SC guide--the usage of based on

[zhangchenyuan]

From SC Guide 8th Edition - Pg 98

the question is that " 11. Based on the recent decline in enrollment, the admission office decided to reevaluate its recruitment strategies."

and this is its correction: because of the recent decline in enrollment, the admissions office decided to reevaluate its recruitment strategies.

this is the explanation: the phrase based on X is often incorrectly used in place of the prepositional phrase because of, which can correctly modify the verb phrase decided to reevaluate.

but as " No state law forbids an employer to reject a job applicant or dismiss an employee based on the results of a lie detector test" is a correct sentence in which based on acted as a verb modifier, why can't this phrase act as a verb modifier in the question sentence? Can anybody tell me the usage of based on?

thanks a lot!

[jnelson0612]

That is a great question. I googled the second sentence and found it, but can't find the original source. Is it an actual GMAT question from an official source?