Turns out Azia Kim, the Stanford fake student, had some company at various universities around the country, reports the LA Times. At Rice, David Vanegas "gravitated to large lecture classes where he wouldn't stand out. At mealtimes, he never seemed to have his ID card handy and relied on friends to let him into the dining hall. In the evenings, he persuaded students to let him stay overnight in their dorm rooms."

At USC, Kenneth Foster "said he was an 18-year-old transfer student and biology major on a track scholarship, and he quickly made friends among the freshmen. When he said he was having roommate trouble in his own residence hall, the Fluor students let him stay with them."

James Hogue "was serving time in a Utah prison for stealing bicycles when he applied to Princeton. He called himself Alexi Indri-Santana and said he was a self-educated ranch hand who trained as a long distance runner and herded cattle in a canyon known as "Little Purgatory." He called his horse Good Enough."

What's driving all these students?

Denise Pope, a lecturer in Stanford's School of Education, said the deceit often starts in high school, when a student facing enormous pressure to get into an elite university might lie about where he or she has been accepted.

"They literally can't bear to tell the truth," said Pope, who campaigns to reduce academic stress in schools. "These kids are lying in high school about where they are going to college because they are embarrassed."

Our kids are going to community college. And they're going to like it.

Living a Lie on Campus [LAT]