Testing center?

SephStorm

I dont know if anyone here has ever owned a testing center, or known someone who has, but i'm wondering, how much does it cost to own and operate one? How is income generated, and whats the profit margin?

jibbajabba

I doubt you can "just" operate a testing center. I don't know any testing center which do only that - most testing center are some sort of education institution which their main business is. They just act as a testing center because they can .. like a petrol station. I don't know any petrol / gas station which does just that - most of them a glorified shops where the petrol / gas sale is secondary as they cannot live only on those sales.

Here:

Pearson VUE: Become a Test Center

Needs to be a

Academic institution
IT Training - Business - Corporate
Government
U.S. military installation
U.S. correctional facility

SephStorm

well to that point, I am interested in opening/operating an IT training center/acedemic institution. I think that will be a seperate thread though. Thank you!

Lizano

I have heard, from not the most reliable source so don't quote me on this (figure of speech), that testing centers receive a poor profit margin off of the test themselves. It's because of the business that being a testing center attracts (courses and stuff) that makes its worth their time.

jibbajabba

Another problem is that you have to make the investment and it takes a LOT of candidates to even break even ..

Qord

The college I work for is currently looking into this process as we already offer the Cisco NetAcad courses, but the nearest test center is at least 2 1/2 hours away.

Pearson VUE: Become a Test Center

jfitzg

Lizano wrote: »

I have heard, from not the most reliable source so don't quote me on this (figure of speech), that testing centers receive a poor profit margin off of the test themselves. It's because of the business that being a testing center attracts (courses and stuff) that makes its worth their time.

I can tell you directly from a testing center admin that they are paid $5 for every test that they proctor. There is no money in the testing side of it, its all in the training side.

SteveLord

^ Yup. $300-$600 a day Microsoft/Cisco/CompTIA training that barely scratch the surface!

mishy

jfitzg wrote: »

I can tell you directly from a testing center admin that they are paid $5 for every test that they proctor. There is no money in the testing side of it, its all in the training side.

I can second that, I tried to open a test centre here in the UK and yes you would only get something like between £3-5 for a £100 exam. Like what everyone is saying and your intentions your main source of income will have to come somewhere else. Most test centres I have gone to just have a small room with 3 or 4 computers and then they run a college and a IT consultancy business on the side.