In part one of our interview with Meenakshi Kachroo Chatta, Senior Director & Regional Head for College Board – India, The Free Press Journal delved into the initiatives undertaken by the College Board since its establishment in India in 2019. She elaborated on the India Scholars Program, which provides significant financial assistance for low-income students taking the SAT.
FPJ: What initiatives has the College Board implemented in India since its establishment in 2019 to expand access to its programs and assessments?
Meenakshi: College Board in India is responsible for the expansion of the programs, which is the SAT suite of assessments that includes, SAT and PSAT that students take in grades 8, 9, and 10, 11. It also includes the Advanced Placement program, Big Future, and CSS Profile. These are some of the programs exams and curricula that the College Board has. We are expanding these programs plus looking at access and equity for students in India. One would be the expansion of test centres. In the past few years, we have increased the SAT test centre capacity to around 126 in India and about 35 AP test centres as well.
FPJ: Is there any initiative specifically designed to support Indian students in taking the SAT?
Meenakshi: We have an initiative called the India Scholars Program (ISP). Under the ISP for SAT specifically, students who are in a family income background of less than 8 lakh rupees per annum, can pick up the voucher for about 90%. So they get a 90 percent rebate on taking the test. Students between 8 to 15 lakh per annum, get a 50 percent voucher. Whether the students have done it through the voucher or without the voucher, if they are in the same income bracket of less than 8 LPA, they're also eligible for the India Scholars Program - under which we have a partnership with a few select universities in India. So under this program, need-based students, who has SAT score of 1300+, get up to 100 percent tuition fee waiver with select universities under College Board India Global Alliance.
FPJ: Can share the statistics on how many students benefit from this program every year?
Meenakshi: As of now, the cohort of 15 students every year has got it. Initially, when we started, the first cohort was for seven students, then 11 students, and last year we gave it to 14 students. This year we are again giving it to 15 students and this is for the entire duration of their program whether it's three years or four years.
FPJ: How many students took the SAT this year?
Meenakshi: We are almost back to the pre-pandemic level, where we were, as far as the SAT takers are concerned.
FPJ: What trends have you noticed in the number of students applying each year, particularly regarding score sends?
Meenakshi: So as far as Indian test takers are concerned, the score sends have increased, also because now Indian universities are not accepting directly. What happens in the process is that when you register for the SAT, you also have to mention which universities you want to apply to. So that becomes free of cost for Indians who are applying to universities under India Global Alliance. Otherwise, it's for four universities worldwide. But for Indian students, if they're applying to this India Global Alliance, The membership of the universities that we have, then it is free of cost to the students, even if it's more than four or all 40 universities. That has definitely increased over the past few years because of this partnership that we have with Indian universities.
FPJ: Which states have the highest number of SAT test-takers in India?
Meenakshi: It is Delhi NCR, Maharashtra, and Karnataka. These are the states where we get the highest number. However, I would say that lately, we have seen tier 2 cities students coming forward for the SAT, apart from Delhi NCR and nearby cities, students from Meerut are also taking the test. Similarly, very smaller cities in Punjab have started taking the test. We are seeing a lot of cohorts increasing from the tier-two cities, as well. And that's the reason we have expanded test centers into tier two and tier three because we do not want students to travel so much to tier one cities.
This interview is Part 1 of a two-part series. Part 2 will be published in the next edition of the international page (next Monday).
