GRE : Analyze An Argument - 9

The following appeared in a memo from the director of student housing at Buckingham College.
"To serve the housing needs of our students, Buckingham College should build a number of new dormitories. Buckingham's enrollment is growing and, based on current trends, will double over the next 50 years, thus making existing dormitory space inadequate. Moreover, the average rent for an apartment in our town has risen in recent years. Consequently, students will find it increasingly difficult to afford off-campus housing. Finally, attractive new dormitories would make prospective students more likely to enroll at Buckingham."

Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument.


Response :

The Director of student housing at Buckingham College claims that the college should build a number of new dormitories, as the college's enrollment is growing and attractive new dormitories would make prospective students more likely to enroll at Buckingham. The director's claim is not supported by concrete and precise facts and evidences which can infer that the need of building of new dormitories is justified. The claim lacks the actual statistics which are needed to take such a crucial decision.
The memo states that the college needs some new dormitories because as per the current trends the enrollment will double over the next 50 years. 50 years is a very long time period for a college and the trend of enrollment may not continue for the next 50 years. The education system may completely change after 50 years, the locality of the college and the condition of education system can drastically alter after 50 years. An opening of a new college in the locality may affect the enrollments in the Buckingham College. Even if, the current scenario doesn't changes a lot, it's not a recommended to make a decision on the data which account for the development after 50 years, as a huge sum of money is being invested. 
The director's claim lacks the data about the number of local and remote students. Although, the number of enrollments is increasing, it may be possible that the number of local students is increasing who do not need any accommodation. Usually, the remote students will need accommodations, so an actual figure of students’ type is also needed to predict the need of building new dormitories.   
The claim doesn't contain any statistical data about the dormitories rent and off-campus apartment rents. Moreover; the increase in the off-campus apartment rent is also not mentioned. If there is a slight increase in apartment rent, students can still afford it. After analyzing these data, it can be inferred, whether the requirement of new dormitories is genuine.
Students may prefer off-campus apartments to college dormitories because apartments are more spacious and cater less number of students. So, even the number of enrollments is rising, the students may be inclined towards apartments. In such a case, building new dormitories will not serve the purpose. 
The memo states that the off-campus apartment rate is rising, but there is no data mentioned about the number of students that could not be accommodated in the college dormitories. If the dormitories are not full, then there is no urgent need of new dormitories. As the memo does not state a clear reason for the building of new dormitories, the student housing committee may choose refurbishment of dormitories, to attract new students. Refurbishment of rooms will be an economical decision, if there is no urgent need of building new dormitories.
Conclusively, the recommendation of director of student housing lacks concrete reasons for building new dormitories. To predict the need of building new dormitories, the director's recommendation must contain statistical data like dormitories rent, apartment rent and number of enrollments of local and remote students.