"Last year the number of students who enrolled in online degree programs offered by nearby Omni University increased by 50 percent. During the same year, Omni showed a significant decrease from prior years in expenditures for dormitory and classroom space, most likely because online instruction takes place via the Internet. In contrast, over the past three years, enrollment at Humana University has failed to grow and the cost of maintaining buildings has increased. Thus, to increase enrollment and solve the problem of budget deficits at Humana University, we should initiate and actively promote online degree programs like those at Omni."
Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted.



Based on a coincident trend between the increased online degree enrollment rate and decreased living expenditure for dorm and classrooms in Omni University, the author drew a causal relationship between the two and went one step further recommending promoting the online program to increase enrollment and solve budget deficit in Humana university. Although the idea may seem attractive at the first glance,closer investigation may find it is filled with loopholes and a few underlying assumptions that need further examination before the implementation of the reccomendation.

Stated in the memo is the fact that the online program enrollment rate has increased by half, although the percent may seem stunning, the author fails to indicate the absolute number. If the base is only 100 people, for example, a 50% increase only equals 150 students enrolled in total last year, a number that may be totally negligible compared to students on campus and the increase is barely a conspicuous phenomenon. As a result, the prior assumption of a dramatic increase in online enrollment may not stand from the very beginning, weakening the subsequent argument.

The president also attributed the decreased expenditures to increased online enrollment and replacement of classroom instructions with online activities. The conclusion is based on the implicit assumption that online enrollment will decrease oncampus students numbers and activities, which may not be warranted since they are not mutually exclusive or incompatible. The increased online enrollment doesn't necessarily lead to decreased classroom activities. If this is the case, then the decreased expenditures, if it is being backed up by objective numbers, could be attributed to other factors. For example, some other administrative changes may co-occur and the university may have changed the contract with other maintenance companies or it may change the dorm from a single room to a shared room with 2 or 4 people for budget considerations. The expenditures reduction may also be due to staff salary reduction, and the university could implements change of dorm or classroom management by offering part time jobs for students to take the role of dorm and classroom maintenance and management. If this is the case, it may be premature to draw a causal relationship between online enrollment and the decreased expenditures before excluding other alternative explanations. If the president can rule out the aformentioned reasons and other explanations and provide the online enrollment will replace classroom instruction and is a major reason for expenditure reduction, then the argument will still be valid.

However, even assuming what happened in Omni university is what the president alleged, the situation may not apply toHumana university since Humana may not share the similar features as Omni, an implicit assumption that the author made. For example,Humana may not havethe same reputation or as top ranking as Omni university and thus may attract less students to online programs even after promotion. Moreover, it may charge more compared to that of Omni .The different locations may also play a part as a barrier for online degree programs in Humana if students find the city when Omni located is expensive while the city where Humana university-based is quite affordable, they may prefer to choose on campus programs for a better experiences instead. If this is the case, promoting online program may not necessarily lead to increased enrollment.

Even assuming promotion will increase online enrollment, the claim that increased enrollment will decrease building maintenance cost and solve the budget deficit are not warranted. For one thing, increased online enrollment may not decrease classroom and dorm utilizations. Even if it does, the maintenance may occur regularly regardless of whether there are any residents,which will make the budget reduction unlikely. Moreover, increased enrollment may not equal increased tuition and revenues since online programs are generally cheaper and the on campus students enrollment may not increase or even decrease, leading to revenue reduction. or at the best, remaining the same and thus the claim that budget deficits will be resolved is unwarranted.

In summary, before the recommendations are implemented,the president needs to address those aforementioned problematic assumptions and questions.