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LSAT--TUITION PARADOX

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LSAT--TUITION PARADOX

by ssgmatter » Sat Apr 03, 2010 7:22 am
The cost of a semester's tuition at a certain university
is based on the number of courses in which a student
enrolls that semester. Although the cost per course at
that university has not risen in four years, many of its
students who could afford the tuition when they first
enrolled now claim they can no longer afford it.
Each of the following, if true, helps to resolve the
apparent discrepancy above EXCEPT:
(A) Faculty salaries at the university have risen
slightly over the past four years.
(B) The number of courses per semester for which
full-time students are required to enroll is
higher this year than any time in the past.
(C) The cost of living in the vicinity of the
university has risen over the last two years.
(D) The university awards new students a large
number of scholarships that are renewed each
year for the students who maintain high grade
averages.
(E) The university has turned many of its part-time
office jobs, for which students had generally
been hired, into full-time, nonstudent positions.
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by suryapal » Sat Apr 03, 2010 7:33 am
A is the answer... ????
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by harshavardhanc » Sat Apr 03, 2010 10:45 am
IMO A.
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by ssgmatter » Sat Apr 03, 2010 8:45 pm
Well OA is D.....i too selected A though............any explanations...

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by paddle_sweep » Sun Apr 18, 2010 11:47 pm
B looks logical to me.

Could somebody explain the OA?
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by DanaJ » Mon Apr 19, 2010 2:17 am
Received a PM asking me to respond.

First off, I'd be curious to know the source of this question.

A was my initial choice too and here's why: the passage mentions that the cost per course at that university has not risen in four years. In my opinion, the cost per course reflects everything that goes into that course: lab materials, samples, professor's and assistant's salaries... So if we assume that the cost of the course includes the professor's paycheck, then a rise in professors' pay does not really affect the students as long as the cost stays the same... I think that the authors are making the (unwarranted, as far as I'm concerned) assumption that the cost of a course does not include the professor's salary.

B does explain the paradox quite well (actually, I'd argue it is the clearest explanation), because if the number of courses to be taken has risen, then this will undoubtedly be more expensive for the students. Think of it this way: a course costs $2000 and this price has remained the same for 4 years. If a student was required to take 3 courses four years ago, his total bill would be $6000. However, if he is now required to take 5 courses, the amount due will be $8000, which is quite the increase!

C also addresses the paradox by providing an explanation as to why students can't afford tuition anymore: they need to spend money on something else, which is putting a strain on their budgets.

D does concern tuition, but it does not help explain the paradox. The argument mentions that many students are having trouble covering their tuition and we all know that scholarships are awarded to only a handful of people.

E also addresses the paradox by providing an explanation as to why the students do not have enough money to pay for their studies. If they were making good money before, it's obvious that a job cut has affected their budget.
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by reply2spg » Wed Apr 21, 2010 1:22 pm
I think the source of this question is LSAT. I am not satisfied with the answer D. In D you need to do lots of assumptions.

First assumption - Suppose there are 100 students and out of that 10 fail to maintain their high grade averages, then also 90 students are maintaining the grade and they are getting the scolarships.
Second assumption - whatever scolarship students are getting is it same for all students or it is based upon their GPA, GMAT score, LSAT score?

I still think the answer should be A. Is this OA authentic?
DanaJ wrote:Received a PM asking me to respond.
First off, I'd be curious to know the source of this question.

A was my initial choice too and here's why: the passage mentions that the cost per course at that university has not risen in four years. In my opinion, the cost per course reflects everything that goes into that course: lab materials, samples, professor's and assistant's salaries... So if we assume that the cost of the course includes the professor's paycheck, then a rise in professors' pay does not really affect the students as long as the cost stays the same... I think that the authors are making the (unwarranted, as far as I'm concerned) assumption that the cost of a course does not include the professor's salary.

B does explain the paradox quite well (actually, I'd argue it is the clearest explanation), because if the number of courses to be taken has risen, then this will undoubtedly be more expensive for the students. Think of it this way: a course costs $2000 and this price has remained the same for 4 years. If a student was required to take 3 courses four years ago, his total bill would be $6000. However, if he is now required to take 5 courses, the amount due will be $8000, which is quite the increase!

C also addresses the paradox by providing an explanation as to why students can't afford tuition anymore: they need to spend money on something else, which is putting a strain on their budgets.

D does concern tuition, but it does not help explain the paradox. The argument mentions that many students are having trouble covering their tuition and we all know that scholarships are awarded to only a handful of people.

E also addresses the paradox by providing an explanation as to why the students do not have enough money to pay for their studies. If they were making good money before, it's obvious that a job cut has affected their budget.
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by kevincanspain » Wed Apr 21, 2010 2:15 pm
Phil, did you get this question straight from an LSAT exam?
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by bichoo » Wed Apr 21, 2010 7:59 pm
Maybe I can explain why its D..here my shot at it:

The question asks which answer DOES NOT resolve the discrepency. The discrepency is: "If tuition is same now as 4 years ago, why can't students afford university today if course cost is unchanged?" There must some reasons(s) why this is so.

4 of the 5 answers are supposed to provide evidence why students can no longer afford university. 1 of the 5 answers will likely be OOS or better yet, evidence suggesting students could afford university --> This would be the ideal answer. Lets hunt for it.

B, C, E are easily cleared off the list of possible answers. Oh for B, if students are required to take more courses per semester, this will drive up the total cost per semester, providing solid evidence why a student could not afford university. This resolves the discrepancy. But we are looking for an answer that does not resolve the discrepancy; this is what the question asks.

Now lets look at A & D

(A) This is OOS is a great candidate for an answer. But if we can find an answer that cites evidence for students being able to afford university, this answer would be better. If we can't find such an answer, then it is A.

(D) The university awards scholarships to students. GREAT! Solid evidence suggesting a student could afford university. And it can be "..renewed each year"...even better!


I think A is still correct, but D is better. There are a lot of assumptions to be made here but lets get to the point: If D were used to "resolve the apparent discrepancy," the argument would fall apart as it cites evidence for students being able to AFFORD university.


I could be completely wrong in my reasoning for D so please let me know your thoughts!
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by Testluv » Wed Apr 21, 2010 10:18 pm
The correct answer is definitely choice A. Either the original poster mistranscribed the official answer, or else there is a typo or mistake in the document from which he got this question (I think this is why Kevin was asking whether the original poster got this question directly from the test).

The paradox is:

Even though the cost of courses has been constant, many students claim they can no longer afford tuition.

Now, in order to resolve a paradox, we need a fact that opens up the possibility of a logical explanation. It doesn't have to be the only explanation; it just has to provide the basis for something that could possibly explain the paradox.

As bichoo points out, here, the four wrong answers will provide possible logical explanations, while the right answer will not.

Because we only care about the right answer, let's look at the choices, searching for the one that does NOT resolve the paradox:

(A) Faculty salaries at the university have risen slightly over the past four years.

Because the passage tells us that the costs of courses have not risen, the fact that faculty salaries have risen cannot be the explanation for why students can no longer afford tuition (or say that they can no longer afford tuition). Thus, choice A is correct.

Choose A.

*Note that on test day, we should stop here, select A, click the "confirm" button, and exit the question. We need to be confident, and if we save time, we raise our score. We've characterized the nature of the four wrong answers and right answer before we went to the choices. Here, we have a choice that certainly doesn't resolve, so we should pick it without even looking at the other choices (there can only be one correct answer). If you feel as though you need to confirm, then spend an extra few seconds confirming that this choice doesn't resolve (rather than checking the other choices).*

________

But let's look at choice D for learning purposes:

(D) The university awards new students a large number of scholarships that are renewed each year for the students who maintain high grade averages.

Well, if many students used to get scholarship money but no longer do so (the ones who didn't maintain their gpas), that could be a logical explanation for why many students can no longer afford the tuition. (Note that both the stimulus and this answer choice say "many"). Now, we don't have to assume that at least some people didn't maintan their gpas. But it is certainly possibe that some did not. Because that is possible, this is a choice that opens up a possible explanation.

It is true that other choices here provide almost necessary explanations while this one only raises a possible one (that's why, for example, Dana argued that choice B is the best resolver); however, that doesn't matter. Again, in order to resolve, all we need is something that opens up a possibly true logical explanation. (Notice the question asks for you to eliminate things that could "help" in resolving; not necessarily things that certainly resolve.)
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by bichoo » Thu Apr 22, 2010 6:23 am
Thanks Testluv for that great explanation! I can clearly see why answer choice D is incorrect. I did not carefully read "...for the students who maintain high grade averages. " I jumped the gun too quickly when I saw scholarships!
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