the College Board

My friends and I were discussing how the organizations that students use to get into college make so much money.

First, there is the College Board. This organization is responsible for the SAT's (both reasoning and the subject tests), AP's, and various other tests. To take the SAT, it's about $40, however, if you register late, you are charged yet another fee, and then there's a fee to send your scores to four colleges of your choosing. For the subject tests, it's $8 or so for each additional subject test. So, I took the three subject tests this month. This came to a total of over $50 which seems pretty expensive for four hours of sitting and filling in bubbles in a cold room. Plus, I registered for the June SAT Reasoning test, which is another $40 down the drain.

There's also the ACT, an alternative to the SAT. I registered for the April ACT. However, about an hour after I completed my registration and charged my credit card, I realized that I would be at Spring Camp that day, and therefore, unable to take the test. So, I was charged another $20 to change my testing date, which meant that I was charged $60 before I even took the test.

It's kind of ridiculous how much this has cost my parents, and to think that in a few years, I should just add $40,000 to that amount for college tuition.