In the beginning, when I saw I got dropped, I freaked out, I was terrified.

This is Martin Romero, a 20-year-old student from East Los Angeles College.

In order to graduate, he needs to take American History, so last fall, he enrolled in an online class, but on the first day of class, he was having issues with his computer.

On that day, the American History professor did an online test, asking students to respond to a prompt to prove they were not a bot.

When Romero didn't answer, the professor dropped him from the class.

As soon as I enrolled in the other class and talked to the professor one-on-one, I was a bit devastated by the fact that I wouldn't be able to enroll back in that class.

Disappointed, to say the least.

Romero is one of many students affected by bots.

All across the state, bots are posing as fake students, and that's been wreaking havoc on California's community colleges.

An official with the East Los Angeles College's Academic Senate, the faculty group that governs academic matters, said fake students is one of their top three issues, and that there's been an uptick in recent months, especially in certain kinds of online classes, that has forced professors to focus on hunting bots instead of teaching.

In January, suspected bots represented one in four college applicants, according to a spokesperson for the community college system.

Often, they infiltrate financial aid applications, and schools report giving away millions to these scams.

College officials say fraudsters are getting smarter with the help of AI.

By the time Romero realized what happened, the class was already full, and the professor said he couldn't be added back.

Luckily, Romero was able to find an in-person class and fulfill his history requirement, but he worries that other students may not be so lucky.

I was determined.

I followed through, and eventually, I ended up with a B, even though I was hoping for an A.

For CalMatters, I'm Adam Echelman.