I appreciate good irony. The guy who got hit by the Dodge? Classic. The fact that San Francisco’s bill to ban public nudity was sponsored by

Supervisor Scott Weiner? That’s rich.

But the contrast between the original purpose of the College Board, to develop a standardized test to admit students to college based on merit instead of family connections, and its current role in the lives of all high school students? I don’t find that funny at all.

Here I am, dutifully studying my heart out to attain a college education. But something stands between me and that acceptance letter: the College Board. While we protest higher college tuitions and criticize the state government for being forced to collect higher taxes, the College Board is taking money out of our back pockets.
Why aren’t we protesting that?

Perhaps because they squeeze the money out of us so slowly we don’t realize what is happening. But as I now find myself knee-deep in college applications, I am beginning to do the math.

Even putting aside test booklets, practice tests, and private tutoring, which are not required by any college, a number of

essentially mandatory fees remain for those of us who plan on attending one of the two-thirds of four-year colleges in the U.S. that require the SAT. And even though Marin is touted as one of the wealthiest counties in the nation, that doesn’t mean its residents are financially able – or willing – to pay such high fees.

We pay $50 each time we take the SAT – $76 when we inevitably register late. Then there are those pesky subject tests which, while only “recommended” by some schools and required by a few, rack up a $22 registration fee and additional $11 or more per test.

The real kicker is that once we pay to take these tests, we must pay even more to use the scores. Though we are awarded four free “score reports,” the College Board charges $11 to send scores to each college we apply to, and don’t forget the whopping $31 rush fee. AP tests also rack up a hefty sum at $87 apiece.

The College Board gouges deeper into our pocket books by charging $25 to complete the CSS Profile, which determines a student’s eligibility for financial aid from colleges. Upon completing the profile, the College Board charges a $9 base fee and additional $16 per school that receives the profile.

So yes, students must pay large sums of money to prove that they are financially incapable of affording college. Irony reigns again!

In 2010, the College Board made $65.6 million in gross profit, with a profit margin of approximately nine percent according to their annual report. To put that into context, a typical resort /casino earns an eight percent profit margin in the U.S. The College Board seems pretty profitable considering it’s a “not-for-profit” company.

Gaston Caperton, who served as President of the College Board for 13 years before retiring in May, received over $1 million in compensation during his final year. As testing prices increased over the past few years, so too did Caperton’s salary, nearly doubling between 2005 and 2012.

To give Caperton and the rest of his crew some credit, the College Board annually puts over $54 million towards fee-waivers, which allowed nearly 20 percent of students in the Class of 2011 to take the SAT without paying.

But why can’t everyone take the test for free? The College Board made so much profit in other areas, like selling test takers’ names to colleges for 33 cents apiece, that their profits are enough to provide refunds to each student who took the SAT without a fee waiver in 2011.

My hopes briefly rose when new president David Coleman took office in October, with a predicted starting salary of $750,000 (hey, that’s progress right?). But these hopes were dashed once again when Coleman announced in a speech at the College Board’s annual conference that he aims to extend the College Board’s reach to younger students, perhaps by replicating the AP model in middle schools.

Spot on, Coleman! More College Board is just what we need! I applaud the College Board’s proclaimed goal, which is “to ensure that every student has the opportunity to prepare for, enroll in and graduate from college,” but I take issue with their methods.

Yet what’s a girl to do when an all-powerful organization stands between her and a college degree? Write an angry opinion article? Shake my fist at the heavens? Not apply to college?