<p>From the College Board... the official SAT price tag</p>
<p>PSAT: $12.00. SAT: $41.50. SAT II: $25.00. AP test: $82.00. SAT scores sent: $9.00 per college. The cost of standardized testing: pricey. While the psychological and societal implications of standardized testing are often at the center of nation-wide debate, the financial impact of standardized testing on an individual and his or her family is commonly overlooked. More importantly, however, are the accusations regarding the dubious "non-profit" status of standardized testing titan the College Board.</p>
<p>Regardless of accusations, the fact remains that standardized testing is a generally unavoidable and expensive process. Nearly every prestigious university in the United States requires applicants to provide scores from the SAT (or equivalent tests like the ACT), SAT IIs and Advanced Placement (or equivalent tests from classes like International Baccalaureate) in their application in order to ascertain the applicant's college preparedness on an objective playing field. Consequently, the demand for a competitive application drives the need for several AP classes, test preparation and multiple retakes.</p>
<p>To many affluent Palo Alto parents, test costs appear relatively reasonable. In the fast-paced lives of their college-bound students, the net cost of standardized testing is lost. $12.00 for the PSAT, $41.50 for the SAT and $82.00 for one AP test can blend unnoticeably for some students with the daily grind of high school. However, what is initially perceived as a small and necessary fund quickly amounts to costs in the better half of $1000. Sound unreasonable? Meet Danya Taymor, a Palo Alto High School junior, who, works toward a competitive college application with AP classes and strong SAT scores. Over her high school career, Taymor will have taken the PSAT, the SAT Reasoning test twice, three SAT IIs, seven AP classes and tests and plans to have her SAT scores sent to 10 colleges. Upon this realization, Taymor was less than ecstatic to calculate her expected net cost for standardized testing alone as $799.00.</p>
<p>"You have to take all the tests to get into college," Taymor said. "But I'm not very happy."</p>
<p>Taymor's feelings about the College Board represent the sentiments of many of her peers. The College Board, a non-profit organization founded in 1900, currently serves approximately 4,700 schools and universities and 3.5 million students nationwide. It is responsible for the administering, recording and research regarding the PSAT, SAT and AP tests. The College Board's most notable exam, the SAT, recently underwent major changes to its format. While many prestigious educators around the nation praise the new SAT for what they argue provides a better indication of college preparedness, the College Board has drawn speculation regarding its reasoning for the latest overhaul. In 2001, the President of the University of California, Richard C. Atkinson, proposed a plan to drop the SAT requirement for UC applications.</p>
<p>"America's overemphasis on the SAT is compromising our educational system," Atkinson said.</p>
<p>If the University of California dropped the SAT requirement for application, The College Board would lose its largest client and substantial credibility. In 2002, the College Board announced a plan to reformat the SAT and the University of California backed down from its criticism. As a result, many remain speculative of the College Board's motives.</p>
<p>"I question how much is motivated by a need for assessment and how much is motivated by a need for a business," Robin Wallace, a parent of a student at Paly who will pay $632.00 to The College Board before her daughter graduates, said.</p>
<p>In the College Board's charter, the board clearly states that they are a non-profit organization "operated exclusively for educational purposes." According to a report published by the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, in the 2002-2003 fiscal year, the College Board received $388 million in revenues with $357 million in expenses, resulting in a $30 million profit that brought their total assets to $185 million. Whether this profit is legal is debatable; however, a further look into the College Board's finances yields troubling data.</p>
<p>The charter also says that "no part of its earnings or net income shall inure to the benefit of any individual, and no officer, member or employee of the Corporation shall receive or be entitled to receive any pecuniary profit from the operations thereof, except reasonable compensation for services." Clearly, the College Board's idea of "reasonable compensation" is excessive by any standards. In 2003, President Gaston Caperton received $478,547 in salary, $76,806 in benefits and deferred compensation and a $110,000 expense acount. Senior Vice President for Finance Janet Winkler received $504,702 in salary and $49,973 in benefits. Three additional VPs received over $300,000 in annual compensation and 19 received over $200,000 in annual compensation for their work. When juxtaposed with the charter, these exorbitant employee salaries appear to belong to a growing corporation as opposed to a non-profit organization.</p>
<p>While the true legality of the College Board's "non-profit organization" remain in question, one fact is set in stone: students at Paly and across the nation will dish out copious sums to boost their college applications.</p>
<p>In addition to test costs, the College Board includes an array of other fees for willing students. $10.00 for scores by phone, $24.00 for their "Question and Answer" service, $10.00 for a copy of one's answer sheet and $25.00 for rushed grade reports are a few examples of the College Board's expensive prices. Need-based financial aid is available, but costs remain expensive even with this help.</p>
<p>However, given few alternatives, Paly students will continue to purchase the College Board's exams as sophomore Carey Schwartz, with an expected standardized testing cost of $675.50, explains.</p>
<p>"The fees are pretty high, but not considering how much college tuition is," Schwartz said. "$700 toward college admission will determine aspects of my future that will far exceed $700."</p>
<p>While the ability to afford hundreds of dollars of standardized testing is a luxury shared by many members of the affluent Palo Alto community, excessive fees still place a burden on many familes at Paly.</p>
<p>"I think it's outrageous," Wallace said. "That's a lot of money. Maybe not for Silicon Valley, but for me it is."</p>
<p>Unfortunately for Wallace and parents like her, the future looks particularly bleak and expensive. Perhaps the responsibility for such fees lies with the College Board's profiteering of America's dash to college or perhaps with colleges and universities in the United States.</p>
<p>One constant of the entire process, however, is that college entrance tests will continue to cost students heavily as long as consumers and parents remain ignorant of high charges.</p>
<p>This story originally appeared in The Campanile on May 2, 2005.</p>