Summer is here, and for many of us (me included), it's a time for some well-deserved R&R. But for some others, summer means SAT prep. I swear that I've gotten at least a dozen e-mails regarding SAT prep classes, and while I've never had the motivation to wake up that early during my summer, I've seen plenty of my friends spend their weeks in and out of SAT prep.
And while I can't deny the importance of the SAT (you sort of need a score to get into college), I've had a long-time complaint about how universities and the CollegeBoard have conducted themselves in regard to the test. I'm convinced that America's univerisities and the Acorn logo are in a secret alliance designed to suck us dry of all our money.
Let's look at a few numbers:
Registration for the SAT: $45 x 3 tests
Score Reporting fees: $9.50 x 10 colleges (4 are covered by the CollegeBoard)
The oft-recommended SAS: $12 x 3 tests
SAT prep class fees: $60/hr x 6 hr/day x 4 day/wk x 10 wk/summer
Those are some pretty hefty numbers, and the total runs out to be $14,628. Fifteen thousand dollars!? That's a car, or half a year's worth of college tuition. It's a lot of money, and I don't think it's fair that those of us who don't have that kind of coin are pitted against people who have hundreds, even thousands of hours of prep under their belt. And you have to remember, that $14,628 is only for the SAT. Many students are taking SAT Subject Tests, ACTs, AP exams, PSATs, etc., etc.
I'm going to let you in on a little secret. You don't have to pay anything but the $45 per test. I've spent $90 on two registrations, and came out with a great score. Honestly, who wants to pay even that much to waste a Saturday morning filling in bubbles, right?
More to come,
EC
