(A) Most private colleges increase tuition rates approximately once every two years.

-Increase tution once every two years does not explain why revenue increases with enrollment drops.

(B) Attendance at vocational schools generally exceeds attendance at private colleges in most cities.

-The passage does not mention the relationship between private colleges and vocational schools.

(C) The increase in tuition rates at private colleges has influenced many prospective students to seek a state scholarship to attend a public unversity.

-This one just tells us prospective students attend piblic university with scholarship and abandant provate colleges. Not helpful to explain why revenue goes up with student enrollment drops.

(D) The decrease in students attending private colleges over the last seven years has been more than offset by the increases in tuition.

-Revenue = Price of tution x Qty of student enrolled; When price increases, quantity decreases. But it revenue still goes up, this implies the decrease in quantity is offseted/covered by the increase of price. D explains this though and would be the correct answer.

(E) Private colleges gain a larger percentage of their revenue from alumni contributions than do public universities

-Out of scope. Alumni contributions is not mentioned in the passage.

My answer is D. Correct me if wrong.

im going with D as well

Here the "has more than offset" means increases in tuiton fees have been so great that decrease in students have not even mattered. for ex:
Production is estimated higher as an increase in the United States
more than offset a decrease in total foreign output

its (D)

To qhoc0010: This is a CR question and not SC. one should focus on the bottom line. I don't think ETS wants to trick anyone.

The decrease in students attending private colleges over the last seven years has been more than offset by the increases in tuition

If it is more than offset by the increases in tuition, then the revenues will decrease.. is that wrong?

is "less than" better?

Should be a clear D

Between D and E, I went for E initially. However, after reviewing the post I realized that I had overlooked "than do public universities" in E.

Hence, E is out and D remains.

D.
I dont even feel challenged.
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Respect,
Vaibhav

PS: Correct me if I am wrong.

D

My choice is D
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I'm trying to not just answer the problem but to explain how I came up with my answer. If I am incorrect or you have a better method please PM me your thoughts. Thanks!