The rising of costs of college tuition means that more

The answer to knowing what to choose here is the S-V agreement. I was able to do this by checking the verb 'means' which means singular subject must agree with it. 'Rising costs' is plural hence can not be correct. So 'C' wins!!!

SV leaves c,d please can someone confirm as to why because is incorrect?

'D' is wrong because it will make the whole sentence to be a dependent clause without a corresponding independent clause. That would mean an incomplete sentence!!!

I was actually between A and C.

I chose A (wrong) because I thought that "The rising of costs", because of the word "of" means that someone purposedly did it. So, they decided to raise the costs because many students had debts.

On the other hand, I read C as if the "The rising cost" was independent of anyone and anything. So, it is an observation and which happened as a result of student dept.

So, with A someone in purpose decided to do this (let's say as a school policy) so that they would cover some of the loss from the student dept, while with C, I though that it just happened, without anyone identifying it as the way to resolve the situation.

But, the important question I guess is: Is "The rising of costs" wrong gramatically or idiomatically or in another such way? And if it not incorrect in general, how would it be used correctly?

Dear pacifist85,
My friend, I'm happy to respond.

The first thing I'll say is that you have a few spelling mistakes in your above post. My friend, you never know who might be reading what is posted here --- folks on adcom, future employers or colleagues, etc. Always, always, always put your best foot forward. Always do your best. Aristotle argued, "Excellence is a habit." Make excellence habitual in all these little things, so that it's already a habit by the time you sit for the GMAT.

Now, to your question. In general, the structure "the" + [gerund] + "of" + [noun] is 100% correct, grammatically and idiomatically.
the setting of the sun
the passing of time
the opening of eyes
These are all perfectly correct, but rhetorically, they are poetic and dramatic --- that's fine, if we are writing poetry or giving a rousing speech, but in business writing we are generally more factual and concrete.

With that in mind, "the rising of costs," while 100% grammatically correct, sounds indirect and awkward. If I were giving a dramatic speech, then I might cite "the rising of costs." It is a construction that has a flair of the dramatic to it --- great for poetry, lousy for business writing! Here, the sentence is a very practical, factual sentence about college tuition costs and access to education: a concrete real-world concern. That's the focus of the GMAT: what is practical and tangible in the everyday business world. In this context, using a hyper-dramatic phrase is out of place. It would be like showing up for a business meeting in dressed as a Renaissance courtier: it would be jarringly out-of-place. When folks start to veer into fancy poetic language, business people thing, "Cut out all this nonsense. Get to the point!" That's what's wrong with "the rising of costs" in this context --- too indirect, too fancy and over-dramatic, wholly inconsistent with the tone of the sentence.

Does all this make sense?
Mike

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