Since 1980 college tuition has risen at nearly five times the rate of the CPI. Steven Cohen thinks he has a way to lower these costs: cut the expected family contribution (E.F.C.) that the government calculates as what a family should be able to contribute to a child's education. The E.F.C. is the starting point used by colleges in their computation of aid packages. Lowering the E.F.C. would force colleges to construct financial aid packages without the artificial price supports of inflated contribution numbers.
The E.F.C. uses a formula set by Congress. Cohen asserts that the E.F.C. is an unreal number. For example, it doesn’t take into consideration geographic differences in cost-of-living, or the lack of liquidity in one’s home. He also speculates that colleges may have some influence in Congress' setting of the formula; lobbying expenditures by colleges, universities and higher-education organizations have totaled more than a half-billion dollars over the past five years — the eighth highest special-interest category attempting to influence Congress.
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