Supply Schedule and Supply Curve
It is now time to look at the behavior of the suppliers. In this case we will survey the president who will indicate the relationship between tuition rates and the supply of seats. The president knows that to offer additional seats he will need to hire additional faculty and staff and possibly add to the supply of dormitory housing, computer labs, and parking spaces. This will clearly cost money so we are not surprised with the answers to the survey that appear in the supply schedule below. The president has indicated the amount of seats made available will depend on the tuition rate. As the tuition rate rises, the president will be able to offer more seats. If the tuition rate were set at $2,000 the president would be willing to open 5,000 seat, but if the tuition rate was increased to $6,000, then the president would offer 9,000 seats.
Supply Schedule for RIU
Tuition |
# of students accepted |
$ 10,000 |
13,000 |
$ 8,000 |
11,000 |
$ 6,000 |
9,000 |
$ 4,000 |
7,000 |
$ 2,000 |
5,000 |
Supply Curve for RIU
As valuable as the information is in the table, we could also translate the information into a graph. The schedule can be translated into the graph by just plotting the points in the schedule onto the axes (price on the vertical and quantity on the horizontal). As we saw in the schedule, if the tuition rate were set at $2,000 the supply of seats would be 5,000, and if the tuition rate were increased to $6,000, then the president would offer 9,000 seats. It is the same information presented in a different format.
Supply Curve for RIU
