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

According to the memo, the author states that Buckingham College should increase the number of dorms due to increasing student population. This claim is supported by the belief that rental rates will rise further and students may not be able to afford off campus lodging. If instead living quarters were available on campus itself, students would be more in favor of enrolling at Buckingham College.

It is not possible to surely predict what will happen in the far future, especially in terms of enrollment figures. When deciding on colleges students select them based on courses offered, faculty, ranking, overall cost etc. Therefore living arrangements is not the primary reason behind the students choice of college. The number of colleges may increase, this might prompt students to opt for those colleges. The rank of the college may decrease. Market trends may allow courses not currently offered by Buckingham to become popular. Stricter immigration laws may put off overseas students. Job placements may not go smoothly at Buckingham causing prospective students to rethink enrolling at Buckingham. Therefore a number of reasons could occur for which the student population may decline. Thus stating that enrollment will double over the next 50 years is a vague estimate.

The increase in average rental rates being an issue is ambiguous since the author has not cited any evidence(student consensus on the matter). Many of the students may be locals already having their own homes. Thus the on-campus dorms will mostly pertain to the overseas or out-of-town college population. Students who can afford the college tuition may well be able to afford off campus living. Some students prefer living off campus as they acquire their own personal space and are not restricted in any way.Students can also choose their room mates freely if they decide to live off campus. With the ready availability of cozy apartments, students jointly take them up and the rent is split amongst them. Also students may be able to bargain with apartment owners regarding rental rates, at College this will not be tolerated.This arrangement ensures their comfort, privacy and freedom,and to top it all off, may be cheaper than the campus living setup!

Finally the director states that the attractive new dormitories will make prospective students eager to enroll at Buckingham. The author has not specified the facilities that will cater to the attractiveness of the dorms. What may impress one student might not have the same effect on another. The author has not provided any insight on how the cost of construction will be met out by Buckingham. If the dormitories are state of the art, the prospective students tuition fee alone may not suffice and they may be charged extra. Also maintenance fees may also be added to their fees. Since the director has not provided substantial information regarding the fee structure, there is no guarantee that the newly built dorms will entice students or have the opposite effect.

To conclude, the author needs to take into account student preferences if dorms are required to be built.Also the number of dorms to be constructed should be as per current demand. Easy available living quarters may definitely be one of the reasons for students to opt for Colleges but due to a myriad of other reasons it is surely not the most important one.