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The cost of certain standardized tests furthers the disparities of low income students. As Alex Janoff writes with the Wayland Student Press Network, CollegeBoard, the organization that controls the SAT and ACT exams, has made a profit for the last 10 years, despite claiming to be a not-for-profit company (Janoff, 2019) Not only this, but CollegeBoard’s CEO makes a salary of $1.3 million (Janoff, 2019). Where does all of this money come from? The fees that students must pay in order to take standardized tests. Students are required to pay for the SAT, though there is a “fee waiver;” however, from my experience, the company will do almost anything it can to withhold the waiver from low income students. I had to wait months and never received a response despite contacting the “non-profit” multiple times. This is just one example of how students already at a disadvantage have to work harder to get access to free tests. The SAT is used to determine college acceptances, and the fact that they must be paid for seems ridiculously biased. To make matters worse, Strauss with the Washington Post reports that the CollegeBoard added late fees to their other tests, the APs, which give high school students the opportunity to get college credit (Strauss, 2019). Strauss comments that these fees create an undue burden onto students, as many cannot afford to pay these fees (Strauss, 2019). If CollegeBoard can so easily make their services even more inaccessible to students, how is it that they are allowed to control the standardized tests that are a major factor in college admissions? CollegeBoard’s search for profit creates even more disadvantages for students that cannot afford these tests. The pressure of the SAT and ACT on college admissions means that this company basically controls student's futures based on if they can afford to pay the fees for these tests or not.
Affluence Gaps in SAT Scores
Affluence Gaps in SAT Scores
The chart depicts students' scores above or below national average, based on family income.
The cost for the test alone does not account for other economic disparities and inequalities when it comes to the SAT in particular. As reported by IBISWorld (a market research firm), the SAT and test prep industry made $1.3 billion in 2019, a number we have seen plenty of times (Taylor, 2019). Clearly, the standardized tests forced onto students have become a money making industry. However, many students simply cannot afford to partake in this “industry.” Test prep is extremely expensive, and students that can afford to pay for tutoring and test prep are advantaged. They have access to many things that lower income students simply cannot access. The essay itself is $47.50 without the essay, and $67.50 with the essay, and it is possible to pay to take the SAT as many times as you want, with many universities taking the best score. This means that those that can pay for multiple tests can afford to take it until they are satisfied with their score, while financially unstable students do not have that opportunity. A score would ultimately depend on how much one can afford test prep and how many tests they take. In this sense, standardized tests like the SAT and ACT do not even measure intellect; rather, it measures resources and accessibility. It seems like the system continuously punishes students for lack of resources, keeping them in a perpetual cycle of disadvantages.
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