The College Board, the not-for-profit membership group that owns the SAT exam, is getting out of the student lending business. The organization says new regulations put in place after the industry's recent conflict of interest scandals would affect its ability to hold meetings.
The College Board is best known as the owner of the SAT and Advance Placement exams, but it also originated 74,000 student loans last fiscal year, totaling about $400 million.
Now, the organization — which has faced criticism from some for dabbling in too many endeavors outside its core mission of college access — says it is dropping that line of business. Even its relatively small loan operations, which account for about 1 percent of revenue, qualify the College Board as a lender under new legislation in New York state and under codes of conduct being implemented by industry groups and individual schools.
Those regulations prohibit educators from receiving advisory board fees or travel reimbursements from lenders. The College Board said it is already hearing from educators at high schools and colleges who cannot attend the meetings the organizations hosts regularly on a range of topics.