College Board receives exorbitant revenue from AP exams

Lauren Raith

The consumer rights organization Americans for Educational Testing Reform has questioned the College Board’s non-profit status for its extravagant compensation of top executives.
Gastonia Caperton, the CEO of the College Board made $1.3 million a year until he resigned in 2012 and was replaced by David Coleman who makes a “base” salary of $550,000 according to the New York Times.
The unjust compensation of top executives at the College Board is detrimental to low income students and the cost of the AP exam needs to be adjusted immediately.
“There’s no reason on earth for common core standards and these tests that we’re wasting billions of dollars on,” said Stephen Krashen, professor of Education at the University of Southern California.
The College Board administrates all AP tests as well as the SAT. They boast a whopping profit of $62 million from a revenue of $200 million according to the New Jersey Patch in 2013.
The Patch also noted that the top 23 executives at the College Board make an average of $355,271 annually.
“I personally think we should not have any AP courses. The AP system is a privatization of education for profit, and they make a lot of profit. No one should pay for AP classes, period.” social studies teacher Steve Bluestone said.
In 2016 932,345 12th graders took a total of 2,006,845 AP tests. In 11th grade 947,479 students took upwards of one million AP exams.
The amount of money that the College Board collects from AP tests alone is astronomical.
“The College Board should consider any student in an AP class in our care.” Coleman said.
Yet there aren’t enough opportunities for students in need of aid for financial coverage. The maximum scholarship that the College Board offers is $31, which only makes a small dent in the cost of just one exam.
The ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) implemented by Obama in 2015 is required to provide opportunities for funding for AP tests for students in need.
“We have never had a student not test because of financial circumstances, and I’ve been doing this for nine years.” Assistant principal secretary Tanya Jaspering said. “The College Board covers a portion of the test, and the school will always cover any student that is in need.”