Paige Swanstein

Paige Swanstein is the Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of the Student Basic Needs Coalition (SBNC), a national nonprofit using student leadership, policy, and AI to make college more affordable. She is leading the development of a benefits enrollment tool that screens students for SNAP and Medicaid eligibility, provides a personalized roadmap, guides them through applications, and reduces administrative burden for agencies and colleges. SBNC operates on 500+ campuses across all 50 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico and—in 2025 alone—connected 8,600 students to $32M in SNAP and Medicaid. Her work has been featured in Forbes and Fast Company, and she’s focused on scaling evidence-based, tech-enabled models that close the college basic-needs gap.