Abigail Pamela Seldin (born January 1988) is an American philanthropist, higher education expert, and edtech entrepreneur. She is the chief executive officer and co-founder of the Seldin/Haring-Smith Foundation, and is known for founding College Abacus, a net price calculator aggregator company, which she sold to

Educational Credit Management Corporation Educational Credit Management Corporation (ECMC) is a United States nonprofit corporation based in Minnesota. Since 1994, ECMC has operated in the areas of student loan bankruptcy management and loan collection. ECMC is one of a number of ''guara ...

(ECMC Group). In 2020, she founded SwiftStudent, a free financial aid tool for students.

Early life and education

Seldin was born in January 1988 to Judith Seldin-Cohen and David Seldin. She attended

Phillips Academy ("Not for Self") la, Finis Origine Pendet ("The End Depends Upon the Beginning") Youth From Every Quarter Knowledge and Goodness , address = 180 Main Street , city = Andover , state = Ma ...

, followed by the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

and graduated in 2009 with a BA and MS degree in

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

. While in college, Seldin curated a gallery exhibition, ''Fulfilling a Prophecy: The Past and Present of the Lenape in Pennsylvania'', at the Penn Museum. The exhibit highlighted how the cultural heritage of the

Lenape The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory includ ...

people survived their displacement after contact with European settlers in the 17th century. In 2008, Seldin was awarded a

Rhodes Scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

to attend

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, where she pursued a

DPhil A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

social anthropology Social anthropology is the study of patterns of behaviour in human societies and cultures. It is the dominant constituent of anthropology throughout the United Kingdom and much of Europe, where it is distinguished from cultural anthropology. In t ...

. She completed a

fellowship A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

cultural heritage tourism Cultural heritage tourism (or just heritage tourism) is a branch of tourism oriented towards the cultural heritage of the location where tourism is occurring. The National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States defines heritage t ...

at Hong Kong Tourism Board as a

Henry Luce Scholar A Luce Scholar is a recipient of a cultural exchange and vocational fellowship sponsored by the Henry Luce Foundation, a private foundation established by Time, Inc. founder Henry R. Luce. The program Founded in 1974, The Luce Scholars Progra ...

. In 2015, she was named to the

Forbes 30 Under 30 ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 is a set of lists of people under 30 years old issued annually by ''Forbes'' magazine and some of its regional editions. The American lists recognize 600 business and industry figures, with 30 selected in twenty industries ...

list in the Education category.

Career

In 2012, Seldin and her husband, Whitney Haring-Smith, co-founded College Abacus, a web tool that allows prospective students to compare individualized financial aid packages from American colleges and universities. She served as chief executive officer until it was acquired by ECMC Group, a student loan collection agency, in 2o14. After the acquisition, she served as VP of Innovation at the Washington DC office of ECMC Group. Under Seldin's leadership, debt-repayment and other data from the Obama Administration's College Scorecard initiative were incorporated into College Abacus. In 2019, she co-founded the Seldin/Haring-Smith Foundation, a charitable organization In a 2021 interview, Seldin described how she and her husband were inspired to found the foundation because of what they saw as an opportunity to fund nonprofit organizations that could help reform both policy and public opinion. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the Seldin/Haring-Smith Foundation created a no-cost online service called SwiftStudent, to help students submit a financial aid appeal to their institution's aid office. SwiftStudent was named a finalist in '' Fast Company'''s World Changing Ideas Awards. As of 2020, the Seldin/Haring-Smith Foundation had partnered with 17 colleges and higher education organizations to test features of SwiftStudent with focus groups of students and financial aid officers. Seldin was a candidate for the role of chief operating officer for the

Office of Federal Student Aid Federal Student Aid (FSA), an office of the U.S. Department of Education, is the largest provider of student financial aid in the United States. Federal Student Aid provides student financial assistance in the form of grants, loans, and work-st ...

during the Biden administration. In 2021, Seldin published a research report on fraud and links to sex trafficking in certain schools which offer massage therapy certification. The report on sex trafficking and federal financial aid, which studied 18 institutions in five states, was cited as a rationale for an investigation by the

United States House Committee on Oversight and Reform The Committee on Oversight and Reform is the main investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. The committee's broad jurisdiction and legislative authority make it one of the most influential and powerful panels in the ...

in summer 2021. Seldin currently serves on the board of the Association of American Rhodes Scholars, and previously served on the boards of the

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

Hope Center, the Montgomery College Foundation. She frequently writes on the topics of educational policy and student financial aid, as seen in a number of publications, including ''

HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

'', ''The Hill'',

Salon.com ''Salon'' is an American politically progressive/liberal news and opinion website created in 1995. It publishes articles on U.S. politics, culture, and current events. Content and coverage ''Salon'' covers a variety of topics, including re ...

, ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...

'', and ''

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

''.

Personal life

Seldin met fellow Rhodes Scholar Whitney Haring-Smith in 2009 and they married in Florida in 2012.

External links

https://www.abigailseldin.com

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seldin, Abigail American women in business Phillips Academy alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni Alumni of the University of Oxford American Rhodes Scholars American technology company founders American women company founders American company founders Living people 1988 births 21st-century American women American women philanthropists