.Ashley Ciampa, 28, of Medford, pleaded guilty in June 2016 to student loan fraud and was sentenced Wednesday to two years of probation, including six months of home confinement with electronic monitoring, and restitution of $47,453.Ciampa began working in the university’s Registrar’s Office in 2009, according to the statement. She enrolled in Suffolk’s MBA program for free as an employee in 2013.She did not attend lectures or complete the required coursework in a first-semester business ethics class but gave herself an “A” for the course by using her computer access in the Registrar’s Office, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.To maintain the appearance the she was a graduate student, Ciampa continued to give herself passing grades for classes she never attended, according to authorities. This enabled her to borrow $47,453 in federal student loans starting in 2014. The U.S. Attorney’s office said she used those funds on vacations and other personal expenses.
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