PrepTest 121, Section 1, Question 10
The administration at a certain university has explained(56 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(13 more words not shown)
- AWith this year's(14 more words not shown)
- BWith this year's(19 more words not shown)
- CFaculty salaries at(27 more words not shown)
- DOf the substantial(23 more words not shown)
- EBecause enrollment projections(26 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
How much did tuition go up? A small increase in costs could explain a small increase in tuition.
The administration blames higher faculty salaries and more need-based aid. The critic responds that salaries are a small part of the budget and that the only significant aid increases went to academic scholarships, awarded without regard to need. Those details give us reasons to question the explanation, but they leave some amounts unknown.
Imagine tuition rose only slightly, while salaries and need-based aid also rose slightly. Calling those cost increases small wouldn't show that they failed to explain the tuition change. Even a budget category that is small overall could grow enough to matter. We need to compare the actual changes, not just hear that one part of the budget is small.
What we’re looking for
To strengthen the criticism, I'd initially want to learn that the tuition increase was substantial—too large for the cited changes to plausibly explain. We're challenging the administration's explanation for the increase, not denying that tuition increased or deciding whether every university expense is worthwhile.
Working the answers
- A
Five percent of what amount, and how does that compare with the extra tuition revenue? A percentage increase in total scholarship spending doesn't answer those questions. It also combines scholarship aid generally rather than identifying the need-based aid the administration cites. It doesn't establish the mismatch we're looking for.
- B
Be careful about comparing percentages of different amounts. A 5 percent increase in salary spending and a 6 percent tuition increase don't by themselves tell us how many additional dollars either change represents. We also still lack the change in need-based aid. B adds numbers without showing that the administration's explanation cannot account for the increase.
- C
Faculty salaries could track a national trend, and students could badly need financial help, while the university spent the extra money elsewhere. This describes reasons the university might spend on salaries and aid. It doesn't establish where this university's increased spending actually went or expose a conflict in the explanation.
- DCorrect
This takes another route: identify substantial increases in spending elsewhere. The largest increases among major budget items were in administration, maintenance, and athletic facilities. That gives us reason to think the added costs driving the tuition increase are different from the faculty pay and need-based aid the administration emphasized.
Imagine being told the extra tuition is needed for scholarships while seeing a major expansion of athletic facilities in the budget. The extra facilities spending wouldn't prove that aid received nothing. But it would make the administration's account less convincing. D supplies that kind of competing explanation.
- E
Difficulty forecasting tuition revenue doesn't show that the administration misidentified the costs behind its tuition decision. The school could have uncertain enrollment forecasts and still accurately cite salary and aid increases. We need evidence against the explanation, not just a difficulty in budgeting.
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