If you have ever applied to a college or are familiar with the college application process then you most likely know that most colleges require you to take the ACT and/or SAT college entrance exams. Being that the College Board has the exclusive right to produce and deliver the college entrance exams that students are required to take in order to get into a major university, it is safe to say that the College Board can be classified as a monopoly. A low estimation by the College Board suggest that an average student will take both the SAT and ACT and one of those tests a second time to improve their score. In fact, between the ACT, SAT and the AP exams (the College Board also owns the advance placement tests too). As a result, it rakes in nearly $700 million per year. The College Board’s charitable mission was summarized 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 main kicker is that if College Board did not exist then colleges would base their acceptance on the more accurate college success predictor, the student’s GPA. This would also mean that the students wouldn’t have the weight of their future put onto one test.
Sources:
Strizower, Elias. “The Real Monopoly Board: The Victimization of Students by the College Board.” The Real Monopoly Board: The Victimization of Students by the College Board. March 19, 2015.
Steve Nelson, “The College Board Fails the Test.” The Huffington Post. March 19, 2015.
Student Researcher: Zachary Molinelli, Indian River State College
Faculty Evaluator: Elliot D. Cohen, Ph.D., Indian River State College
Ethics Alerts
If you have ever applied to a college or are familiar with the college application process then you most likely know that most colleges require you to take the ACT (American College Test) and/or SAT (Scholastic Assessment Test) college entrance exams. What most people do not know is that both the SAT and ACT are owned by the same standardized testing company, The College Board. Currently, The College Board is the only institution that is accepted to make, proctor, change, grade and deliver college entrance exams to every college in the United States.
The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 prohibited the creation of monopolies by banning direct or indirect attempts to interfere with the free and competitive nature of the production and distribution of goods. As described in the legal dictionary on thefreedictionary.com, a monopoly is “An economic advantage held by one or more persons or companies deriving from the exclusive power to carry on a particular business or trade or to manufacture and sell a particular item, thereby suppressing competition and allowing such persons or companies to raise the price of a product or service substantially above the price that would be established by a free market.” Being that The College Board has the exclusive rights and authority to produce and deliver the college entrance exams that all students are required to take in order to get into a major university, then it is safe to say The College Board is to be classified as a monopoly.
The College Board is a monopoly, as it dominates the total sales and distribution of the of the product of the college entrance exams, ultimately having the ability to charge whatever price they want for the exam and distribution of scores because they have no competition. The College Board is a not for profit organization, yet they charge large sums of money for students to take their required test (if you want to further your education). The College Board is considered a not for profit organization, so they are exempt from having to pay federal taxes. Currently the SAT costs $52.50 for the regular test and $26 for a subject test and the ACT standby test cost $47.00 in the United States. A low estimation by the College Board suggests that an average student will take both the SAT and ACT and one of those tests a second time to improve their score. The cheaper option would be to take the ACT twice and the SAT once, which would still set you back $146.50. If you are like me and still did not get the test scores that reflected your GPA (grade point average) and class rank, then you could end up spending a large amount of money retaking the tests to improve your scores. As these tests not only will help or hurt you in applying for acceptance, they can also affect your ability to get scholarships, no matter what your class rank is. In fact, between the ACT, SAT and the AP exams (yes, it owns the advance placement tests too) , The College board rakes in nearly $700 million per year. The College Board also pays its executives high six figure salaries and this so-called not for profit’s recently retired President Gaston Caperton was paid more than $1 million per year; while the students wonder how much they will be paying back in loans.
The SAT and ACT were originated to give colleges a rough idea of how well a student would perform in college. The College Board’s charitable mission was summarized 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.” This quote is quite ironic and contradictory. In order for a one to “go to college and succeed” one has to be admitted to said college. This exam does nothing to prepare students to go to college –it’s an exam! An exam assesses your level of understanding, but it not prepare you to go to college. However, to get admitted to almost all colleges you must prepare for and take the SAT. Not surprisingly, for a sum, The College Board can help you with both preparation and completion of the SAT or ACT exams.
Today, many studies have proven that these standardized exams are just that, another exam and it does not reflect in any way how well a student will perform in college. The main kicker is that if The College Board did not exist then colleges would base their acceptance on the more accurate college success predictor, the student’s GPA. Some colleges are taking a holistic approach relying on students’ achievements and GPA, along with the SAT/ACTscores. This way, students won’t have their futures depend on just one test.