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A 2013 Mercedes-Benz E-class sedan. Season tickets to the New York Knicks. 65 shares of Google stock. 50,000 cans of coke. This random assortment of items has nothing in common except their market price-around $50,000. We Brandeis students however join hundreds of thousands of students nationwide in paying that same $50,000, albeit towards a slightly different investment-our annual college tuition. Every student must find a way to finance the investment that is a college education and hope that the long-term benefits outweigh the short-term costs. 
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Brandeis is proud of its ability to help students finance their education, offering over 50 percent of its student body some form of financial aid, according to the admissions website. 
Nationwide, according to a Department of Education study, between 2006-7 and 2009-10, the percentage of first-time, full-time undergraduates receiving financial aid increased from 75 percent to 85 percent at all four-year colleges. Additionally, 63 percent of students in private, not-for-profit schools and 50 percent in public institutions took out student loans. These numbers, although staggering, have not stopped a 37 percent increase in college enrollment. 
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The system nevertheless may have recently hit a breaking point. According to a recent Bloomberg report, Yale University, the University of Pennsylvania and George Washington University have taken students who have defaulted on their loans to court in an attempt to force students to pay up. According to a TIME magazine article on the subject, most of these suits have been filed against recipients of Federal Perkins Loans, which are subsidized loans usually awarded to lower-income students with exceptional financial need. These suits are reflective of yet another growing problem in the endless effort for affordability in higher education, as student defaults grew by 20 percent from 2006 to 2011, totaling up to over $964 million.
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And so the obvious question arises: How can a college education become more affordable while creating a more secure loan process while still decreasing the amount of defaulted loans? In short, how can the college aid process become more efficient?  Fortunately, as with any business firm, there are two ways to make a company, college included, more efficient: raise funds and decrease costs. 
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The TIME magazine article argues for the need to raise funds through potential government legislation as a way to curb the rising default rate for students. President Barack Obama recently suggested an increase in the Perkins Loan program from one billion to eight billion dollars by recruiting more schools to be involved and awarding federal money to those schools that are able to curb rising tuition rates. Although this would facilitate more students being able to apply for the loans, the article notes that the increased fund would raise the interest rate on the loans from five percent to roughly 6.8 percent, making it even more difficult for students to come up with their payments. 
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So, as an increase in the overall funding pool is not a viable option, what else can be done to help make college more affordable for students? 
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To answer that, we must look at the other end of our efficiency equation-and cut costs. President Obama has touted the cost cutting model for higher education throughout his recent reelection campaign, including proposing a grant program to reward universities for coming up with new ways to cut costs. 
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One way to decrease costs is to follow the recent "hybrid model" of the University of Central Florida; that is, offer semi-online, semi-in class courses. For example, a calculus class would meet twice a week using some form of online lectures and a third time in person to go over any questions, give quizzes, etc. Brandeis has already taken steps towards online learning, albeit not for a reduced price, with the recent online consortium of schools in a program called Semester Online. However, the online model, and all the reduced financial costs that arises from it, comes with all the drawbacks associated with a loss of classroom time and professor exposure. 
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Another way to cut costs may lie in the rise of excessive college administration. According to a report by the Goldwater Institute, the number of administrators per 100 students rose by 39 percent between 1993 and 2007. To compare, the number of faculty who either teach and or do research rose by only 18 percent-less than half the rate of administrators. Moreover, spending on salaries of administration increased by 61 percent in that time span, while spending on faculty rose by 39 percent. 
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To be fair, the Goldwater report notes that students pay only a small percentage of the costs associated with running a university. Much college financing comes from private gifts and government funds. However, it is clear that there are ways for colleges to reduce costs, whether by decreasing administrator salaries, offering online courses, or through some other means. 
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In order to be truly invested in educating the minds of the future, colleges must do everything in their power to keep education accessible to as many as possible. After all, with the reported Yale and G.W. lawsuits over a mere $6,500 and $7,000 respectively, a few cuts here and there may save a student from defaulting on his or her loans at all.