A recent article stated that only 5.5% of American colleges grant the

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION:

The question asks for an assumption made by the reader. The reader’s conclusion is that academic rigor is in decline, based on the percentage of colleges granting a majority of their degrees in the liberal arts mentioned in the article. To draw this conclusion, the reader must assume that degrees not in the liberal arts were not as academically rigorous.

(A) It is not necessary for the reader to assume that the percentage will continue to drop. The reader's conclusion concerns the present. Assumptions must be both unstated and necessary.

(B) This extreme statement is not a necessary assumption. The reader does not have to assume that all colleges should do so; the conclusion only relies on an assumption that 5.5% is too low.

(C) CORRECT. To conclude that the low percentage of colleges granting the majority of their degrees in the liberal arts indicates a decline in academic rigor, the reader must assume that other degree programs required less academic rigor. If not, this evidence would not indicate a decline in academic rigor.

(D) This is not a necessary assumption. The relative importance of academic rigor is irrelevant to the reader’s claim. That claim only asserts that academic rigor, in isolation, is in decline. The claim has nothing to do with its importance relative to other attributes.

(E) It is not necessary to assume anything specific about the schools that do not grant a majority of their degrees in the liberal arts, as they are not the subject of the evidence or the conclusion. The reader feels that the low percentage mentioned is evidence enough; it is not necessary to assume any arbitrary level below the 50% of degrees standard that the article and the reader use.