diff --git a/common/djangoapps/student/auth.py b/common/djangoapps/student/auth.py
index 0a088aa2c2db..08b4255feeae 100644
--- a/common/djangoapps/student/auth.py
+++ b/common/djangoapps/student/auth.py
@@ -65,7 +65,6 @@ def user_has_role(user, role):
 
     if role.has_user(user):
         return True
-    return False
     # If not, then check inferred permissions
     if (isinstance(role, (CourseStaffRole, CourseBetaTesterRole)) and
             CourseInstructorRole(role.course_key).has_user(user)):
diff --git a/common/djangoapps/student/roles.py b/common/djangoapps/student/roles.py
index e3dc96b0b1c6..3a3d6b51ee88 100644
--- a/common/djangoapps/student/roles.py
+++ b/common/djangoapps/student/roles.py
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
 
 import logging
 from abc import ABCMeta, abstractmethod
-from collections import defaultdict
 from contextlib import contextmanager
 
 from django.contrib.auth.models import User  # lint-amnesty, pylint: disable=imported-auth-user
diff --git a/openedx/core/djangoapps/enrollments/data.py b/openedx/core/djangoapps/enrollments/data.py
index 1b81fd6a9959..8d11084421ce 100644
--- a/openedx/core/djangoapps/enrollments/data.py
+++ b/openedx/core/djangoapps/enrollments/data.py
@@ -347,9 +347,12 @@ def get_course_enrollment_info(course_id, include_expired=False):
 
 def get_user_roles(username, by_course_id=False):
     """
-    Returns a list of all roles that this user has.
+    Returns a list of all roles that this user has as a set.
+    If you specify by_course_id=True, it will instead return a dictionary of course_id to roles,
+    which has a better lookup time if you are looking for specific course ids.
     :param username: The id of the selected user.
-    :return: All roles for all courses that this user has.
+    :return: A set of all roles for all courses that this user has
+    or a dictionary of course_id to roles with the key "no_course_id" for roles that are not course specific.
     """
     # pylint: disable=protected-access
     user = _get_user(username)