PLEASANT HILL, Calif. (KCBS)  -- For six years, dozens of Diablo Valley College students paid out hundreds of dollars to have their grades changed, and college officials investigated the scam for a year without notifying other universities that students had transferred without earning the grades appearing on their transcripts.

The college’s chancellor, Helen Benjamin, testified at a hearing today before an Assembly committee that police suggested the college remain quiet until they could determine the extent of the cash-for-grade scheme.

A former president of the college said the scandal had damaged DVC’s reputation. And despite safeguards now in place at the college, a top official of the entire community college system offered no assurances that a similar scheme couldn’t happen again at DVC or another of the state’s 109 community college campuses.