The transfer scheme works only in some states and only for students who get good enough grades to be admitted to the brand-name university.

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Many people assume you need to be born into connections or have attended a prestigious university or have worked at a roster brand-name companies in order to get to the people hiring for plum jobs.

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That's 240 per year. (McDonald's counters that it has lost just 90 franchisees in 2002, many for innocuous reasons like retirement.) Cold comfort for anxious franchisees: While 30% of all restaurants fail within the first year, just 8% of brand-name franchise locations go under, says Christopher Muller, associate professor of restaurant management at the University of Central Florida who studies franchises.

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