College Board members strongly claimed that college

The first job is to identify the conclusion of the argument. The reasoning hers is that since college athletes are already handsomely paid through all kinds of perks, the College Board feels that they should not be paid any more in the form of a salary. However, the stem wants us to deny this stand saying that, the athletes should indeed be paid more by way of a salary.

A. It is very difficult to put a numeric value on exactly how much an athlete is worth to a college. --- This is a cat on the wall statement. It is not clear what the players’ real worth is. Maybe it is huge or too trivial. Equivocation does not weaken the argument.


B. Certain college sports generate millions of dollars for college athletic programs. It’s estimated that the university gains $70,000 per year in revenue per scholarship player. The actual number should actually be higher; ----- this choice clearly says that the players are worth more than what they are remunerated; so why not pay them a salary also; this is a solid weakener and the one we are asked to find.

C. All those millions of dollars from TV contracts and ticket sales only help athletic departments balance their bottom line. ----- This means that the balance sheet is tight and there is no more elbow –room to pay for the athletes, so this in fact strengthens.

D. the NCCA doesn’t allow the universities to sell a college football jersey with a player's name on it, but they will sell the jersey with the player's number on it. --- Irrelevant to the context.

E. Amateurism means that one plays strictly for the enjoyment of the sport, not the remuneration. --- This is also a strengthener saying that the players should not be paid any kind of remunerations, leave alone the additional salary.
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i marked E. can anyone explain?

For the record, the source of this question is not EMPOWERgmat. Perhaps a moderator might mark the source as "Other", or inquire with the poster.
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Max,
Sorry for the trouble. A friend had mailed me the question along with a bunch and said empowergmat questions are pretty good, so I did not research for the source. Moderators can edit or remove it. I thought it was a learning and discussion forum.
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Hi manasdash1!

No worries at all. I just wanted to establish the fact that this is not an EMPOWERgmat question to maintain the tradition of providing the most accurate information here in the forums. You're always free to share! If you know the source, you might want to edit your post to include that information, otherwise you can edit the post to say "Other source".
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College Board members strongly claimed that college athletes will never be paid for a salary to play for their schools. College athletes are easily awarded a scholarship worth $15,000 - $25,000 or more per year, plus a career after college that can be worth a million dollars over a lifetime. Additionally, the athletes receive all kinds of perks while they are in college, like staying at fancy hotels and being seen on national TV. It’s hard to put a price tag on all of that.

Which of the following, if true, most severely weakens the argument presented above?

A. It is very difficult to put a numeric value on exactly how much an athlete is worth to a college.
B. Certain college sports generate millions of dollars for college athletic programs. It’s estimated that the university gains $70,000 per year in revenue per scholarship player. The actual number should actually be higher.
C. All those millions of dollars from TV contracts and ticket sales only help athletic departments balance their bottom line.
D. The NCCA doesn’t allow the universities to sell a college football jersey with a player's name on it, but they will sell the jersey with the player's number on it.
E. Amateurism means that one plays strictly for the enjoyment of the sport, not the remuneration.

Argument Analysis
Premise
Awarded scholarships, career worth millions over a lifetime, perks while in college
Difficult to put a price tag on all these benefits

Conclusion
Because of all this, they should not be paid salary for play while in school

Question Analysis
Classical weakener question because of the keyword "severely weakens"

Prethinking
I need to find an answer that will convince me that we should pay salary to these school athletes. No need to come up with an exact statement, just knowing what to look for is enough

Answer choice analysis
A - More like paraphrasing supports the last premise(Difficult to put a price tag)
B - If the university gains so much then why not pass on that benefit to the students as well ? This one weakens CORRECT ANSWER
C- We are concerned about finding a reason as to why these students should be paid. Plus, since we now know departments are on a tight budget - It makes the argument stronger that there is not enough room to pay
D- Irrelevant
E - Opposite answer .. It supports the fact that we should not pay the school athletes

This question is terrible. Absolutely terrible. If the justification for B is "why not pay them?", I would ask back "why pay them?"

GMAT expects test-takers to apply basic capitalistic business principles to these questions, and such principles would suggest that we shouldn't pay them more. B has no effect on the conclusion

Conclusion is -

College Board members strongly claimed that college athletes will never be paid for a salary to play for their schools.

Premises are -

1. scholarship worth $15,000 - $25,000 or more per year
2. career after college that can be worth a million dollars over a lifetime.
3. perks while they are in college, like staying at fancy hotels and being seen on national TV

The Question stems asks -



Our strategy must be to attack the conclusion ===>
College Board members strongly claimed that college athletes will never be paid for a salary to play for their schools.

as

College Board members might reconsider giving college athletes a salary to play for their schools. Why may be -( Prethink)

1. They are unable to retain the players
2. They are earning sufficient to meet the expenses that the players are currently being compensated.


Check for these 2 options ( IF you can think of any other include that as well )

None but (B) supports our pre thinking so that is our answer !!
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I thought of it this way...

Fact : College Board members strongly claimed that college athletes will never be paid for a salary to play for their schools.

Why?
Scholarship + perks => It’s hard to put a price tag on all of that

I understood as : College students will not gonna get a salary but they are receiving enough.

So, the answer choice should be something how college students are not receiving enough.
And B comes close.

"B. Certain college sports generate millions of dollars for college athletic programs. It’s estimated that the university gains $70,000 per year in revenue per scholarship player. The actual number should actually be higher."

Having said that, as we don't know how much the perks are in numeric value (which could be way more than $70,000 per year), this answer choice is not perfect.

After negating the conclusion,
College athletes will always be paid for a salary to play for their schools because........
(a)ambiguous and does not fit here
(b)much higher than what a scholarship player gets. So, they can be paid.ONE POSSIBILITY
(c)tricky word to confuse is 'bottom line'! Just revenue is balanced with expenses. So, little room for paying further.
(d)This jersey sale can be a reason for additional revenue to pay salary but not that specific as B.
(E)This is the best answer choice for the claim but we need against the claim.

A. It is very difficult to put a numeric value on exactly how much an athlete is worth to a college. --> basically restating what the argument states. ELIMINATE
B. Certain college sports generate millions of dollars for college athletic programs. It’s estimated that the university gains $70,000 per year in revenue per scholarship player. The actual number should actually be higher. --> BINGO! Argument states that players receive less than this amount between scholarship and travel expenses. This suggests that players are being cheated out of a great deal of money.
C. All those millions of dollars from TV contracts and ticket sales only help athletic departments balance their bottom line. --> ELIMINATE
D. The NCCA doesn’t allow the universities to sell a college football jersey with a player's name on it, but they will sell the jersey with the player's number on it. --> ELIMINATE
E. Amateurism means that one plays strictly for the enjoyment of the sport, not the remuneration. --> ELIMINATE

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