Idle air control valve keep going bad.

[Chrispbrown36]

Now, this isn't specifically about a square body the car I am having this issue with is a.....ford taurus. I am not proud of this, but in my defense we got it for free and it saves on gas. I am only asking this here because I trust the guys on here and their knowledge of auto repair.
Anyway, the idle air control valve keeps going out. When I replaced the first one I found out that the car is picky and unless it is a motorcraft part it will not work...and they are 75 bucks a pop. This one lasted about 9 months and it is back to idling high, surging when stopped, and oddly enough the cruise goes out on it. Any ideas what might cause an IAC to go out that quickly?