I'm happy to help with this.

First of all, I will say ---- I don't think this is a very high quality question. This source is not an excellent source for GMAT questions --- see:
http://magoosh.com/gmat/2012/princeton- ... ok-review/
In particular, I think this question does not have a single clear right answer, the way any good GMAT CR would. Instead, it has a "more gray" answer and a "less gray" answer.

(C) is a reasonably good answer, and if the other four answers were wrong, (C) would be the correct answer. BUT, (A) is a stronger answer. First of all, notice that (C) is very close to being explicitly stated. This is never a pattern for an incorrect answer on the GMAT CR, but perhaps this source is trying to teach some lesson along the lines of "it can't be an inference if it's stated directly." I would say --- (C) is oddly close to what is stated explicitly, whereas (A) has more the proper distance from what is explicitly stated for a good CR inference. Let me make clear --- this judging I am doing is from the perspective of someone who writes CR questions. This criterion --- too explicit to be an inference ---- is something a question writer need to keep in mind, but if the question writer has done the job well, this is never a consideration that the test taker needs to address.

Secondly, notice that (A) is really aligned with the thrust of the argument. Overall, the argument is about ---- look how much money we can save, offering distance learning instead of on-site learning. Choice (A) is very much about the central point the argument is making --- that's also a characteristic of a good CR inference. By contrast, (C) is a detail, a throwaway mention, not vital to the argument overall. Once again, this is also a criterion that should be employed in question creation, but if a question is well-written, this shouldn't really be a concern for the test taker.

As is often the case, the questions that generate a great deal of discussion on these forums are the poorly written questions that ultimately raise a bunch of issues that really are of little use to someone studying for the GMAT. What most helps folks preparing for the GMAT are quality questions. Here's a practice GMAT CR question:
http://gmat.magoosh.com/questions/3150
When you submit your answer, the following page will have a complete video solution.

Let me know if anyone reading this has any questions.
Mike
_________________

Mike McGarry
Magoosh Test Prep

In the first thought, I consider C correct choice. However, when think secondly, choice A is better. In choice C, it states that the online course does not need facility is too strict and possibly wrong.
_________________

Rules for posting in verbal gmat forum, read it before posting anything in verbal forum
Giving me + 1 kudos if my post is valuable with you

Hi Mike,
Still a bit confused. It mentions that "Money that would otherwise be spent on....can be diverted to marketing and quality control." Wouldn't that cause A to be questioned since the money is just being diverted and not really saved?
Thanks.

Dear RMART,
My friend, I don't know how much you know about how businesses operate, but this would be very good stuff to understand before you set out on your MBA. Some of the expenses of a business are "necessarily evils" ---- for example, every dollar spent on rent or parking or climate control is just gone --- those are necessary expenses, but the business doesn't get anything except the ability to keep doing what they already are doing. Perhaps some of those might be investments, say if they are paying the mortgage on a space, but even then, the money they spend doesn't move the business itself forward.

By contrast, what business love to spend money on are things that promote growth. Advertising & marketing are prime examples. Under the right conditions, if marketing is done right, every dollar spend on marketing brings back, say, $2 or $3 in increase revenue (i.e. new customers that result from the marketing). Once a business has established this "multiplying" effect with its marketing, then it can just throw money in that direction, because every dollar will multiply. Throwing money at a money multiplier is a virtually ideal state for business growth.

For a business to be able to divert money from never-see-again kinds of expenses to investments that multiply --- for anyone who runs a business, this is simply a dream-come-true improvement. As anyone who runs a business knows, a dollar spent is NOT just a dollar spent --- where it is spent makes all the difference.

Again, if you are not familiar with the details of how businesses operate, that would be an excellent place to do some reading up before you apply to B-school.

Does this make sense?
Mike
_________________

Mike McGarry
Magoosh Test Prep