The College Board Claims To Be Non-Profit. It Isn’t.

Non-Profits generally don’t pay their executives exorbitant salaries… unless you work for The College Board.

Being a non-profit organization in the United States grants certain privileges for expenses, such as being exempt from taxes, receiving federal and state grants, and receiving discounts for all things shipped through the Postal Service.

The primary purpose of this is to cover expenses left unpaid for from said business model to allow them to continue to operate — since they are not actively trying to profit, they don’t have as much loose change to take care of these things.

In a sense, many non-profits are like charities; they provide a service or good for the benefit of the public, sometimes at no charge to the individual. Such examples include the WHO, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and the American Red Cross.

Enter: The College Board.

The Problem With The College Board

As a student fresh out of the college admissions process, I can tell you firsthand that guidance counselors and districts heavily steer their students towards working through the admissions process by relying on The College Board. In fact, I don’t even remember being offered any path to college other than the one previously mentioned.

And arguably, it’s because they have a monopoly on this type of market.

All AP exams, often used to save students money from the full cost of taking that course in college, are administered and created through the College Board. The SAT and ACT are also administered through the College Board.

The college enrollment rate for graduating seniors in 2018 was 69%, so it is safe to say that most students are going to undergo the college admissions process themselves.

But when you’re given one outlet, and are essentially left stranded and confused if you chose not to use it: that is a monopoly, in everything but name.

How The College Board Misuses Its Power

So, with its existing monopoly-esque status, how does the College Board utilize its dominance in the admissions industry?

Well, for starters, try paying all your executives between $300,000 and $500,000 each, all the while paying your CEO a salary of over $1,000,000.

I’d like to point out that the median U.S. individual salary was $35,977 in 2019. Even the median household income — $68,400 in 2020 — is nowhere near the aforementioned salaries. At the least, each executive is making 4–5x that of the average U.S. household. At the worst, its 8–9x as much.

And the CEO? $68,400 divides into $1,000,000 roughly 14.6 times.

For a non-profit, especially one that claims to use its tests to benefit low income households, they sure pay themselves a salary far beyond what those they claim to help will ever see.

The cutoff for individual income to be considered “the 1 percent” was $361,020 in 2020.

So it’s reasonable to assume that most, if not all of, the executive board of this “non-profit” are members of the richest class of society.

Charging for Exams

AP exams are used to give college credits for a much lower price by taking that class in high school to get it out of the way. These credits double both as a way to save money and a way to finish schooling faster.

These are the tests that they really want lower income students to take. Except it costs $95.

$95 might not seem like a lot, but all things considered, $95 is 1–3 days worth of food for a low income family, when they already have virtually no money to spare.

A Need For Change

There is a dire need for a competitor to the College Board, or a revision to their nonprofit status. Too often, the College Board fails the people they seek to help in a way that isn’t just reflective of bureaucracy, but in a way that shows them actively benefitting from the money made off of these failures.