A program instituted in a particular state allows parents to prepay

Easy B. It gives a compelling reason why Parents should not invest in the said program.

+1 B

If the interest acount can generate a final amount greater than the amount that will be paid by the program, the interest acount will be useful not only to pay the college but also other things.

GMATNinja pls help me to eliminate option (E).

How can we assume that "tuition fee" includes "room & board charges"? If these two are separate fees then it will be one of the reason for Parents to not invest, right?

Hi seed ,
The conclusion is Parents should participate in the program as a means of decreasing the cost for their children’s college education.
Type - Weaken

(E) The prepayment plan would not cover the cost of room and board at any of the state’s public colleges. -- Even if the prepayment plan does not cover the cost of room and board at any of the state’s public colleges , Parents should participate if they can save money .

(B) The amount of money accumulated by putting the prepayment funds in an interest-bearing account today will be greater than the total cost of tuition for any of the pubic colleges when the child enrolls. -- CORRECT -- so by investing in the prepayment plan, parents would lose money


1.The annual tuition fees at state's public colleges is expected to decrease in a few years time as Government funding increases from next year onwards.
2.Most of the students in the given state will enroll in Private colleges.

Are the above valid weakeners too ?
AjiteshArun , GMATNinja , mikemcgarry , egmat , RonPurewal , DmitryFarber , MagooshExpert , ccooley , GMATNinjaTwo ,
VeritasPrepKarishma ,other experts-- please enlighten


Hope this helps!!

Hi Skywalker18,

Yes, those are both valid weakeners!

-Carolyn

A program instituted in a particular state allows parents to prepay their children’s future college tuition at current rates. The program then pays the tuition annually for the child at any of the state’s public colleges in which the child enrolls. Parents should participate in the program as a means of decreasing the cost for their children’s college education.

Which of the following, if true, is the most appropriate reason for parents not to participate in the program?


(A) The parents are unsure about which public college in the state the child will attend. -- Irrelevant

(B) The amount of money accumulated by putting the prepayment funds in an interest-bearing account today will be greater than the total cost of tuition for any of the public colleges when the child enrolls. -- The money received in an interest-bearing account is more than the tuition fee, then why would parents go for the programme proposed? They don't need to go to this programme. Strong explanation. Correct

(C) The annual cost of tuition at the state’s public colleges is expected to increase at a faster rate than the annual increase in the cost of living. -- this forces the parents to join the programme.

(D) Some of the state’s public colleges are contemplating large increases in tuition next year. -- this forces the parents to join the programme.

(E) The prepayment plan would not cover the cost of room and board at any of the state’s public colleges. -- very weak reasoning when compared to statement B

To weaken the conclusion, we must see for the option which says that , either prepayment won't help to reduce the education costs or prepayment is not much useful in general.
A. This option isn't clear , even if they know which college they may join , it doest say y to avoid the prepayment.
B. If by other means , money will be more than the tuition costs , then they will save more here, but by government they will only receive the tuition amount,so its good option than prepayment. CORRECT.
C. Comparison of tuition fee and cost of living is irrelevant here.
D. This options also doesn't say y to avoid prepayment .if in actual they increase it says better go for prepayment.
E. The argument is about the tuition fee but not about the room cost and all, so it is irrelevant.

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Conclusion: “Parents should participate in the program as a means of decreasing the cost for their children’s college education”
Prethink: what if they could save that money and get returns that would a net positive by the time the child goes to college? What if the tuition got cheaper, so the parent would end up paying more? What if the price stayed the same but inflation rose, so there would actually be net negative?
Which of the following, if true, is the most appropriate reason for parents not to participate in the program?

(A) The parents are unsure about which public college in the state the child will attend.
Out of scope – where the child wants to attend is irrelevant from the cost of attending a college.

(B) The amount of money accumulated by putting the prepayment funds in an interest-bearing account today will be greater than the total cost of tuition for any of the public colleges when the child enrolls.
Matches prethink. Net positive doing something other than what the conclusion says to do. Weakens the conclusion/argument for sure.

(C) The annual cost of tuition at the state’s public colleges is expected to increase at a faster rate than the annual increase in the cost of living.
Out of scope – we don’t care about the relative increase in the rate for the annual cost of tuition to that of the cost of living. If anything though, as a stretch, this could strengthen. Increased costs in the future = smarter to invest now when it’s cheaper.

(D) Some of the state’s public colleges are contemplating large increases in tuition next year.
Opposite trap – strengthener. Increased costs in the future = smarter to invest now when it’s cheaper.

(E) The prepayment plan would not cover the cost of room and board at any of the state’s public colleges.
Out of scope – We don’t care about the cost of room and board. The program is about “children’s future college TUITION.” And the conclusion is about parents participating IN THE PROGRAM (as a means of decreasing college cost)

A program instituted in a particular state allows parents to prepay their children’s future college tuition at current rates. The program then pays the tuition annually for the child at any of the state’s public colleges in which the child enrolls. Parents should participate in the program as a means of decreasing the cost for their children’s college education.

Which of the following, if true, is the most appropriate reason for parents not to participate in the program?


(A) The parents are unsure about which public college in the state the child will attend. X

Uncertainty is not a strong enough reason for not wanting to participate in the program.

(B) The amount of money accumulated by putting the prepayment funds in an interest-bearing account today will be greater than the total cost of tuition for any of the public colleges when the child enrolls.

Correct. Double-win for the families. Admission to a program and a few extra dollars. No-brainer.

(C) The annual cost of tuition at the state’s pubic colleges is expected to increase at a faster rate than the annual increase in the cost of living. X

This gives the parents a reason to participate.

(D) Some of the state’s public colleges are contemplating large increases in tuition next year. X

This gives the parents a reason to participate.

(E) The prepayment plan would not cover the cost of room and board at any of the state’s public colleges. X

Does this necessarily mean a parent would not participate? No. If a family can still rid some costs, then it would still be a valid reason to take part.

[quote="whichscore"]A program instituted in a particular state allows parents to prepay their children’s future college tuition at current rates. The program then pays the tuition annually for the child at any of the state’s public colleges in which the child enrolls. Parents should participate in the program as a means of decreasing the cost for their children’s college education.

Which of the following, if true, is the most appropriate reason for parents not to participate in the program?


(A) The parents are unsure about which public college in the state the child will attend.

(B) The amount of money accumulated by putting the prepayment funds in an interest-bearing account today will be greater than the total cost of tuition for any of the public colleges when the child enrolls.

(C) The annual cost of tuition at the state’s pubic colleges is expected to increase at a faster rate than the annual increase in the cost of living.

(D) Some of the state’s public colleges are contemplating large increases in tuition next year.

(E) The prepayment plan would not cover the cost of room and board at any of the state’s public colleges.

Gist of the passage is that program allows to prepay for the program. However we have to come up with a reason why as a parent you should not take part in this program. Before looking at options the thought of inflation and value of money invested elsewhere comes to mind naturally. But that is just one way to attack the program so lets look at options:
A) Even if parents are unsure which college their child may go to, the prepayment program could be beneficial as the money for tuition can be used for any of those possible colleges.

B) If I coul put the same amount of money as the tuition in an interest payment funds and the money accumulated till my child has to go to college will naturally be greater than the total cost of tuition then why would I prepay. I would rather just accumulate the money and pay later when needed. This clearly attacks the program so lets eliminate other options

C) Rate of cost of tuition increase is greater than rate of increase of cost of living. This would be a plus for the program as I can prepay now at a certain value and in future that money is frozen so the value will not diminish and the program will bear the additional costs due to change in value. eliminate

D) Increases in tuition does not really affect the conclusion in my opinion as whatever the amount may be the prepayment amount will be change to that. does not affect in any way

E) This option also does not attack the problem in terms of the money aspect of tuition cost. It brings in additional costs not covered in the program however, our jobs to solely focus on why the parents should opt out of this program. Out of the scope of conclusion.

Here's the quick solution I came up with:

Conc: Parents should participate -> decrease the cost of their children's college ed.

(A) The parents are unsure about which public college in the state the child will attend - This tells us that parents are not certain about which college their child might attend. Now, whether the parents are certain about the future college of their children or not, participating in the program can still help the parents. So this doesn't look like it weakens the conclusion. Drop

(B) The amount of money accumulated by putting the prepayment funds in an interest-bearing account today will be greater than the total cost of tuition for any of the public colleges when the child enrolls - This answers the question - "Is it necessary to participate in the program?", i.e., is there an alternative better way to do the same. Keep in mind, this doesn't attack the premise that parents who do this can't participate, but states that rather parents who do this need not participate. The reasoning that's weakened here is "parents should participate". Keep

(C) The annual cost of tuition at the state’s pubic colleges is expected to increase at a faster rate than the annual increase in the cost of living. - More of a reason to participate. This is a strengthener. Drop

(D) Some of the state’s public colleges are contemplating large increases in tuition next year. - Same as C. Now we don't know if the increases will keep happening, but this does suggest we can expect an increase going forward year after year. Even if it doesn't suggest that, it doesn't weaken the conclusion and has no impact at worst. Drop

(E) The prepayment plan would not cover the cost of room and board at any of the state’s public colleges. - The prepayment plan can still cover or reduce the cost of enrollment in college by reducing the tuition or other ways. What this option says can co-exist with the conclusion above. This option has no impact. Drop­