Can a college discover unpaid student loans?

My son owes about 10k in student loans which are late yet, he wants to go to another school. Can the school (a trade school) he chooses to attend discover these unpaid loans? I suspect he will not inform the student loan dept. about these debts since he will apply for student aid. I will not ist him with tuition only with housing. The reason I ask is that I read a news article recently that many trade schools do not verify credit because government subsidies often provide these trade schools with enough cash to make it profitable and the 'extra' money they receive from the students are treated as a bonus.