OPINION: College board profits off of high school student anxieties about college

PHOTO: A brief summary of College Board’s Revenue (2007-2020). Data from a May 10, 2021, Price Waterhouse Cooper Audit.

By Sophia Young,

BlueDevilHUB.com Staff —

Competition is increasingly steep for college admissions, causing high school students’ already high stress levels to skyrocket. 

The College Board is the major organization that facilitates standardized testing, in which good scores contribute significantly to these admissions. These tests include the PSAT, SAT and AP exams, all facilitated by the College Board. 

They use their monopoly on these exams to turn standardized testing into a big money making machine.

According to the 2019 990s report — an information return that most organizations claiming federal tax-exempt must file yearly — College Board generated over $1.1 billion of revenue in 2017 and generated over $1.2 billion in revenue in 2020. 

Although the organization claims to be a non-profit, they have grown their profit margin to roughly 14%. Based on the data of the 990s report, the College Board made about $160 million dollars for profit in 2019. 

Recently, the University of California collegiate system voted to make the SAT and ACT optional. However, the costly fee for taking an AP exam was increased yet again this year. 

Previously $94, the exam is now $99, meaning students taking multiple AP exams must shell out hundreds of dollars simply to take the test not including prices for study resources.

“I think the $99 cost for AP tests is a little bit ridiculous. It seems like a lot of money to pay an organization to give me a stressful test to take,” senior Luca Maes said. 

The College Board provides a fee reduction for low-income students, however, they only reduce up to $34 meaning the student still has to pay $65 dollars.

Furthermore, there is a required $40 fee on top if the application is late, as well as if the student decides to drop out of taking the test. 

“I’m taking five AP classes and five AP tests this year … I feel like they do cost a little too much and (that) College Board should lower the prices,” junior Joanne Kim said.  

For seniors, this is an additional cost to their already pricey college applications.

“College applications are already like 100 bucks, so with AP tests on top of that, it’s a lot of money,” senior Pratheeka Budamagunta said. 

Budamagunta is taking five AP courses this year and is applying to take three AP exams. 

While passing the test gives a student the opportunity to opt-out of taking the class in college, there is no guarantee that they will pass. If the student receives a two or lower on the exam, all that money simply goes to waste.

Of course, there are preparatory courses and textbooks to aid students and provide study skills and advice, however, all these resources cost money. 

An average AP prep book can range from $20 to $50, but a Princeton Review AP prep course can cost as much as $3000. 

A student may barely have the money to just take the test, let alone purchase thousands of dollars worth of prep materials. 

It seems outrageous that students are required to pay money to show their ability to, in college, move past an introductory course and into a class of more advanced concepts. This seems to be a disjointed process of which the College Board has taken advantage of for their own benefit. 

“I think that AP testing and standardized tests should be a free, government-sponsored service. This would make the whole process much simpler and less controversial,” Maes said.