Ben Kaplan is a higher education advocate, author, speaker, and adult returning student at City College of San Francisco — where he is currently pursuing a certificate in Diversity and Social Justice. Kaplan’s eclectic background includes his work as a Harvard-trained economist, newspaper columnist, podcast host, marketing agency CEO, and Asian-American community organizer. The nonprofit he founded, WE San Francisco, aims to get 8,000 San Franciscans to “ask not what your city can do for you, ask what you can do for your city.” Kaplan has lived in San Francisco since 2012.

Solutions

“Anyone seeking higher education in America, young and old, should entertain Ben Kaplan’s advice, not only for financial reasons, but to also share in the greater lesson he has to offer— anything is possible if you put your mind to it.”

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry

FROM LOCAL STUDENT TO BESTSELLING AUTHOR

When Ben Kaplan was a high school student, he discovered that there were scholarships for virtually every type of interest or skill. After applying for three-dozen scholarships, Kaplan won two dozen of them and amassed $90,000 for college — which he combined with a year’s worth of Advanced Placement credits to graduate from Harvard University in 1999 virtually for free.

After writing articles about his personal scholarship success story for The New York Times, TIME, and U.S. News & World Report, Kaplan wrote his national bestseller, How to Go to College Almost for Free (HarperCollins Publishers), while still a college undergraduate. To promote the book, he then booked himself on Oprah, Good Morning America, CNN, and 5,000 more TV and radio shows — selling more than two million copies.

For the next ten years, Ben visited 1,000+ high school and college campuses. Kaplan also launched his nationally syndicated Scholars & Dollars newspaper column at The Oregonian and served as a weekly education correspondent for KMOX radio.

LOVE FOR MATH + WRITING LEADS TO A PASSION FOR ECONOMICS

When Ben Kaplan entered Harvard, he was among the top math students in the nation as determined by U.S. Math Olympiad qualifying exams. But he also had a love of writing.

Kaplan channeled these interests into the study of economics, spending spring and summer breaks working at the National Association of Securities Dealers, Equities magazine, and at Wall Street economic research firms.

Returning to Boston, Kaplan landed at Harvard Business School as a finance case writer and as an economics analyst for the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Advanced Technology Program.

Kaplan eventually served as a research economist and speechwriter for the Nasdaq Stock Market’s Chief Economist and became Lead Economist at TOP Data, where he analyzed economic issues for leading cable news outlets.

Kaplan graduated from Harvard with an AB in Economics, earning his degree magna cum laude in six academic semesters. He is a recipient of the Morris Kronfeld Prize in Economics and conducted original research on the supply and demand for entrepreneurial investment as a predictor of Initial Public Offering (IPO) waves in U.S. capital markets.

COMMUNITY BUILDER WITH PURPOSE

Ben Kaplan passed up multiple offers to work in lucrative fields like investment banking to instead devote his time and energy to the issue of college accessibility, affordability, and community building.

Kaplan’s inclusive approach to community building is informed by his varied background: As a Chinese-American — the maternal side of his family comes from China’s Guangdong province — Kaplan worked as an inspirational and motivational speaker in the Asian community, delivering live presentations to more than 300,000 students at high schools and colleges nationwide. As a Jewish-American from his paternal side, Kaplan’s book was a selection of the Jewish Book of the Month Club and he served as a college coach for the Stroum Jewish Community Center.

Kaplan’s NationalToday.com platform – the world’s most popular holiday site with 10 million visitors per month — helps build community around key cultural moments. He has also delivered community building workshops to local residents and union members in more than 50 cities nationwide.

RISE OF A MARKETING CEO

Ben Kaplan did such a good job marketing his first book that other companies and organizations needed similar help — including many well-known educational institutions.

With clients such as UCLA, Texas A&M University, Eastern New Mexico University, and the National Parent Teacher Association, Ben worked to increase enrollment, attract more media attention, and achieve equity goals via disadvantaged student outreach.

Kaplan’s eventual global marketing agency, TOP — an acronym that stands for Test, Optimize, and Perform — developed a specialty in education enrollment marketing and outreach, including clients such as New York City Public Schools, New Mexico’s 529 College Savings Plan, and currently, the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities. TOP currently counts more than 100 team members in 10+ countries worldwide.

LAUNCHING A MOVEMENT IN SAN FRANCISCO

In 2023, Kaplan co-founded WE San Francisco, a 501(c)3 nonprofit helping to solve some of San Francisco’s most challenging programs. The volunteer-led organization has rallied thousands of San Franciscans to reverse the city’s downward trend on public safety, civic disorder, and government accountability.

Kaplan also serves as a weekly political newspaper columnist for the San Francisco Examiner and host of the popular WE ARE SAN FRANCISCO podcast and YouTube show.

Previously, Kaplan trained hundreds of small-town mayors and county leaders across the state of Georgia on how to communicate public health equity and COVID-19 vaccine messaging. Kaplan was selected as the “Top Student Leader in America” by the National Association of Secondary School Principals.

Of the many titles Ben has held over the years, there are two that he’s most proud of: husband and father. Ben and his wife Virginie live with their two children, Abigail and Ella, in San Francisco’s Lone Mountain neighborhood.

Meet Ben

FROM LOCAL STUDENT TO BESTSELLING AUTHOR

LOVE FOR MATH + WRITING LEADS TO A PASSION FOR ECONOMICS

COMMUNITY BUILDER WITH PURPOSE

RISE OF A MARKETING CEO

LAUNCHING A MOVEMENT IN SAN FRANCISCO

Publications & Interviews