"Surprising" Phenomenon
Why do many students who could afford tuition when they first enrolled now claim that they can’t afford tuition anymore, even though the cost of tuition is based on the number of courses enrolled in and the cost per course hasn’t increased in the last four years?
Objective
This is an EXCEPT question. The four wrong answers will tell us something that might have changed for students that would make it more difficult to pay for tuition today compared to when they first started at the school.
A
Faculty salaries at the university have risen slightly over the past four years.
We’re told tuition is based on the number of courses enrolled in, and the cost per course has not gone up. We have no reason to think faculty salaries influence the way tuition is calculated.
B
The number of courses per semester for which full-time students are required to enroll is higher this year than any time in the past.
This could explain why tuition has gone up for some students, even though the cost per course is the same. More courses enrolled in means higher tuition.
C
The cost of living in the vicinity of the university has risen over the last two years.
This is a change that could explain why some students find it harder to afford tuition today. If cost of living has gone up recently, that means students spend more on things besides tuition, which could make tuition harder to afford.
D
The university awards new students a large number of scholarships that are renewed each year for the students who maintain high grade averages.
Some students might have had scholarships when they first started, but lost those scholarships later. This could explain why some students find it more difficult to afford tuition today.
E
The university has turned many of its part-time office jobs, for which students had generally been hired, into full-time, nonstudent positions.
Some students might have had university job in the past, which helped them afford tuition. If those students lost those jobs, that might explain why some students find it harder to afford tuition today.
Summary
To be happy, people need to feel that they are needed by others. Most people in modern society can only feel needed by others within family and friend relationships. Almost everyone knows that their job could be done by any one of thousands of others.
Strongly Supported Conclusions
Fewer than most people can find happiness outside of family and friend relationships.
A
People who realize that others could fill their occupational roles as ably as they do themselves cannot achieve any happiness in their lives.
This answer is unsupported. To say that these people cannot achieve “any” happiness is too strong. Moreover, it’s likely that the people who realize this fact are the same people who can only find happiness within family and friend relationships.
B
The nature of modern society actually undermines the importance of family life to an individual’s happiness.
This answer is unsupported. We don’t know anything about the nature of modern society from the stimulus.
C
Most people in modern society are happy in their private lives even if they are not happy in their jobs.
This answer is unsupported. We don’t know whether most people in modern society are in fact happy. We only know that most of these people can achieve happiness through family and friend relationships.
D
A majority of people in modern society do not appreciate having the jobs that they do have.
This answer is unsupported. We don’t know anything about what people do or do not appreciate from the stimulus.
E
Fewer than a majority of people in modern society can find happiness outside the sphere of private interpersonal relationships.
This answer is strongly supported. If most people in modern society can only achieve happiness through family and friend relationships, then some people in modern society can achieve happiness elsewhere. This statement is a logically opposite relationship from the stimulus.