Does College Board Deserve Public Subsidies?

45 Pages Posted: 27 Feb 2019

Date Written: August 29, 2018

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)?

Keywords: College Board, CEEB, ETS, David Coleman, Cyndie Schmeiser, Education, School, Test, SAT, AP, Advanced Placement, Non Profit, 501c3, Manuel Alfaro, Monopoly, Regulation, Antitrust, Hedge Fund, Offshore, PSAT, NMSQT, USED, NACAC, Predictive Validity, College Admission, Assessment, High School GPA

JEL Classification: I20, I21

Suggested Citation

Phelps, Richard P., Does College Board Deserve Public Subsidies? (August 29, 2018). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3331692 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3331692

Richard P. Phelps (Contact Author)

Nonpartisan Education Group ( email )

321 Old Asheland Ave
Asheville, NC 28801
United States

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