The College Board Hustle
Amidst our seemingly endless debates about taxes and who should pay them, it seems like a waterfall of potentially debt reducing funds are seeping through the cracks. Apparently, the non-profit College Board, which administers the SAT is getting rich hand over fist while passing the buck down to students and parents eager to secure the best academic future. I find this particular story so interesting because it is one of the few that has touched nearly everyone on this forum.
Accusations of pure profit chasing taking precedence over promoting education and intellectual growth have recently besieged the company. One part of me wants to say so what? What is so wrong with a company maximizing its revenue potential? One part, however, notices the glut of unemployable college graduates seemingly pushed like sheep into a herd which they can never truly be a part of. That part of me wonders, is the preparatory testing industry really necessary? Is it really to anyone's benefit but it's own? Consider the following:
Founded by Harvard and 11 other universities in 1900 to create a standardized test to admit students based on merit rather than family connections, the College Board by 1999 was facing cash-flow problems.Caperton turned the nonprofit company into a thriving business, more than doubling revenue to $660 million by boosting fees, expanding the Advanced Placement program and the sale of names of teenage test-takers to colleges. A former West Virginia governor, he persuaded 11 states to cover fees for a preliminary SAT in the 10th grade.
Now, Caperton is planning to retire amid concern that the College Board’s improved revenue has come at the expense of students and their families, who pay hundreds of dollars in fees even before they apply to college, parents, admissions officials and high school counselors said.
Now, it has been a long time since I took the SAT, but upon every nostalgic last trip to Borders I marvel at the size of the prep test section. It really is huge. There are as many prep test books and guides as there are business, medicine, food and sporting books on their respective aisles and shelves.
I get that the market of tops schools is super competitive. If a prep test or cheat guide will help, people certainly will buy. No doubt a market exists. But the cozy position of the College Board in relation to the nation's universities certainly does seem to create a double standard. One that seemingly is fucking every non top 3% test taker who congregates with it.
What do you guys think about this industry and the College Board? I see no reason why companies which put profit seeking as their number one goal should be afforded tax exempt status.
The whole point of this non-profit group is to create a way to test potential, free from family connections (see: wealth that covers all expenses and buys influence) with the intention of making admissions meritocratic. The current system giving better prep to those that can buy it violates it's own purpose, even if 20% of SAT takers sit for the test for free, and ESPECIALLY since they're prepping people for their own tests which screams conflict of interestest. If having money is the requisite to get access to the system, then how do they expect anyone to NOT break some rules? It's one thing to cover expenses, it's another to turn it into a cash cow - and the stated purpose of the group is to help people, not turn a profit.
I'm thinking that they got a taste of the allmighty dollar and lost sight of their mission.
That having been said, I'm all for buying the best support possible to navigate through the very competetive process of school admissions, and I'm all for people charging top dollar for superior service. Also, I don't think that only 3% of college students are getting their money's worth. I completely agree that there's a lot of issues, but not everyone going to college has the goal of going into banking....hell, I had no idea what I wanted to do until my last semester.
As far as tax-exempt status goes, there's a TON of organizations that are taking advantage of that. I like old Carlin idea "The government should tax all religious groups for a couple of years until the budget id balanced" ...and this coming from a somewhat religious person. Why should organizations making money hand over fist enjoy participation in a system that they contribute nothing towards???
I think this stuff is absolute bullshit. As a semi-recent SAT test-prep consumer, I felt awful for my parents who spent probably close to 500 bucks on test prep books and then another grand for a SAT prep class for me. So, before i was even accepted into any college. That money could have been used for book fees for when i actually got into a college. I have two younger brothers and my parents are gonna have to shell out the same kind of dough for a 4 hour test. Ridiculous.
double post sorry
Easy solution:
Borrow the books from a library, high school career center, friend, relative ... You don't need a class if you are motivated enough on your own.
For both ap tests and sats, they will give assistance to those who can't afford it. I can't imagine that many people apply for assistance. Give it a shot and see what happens.
Also, at least for me, the state and my school (public) subsidized the cost of ap tests. The net cost to me ended up being $10 per test. If you demonstrated any sort of need, you took them for free.
Oh yeah I also forgot to add the cost of the actual SAT test, which is around $50. That doesn't seem bad, but a lot of my friends had to take it upwards of 2 or 3 times, thats another 150 bucks alone.
I can not believe I had to pay about 30 dollars (for every college that I applied to) to send financial information about my family. It was just a simple form that could have been filled out anywhere else.
I just logged into my WSO account just so I could comment on this.
3x Sats around $50 each = 150 (albeit I never really studied for them which I prob should of considering this is #1 imo when trying to get into college) 1x Sat prep book $20 8x AP exams around 85 each = $680 4x AP exam prep books = $70 3x Sat subject tests = $40 1x sat study guide = $15 Score reports for college (prob the biggest ripoff/screw you over = you get 4 "free" score reports after you sign up for the sats, but you have to send them to the colleges of your choice within a week of your sats = so you don't know if your scores but in order for them to be free you have to send them, otherwise $10 per report, ie you could have done bad but you still have to send to be free). $10 AP exam early score reporting serv $16 (you pay early to find out your scores 2x weeks earlier)
The total of my amount paid to CB comes out to be around $1000. There were probably some frivolous expenses in there that were my fault (registering for sats late,early score reporting, buying some books I never used). Still, based on the cost of AP exams alone that is $680. That's a lot of money going to the college board for credit I may never use, but simply tests that I took to look good for college. Another interesting thing to note is one of the less well off towns nearby where I use to live/have friends does not only pay the AP exam fee for their students but also rewards the students with money ($100 per exam) for every 5 they get. At least the collegeboard allows for waivers, although I don't know how that works. I also have friends that took test prep courses that cost a lot of money - something that I never did but ended up costing them $600 for marginal improvement.
The problem is if you don't take all these test you may not be considered competitive, but when you do they do end up costing a lot.
IMO, this is flat out incorrect. Colleges do not see your scores until after you are accepted.
The only way they would know you never took the tests is if they notice you never listed the national ap scholar thing everyone gets in your awards/honors section. Either way, so long as you have other shit to fill it up with, it will more than likely go unnoticed.
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