<p>Non-profit does not mean they don’t earn money. It means the money they charge is used for a specific accepted purpose, as defined by government code, in this case Educational services. You can argue whether you think they deserve that status, but it is a status shared by many other organizations that do in fact make large sums of money - like churches. The people who run these organizations are not required to live in poverty.</p>
<p>Why the fee to send scores? Do you really think the secure computer system that maintains those scores and sends them to schools doesn’t cost them? The fees you pay are used to maintain that system. Would you prefer instead that they charge $150 each time someone takes an exam? If they do that, the student who takes SAT-I 3 times, and only applies to one college ends up subsidizing everyone else in a big way, while the student who scores well the first time, and applies to 25 schools gets a significant break. Their price structure is balanced. If you don’t want to pay fees, apply to 4 colleges, and use the “free” score reports included with your registration.</p>
<p>As for this website, you need to look at the statistics very carefully. First, when comparing CEO salary to “industry standards” which industry are they talking about? Further, they are not comparing salaries, but salary as a percentage of revenue - a useless figure, because they’re comparing it to much larger non-profits, with far more employees, so the CEO compensation will of course be a smaller piece of the pie.</p>
<p>What you want is for colleges to change they way they use the SAT or other scores for admissions. They need a way to compare apples and oranges - kids who attend vastly different schools. What do you suggest we have as a replacement? A National curriculum, and a set of national tests based on that curriculum? Perhaps every US History class should across the nation should administer the same final exam, so we will know that the student who got an A in Alabama really did do better than the student from Hawaii with the A-. Some schools do have test-optional policies, and that’s fine. If you don’t want to play the SAT game, apply to those schools. Some don’t require official score reports, except to verify (as some also do with transcripts - they allow self reporting).</p>
<p>Yes, they are inefficient. But they are the best we have. Perhaps some day we will take the SAT as a computerized test, and they can randomize the questions for each tester. Perhaps when they do that, they can build a test that adapts to the student, allowing for a way to create true distinctions among the top 2% of test takers, and at the same time supply a score by the time you leave the test center. But to do that, they will have to give the test at a testing center, and require high security. Many of the “problems” are associated with needs for security - the test is only valuable if we can somehow prevent cheating, and with every turn, someone finds a new way to cheat.</p>