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

The director of the student housing at Buckingham College claims that construction of new dormitories are necessary to satisfy the housing needs of the students. He cites that newly constructed dormitories might attract students to enroll at Buckingham College and provide sustainable development for the future. Though his claim may well have credit, the author presents a poorly reasoned argument based on several questionable assumptions and premises. Solely based on the evidence provided by the author we cannot claim his argument as valid.

The primary issue with the author's reasoning lies in his unsubstantiated premises. He claims that the College's intake is increasing and would double over 50 years. However, there is no evidence that currently there is a urgent need to construct dormitories. Also, he forecast a time period of 50 years which a very long time period. There is hardly any evidence proving that this trend of increased enrollment is likely to continue and even if it does then would it continue for such a long time period such as 50 years. Even if the enrollment trend continues, there is no need of building new dormitories now, as they would be be rendered old in a coming decade when it might be finally be occupied.

The author cites that the average rent in the the town of the COllege has risen in recent years due to which students will need accomodation in campus as they might not afford off campus housing. This logic is highly flawed, even thought off campus appartment rent might increase there might be a trend of sharing appartments which reduces the overall cost per person. Living off campus might still be cheaper by sharing other costs such as food and travel. He cites that the average rent of an apartment has risen in recent years, but there is no evidence that this trend would continue, the increase in housing prices might have reached its peak and soon would remaing stagnat or even reduce in the future.

His final assumption that prospective student would be lured to join Buckingham college is highly questionable. College students are more likely to look into other serious factors such as academics, university culture, faculty and job prospectus when they join a college. Dormitories and housing facilities might be secondary or even tertiary factors to attract students. The author will have to carry a survey among prospective students proving that newly constructed dormitories would want them to join Buckingham COllege. Even if this survey indicates this, maybe a few years down the line the dormitories might not look new, hence it might not be a very sustainable idea.

If the author truly wants the change the readers mind on this issue, he would largely have to restructure his argument, fix the logical flaws, explicate his assumptions and provide evidentiary support. Without these things, he is likely to convince a few people. Evidentiary data clearly proving a current need of on campus housing among prospective student and statistics showing that overall off campus cost of living is significantly higher than on campus is highly needed.