The Analogy Racket: College Board a Suspiciously Profitable Non-Profit
$45 for the SAT, $86 for each AP test, $29 for each subject test; by the time you're out of high school, you've probably spent over $200 on testing. You could have bought an iphone with that money! Instead, the good people at the College Board are the ones rolling in dough, and iphones. According to a recent article in The Big Money, the College Board, though nominally nonprofit, is actually very profitable. Reporter Chadwick Matlin writes:
In 2006—the most recent year for which the College Board's tax returns are available—the College Board brought in a total of $582.9 million of revenue. Meanwhile, it spent only $527.8 million. That leaves it with a $55.1 million surplus.
Though this looks shady, the article claims making money does not actually disqualify an organization from being a nonprofit. What does disqualify an organization from nonprofit status (and the tasty tax exemptions that go with it)? Not making good on its "charitable mission." After the jump, Matlin outlines why the College Board's mission cannot properly be called charitable. Matlin writes:
To keep its nonprofit status, an organization must pass an IRS review every five years, which means it needs to execute its charitable mission appropriately. The College Board's charitable mission was summed up by its president in 2006: "to connect students to access and opportunity, to prepare more and more students to be ready to go to college and succeed." The quote's logic is circular. In order "to go to college and succeed," you have to get into college. And to do that, you have to prepare for and take the SAT. Certainly, the College Board can help you do that. But if the College Board didn't exist, there would be no need for it to happen in the first place.
There you have it: the College Board wants you to do well on your SATs. But probably not so well you don't take them again for a higher composite score.
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May 19th, 2009 at 1:20 am
Ugh. I hate the College Board and the ACT people. I think I spent over 600 dollars in testing and sending stuff to them. CB also has that IDOC thing which charges money per school you send it to for financial aid.
May 19th, 2009 at 8:30 am
These damn testing agencies have ruined the college admissions game, undergrad as well as grad. If anybody’s taking the LSAT, they’ll notice that LSAC only gives you one free test, providing you with the wonderful option of paying them (at least $18!) for more. These companies prey on the stupid- because lets be honest, if you can’t get a 2100 on the SAT without a practice course, you’re somewhat stupid- and profit from the fears of kids who are killing themselves to get into colleges (which have become, thanks to US News, a quantifiable admissions process). I remember when I was applying, I had never heard of those Kapland ACT prep courses or test books for the ACT/SAT, but now they have become an obligatory part of the test. For shame college board! For shame!
May 28th, 2009 at 12:22 am
Is this at all surprising? Why is this news? Of course the College Board is just a money-making machine.
June 23rd, 2009 at 5:04 am
It’s news because we have specific numbers, now GTFO.