SAT Scrapped for June in Latest Hit to Higher Education
SAT Scrapped for June in Latest Hit to Higher Education
(Bloomberg) -- A key college entrance exam has been scrapped until at least August because of the coronavirus pandemic, adding more pressure to the companies that administer the admissions tests at a time when dozens of colleges are making it optional.
The SATs scheduled for June have been canceled, the College Board said in a statement Wednesday. The organization said it will provide a digital SAT for home use if schools don’t reopen in the fall -- an event it called unlikely.
“We know students and educators are worried about how the coronavirus may disrupt the college admissions process, and we want to do all we can to help alleviate that anxiety during this very demanding time,” College Board Chief Executive Officer David Coleman said in the statement. About 20 states have already closed schools for the rest of the academic year, he said later on a call with reporters.
The coronavirus has upended higher education, clearing college students from campuses and forcing them and their high school counterparts to take online classes at home. Schools have adjusted, offering pass/fail options instead of grades and waiving graduation requirements such as gym credits. A growing number of colleges -- including Amherst, Williams, Middlebury, Pomona, the University of California, Haverford and Tufts -- have made the SAT and ACT optional for admission, at least temporarily.
“The College Board has already lost a ton of revenue by canceling spring tests,” said Bob Schaeffer, interim executive director of FairTest, a nonprofit that has led the “test optional” movement for 30 years. “It faces further drop-offs in the number of test-takers because so many colleges will not be requiring tests this fall or next and beyond.”
FairTest found that over the last few months more than 40 schools have made the tests optional for admission, according to Schaeffer.
Meanwhile, rival ACT said Wednesday that it’s still planning to administer June and July tests and will be offering a remote proctoring option by the end of the year, allowing students to take the exam online from their home, spokesman Ed Colby said.
The College Board, a New York-based nonprofit, said once it’s safe from a public health standpoint, it will offer tests every month beginning in August through the end of the calendar year.
More than 2.2 million students from the class of 2019 took the SAT, according to the College Board. It had net assets of $1.1 billion for the year ended December 2018, its most recent filing showed. The company took in $406 million in revenue from the SAT and related tests, including a preliminary exam, known as the PSAT, in that period, while expenses totaled $389 million.
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