University president: We will be forced to reduce spending next year i

Question

University president: We will be forced to reduce spending next year if we do not increase our enrollment. So, if we are to maintain the quality of the education we provide, we must market our programs more aggressively. Without such marketing we will be unable to increase our enrollment.

The conclusion of the university president's argument can be properly drawn if which one of the following is assumed?

(A)  The university will not maintain the quality of the education it provides if it increases its enrollment.

(B)  The university will not need to reduce spending next year if it increases its enrollment.

(C)  The university will increase its enrollment if it markets its programs more aggressively.

(D)  The university will not maintain the quality of the education it provides if it reduces spending next year.

(E)  The university will not need to reduce spending next year if it markets its programs more aggressively.

abhishek31 · Answer

Hi, may anyone suggest why option D makes a better choice over option C?

To me, it seems that if the university president can increase its top line (enrollments), then his/her problems will be sorted.

filippooo · Answer

Because option C is a statement not an assumption. 
Hope its clear

Raj30 · Answer

Options B & C are directly stated in the argument, right?

deveshj21 · Answer

Dear Expert,
please help me understand what is the main conclusion of the sentence?

siddharthkapoor · Answer

Assumption is a statement that:

1. Is neither explicitly stated or can be deduced from the information in the passage
2. Must be true so that the conclusion holds

The above two conditions are necessary and sufficient to classify a statement as an assumption.

In this question, statements in option B,C and E are either explicitly stated or can be logically deduced on the basis of information given in the passage. However, statement in Option D is neither stated nor can be logically inferred from the passage, but it must be true so that the conclusion stands.

I hope your doubt is resolved. Feel free to ask anything more.

siddharthkapoor · Answer

Yes.

KarishmaB · Answer

We will be forced to reduce spending next year if we do not increase our enrolment. Without marketing, we will be unable to increase our enrolment. Conclusion: If we are to maintain the quality of the education we provide, we must market our programs more aggressively. Which of the following assumptions can lead to properly drawing the conclusion? Note what is missing from the premises to the conclusion - the premises do not talk about "maintaining the quality of education" but the conclusion concludes that to maintain it, marketing programs aggressively is a must. Note the flow of the argument: Without marketing -> No increase in enrolment Without increase in enrolment -> Forced to reduce spending So Marketing programs is essential for "maintaining quality". We must find a link on how "forced to reduce spending" leads to "not maintaining quality". Option (D) does just that. The argument is dealing in necessary conditions only. Marketing necessary for new enrolment. New enrolment necessary for "not forced to reduce spending". So marketing necessary for "maintaining quality". Options (B) and (C) state sufficiency. (B) The university will not need to reduce spending next year if it increases its enrolment. Increasing enrolment is sufficient to not "need reduction in spending". This is not an assumption. The argument only talks about necessary conditions. (C) The university will increase its enrolment if it markets its programs more aggressively. Marketing is sufficient for increasing enrolment. Again, this is not an assumption. We don't care if marketing is sufficient. We know that it is necessary. For more on this kind of assumption questions, check: https://www.gmatclub.com/forum/veritas-prep-resource-links-no-longer-available-399979.html#/2013/0 ... sumptions/

ahabib · Answer

University president:  We will be forced to reduce spending next year if we do not increase our enrollment.   So, if we are to maintain the quality of the education we provide, we must market our programs more aggressively.   Without such marketing we will be unable to increase our enrollment.

Step 1: Identify conclusion  (trigger word "So" is a good indicator)

C: So, if we are to maintain the quality of the education we provide (Q) we must market our programs more aggressively (M)
(M->Q)

Step 2: Identify premises  (Everything used to support the conclusion in some form)

P1: Without such marketing we will be unable to increase our enrollment. M->E 
 P2: We will be forced to reduce spending next year if we do not increase our enrollment. E->S

From the premises: M->E->S
From the conclusion: M->Q

The final, missing premise to arrive at our conclusion, which is M->Q, is S->Q. 
If S->Q then from the premises we can say M->E->S->Q, therefore M->Q.

Final notes: It's a difficult problem because:
1) Identifying the conclusion is tricky. You can make an argument that the passage is three conclusions which are all tied together.
2) The premises and conclusion are all worded backwards (i.e instead of saying A leads to B, the passage says "We can't get to B without A)

unraveled · Answer

University president: We will be forced to reduce spending next year if we do not increase our enrollment. So, if we are to maintain the quality of the education we provide, we must market our programs more aggressively. Without such marketing we will be unable to increase our enrollment.

The conclusion of the university president's argument can be properly drawn if which one of the following is assumed?

(A)  The university will not maintain the quality of the education it provides if it increases its enrollment.

(B)  The university will not need to reduce spending next year if it increases its enrollment.

(C)  The university will increase its enrollment if it markets its programs more aggressively.

(D)  The university will not maintain the quality of the education it provides if it reduces spending next year.

(E)  The university will not need to reduce spending next year if it markets its programs more aggressively.

The key elements of the passage are 
Spending - S (reduce Spending - rS)
Enrollment - E (increase Enrollment - iE ) 
Quality of Education - QoE (maintaining QoE - mQoE)
Market Program - MP (aggressive Market Program - aMP )

Flow is as follows: 
no iE ----> rS,
no aMP ----> no iE
aMP ----> mQoE i.e. no aMP ----> no mQoE

So, it becomes 
no aMP ----> no iE ---->  rS ----> no mQoE

The highlighted part is the assumption needed. Identifying the right conclusion is the KEY to this passage as the flow is important to pick right answer.

Answer D.

vasu1104 · Answer

premise is about reduction in spending because of not increasing enrollment. and conclusion is about marketing program aggressively. 
 no marketing- unable to increase enrollment- forced to reduce spending. 
 to maintain quality of education- market the programs more aggressively. 
 
so basically the quality of education is dependent on higher enrollment. because if they get more people, they will get more money and they will improve the quality of education. so now if they dont get enough enrollment then they have to reduce spending and then it leads to low level of education quality.

A this goes other side of passage 
 B premise is already saying this. 
 C conclusion is about maintaining quality of education through marketing aggressively. 
 D perfect. they are thinking that if we dont market, we wont get more people and then we have to reduce spending. so they wont be able to maintain quality if they reduces spending. 
 E none of this gonna affect the conclusion.

University president: We will be forced to reduce spending next year i

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University president: We will be forced to reduce spending next year i

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