The cost of a semester’s tuition at a certain university is based on

The answer IMO and as per OA is A.

We are asked to choose the option that DOES NOT resolve the discrepancy.

A: Faculty salaries have risen slightly: If faculty salaries have risen slightly, and keeping all other university expenditures constant as there is no mention of them, there is no reason as to why in the four years of education, students should go from being able to afford the education to not being able to afford the education. Hence A does not resolve the discrepancy.

B: The number of courses per semester increase as their education advances: If tuition fee is directly proportional to number of courses, tuition fee increases per year. Hence the student was able to pay initially but was not able to afford his/her education in the subsequent years.

C: The cost of living in the vicinity has increased: If a student has a fixed yearly budget from which he/she dispenses all his/her expenses, then he/she needs to pay more for rental leaving less money for his/her education.

D: The university awards new students a large number of scholarships that are renewed each year for the students who maintain high grade averages: The key word here is 'NEW STUDENTS'. The uni awards new students with the condition that they keep up their GPA which shall be reviewed each year. If the students were awarded scholarships when they began their course could not maintain the required GPA, scholarship was rescinded. Hence they would have to pay more for their education in subsequent years.

E: A lot of jobs at the uni which were part time jobs were converted to full time employee jobs: Students who had planned their education keeping in mind the constant income that was coming from their part time job were asked to step down from their positions. Since their income was slashed, and expenditure remained the same, they were unable to afford it.