Does College Board Deserve Public Subsidies

Abstract

The century-old College Entrance Examination Board (College Board) sponsors, develops, and administers standardized testing programs, most famously the “SAT suite of tests,” which includes the SAT college admission test and the “pre-SAT,” or PSAT, and the more than thirty Advanced-Placement (AP) courses and exams that high-school students take for college credit. Legally, College Board is a nonprofit, charitable organization (a 501(c)(3)) and pays no taxes on revenues derived from activities aligned with its public mission. But College Board activities also affect public policy, even while it remains a private organization governed only by its own board of trustees. Moreover, College Board peripatetically pursues public funds, with much success, which either directly or indirectly support its programs. Which prompts the question: Should taxpayers and foundations subsidize College Board activities (and its revenues)?