Democratizing Access to Education: How Sedifly Is Rethinking the Path to College
In a world of economic uncertainty, geopolitical shifts, and rapid labor-market transformation, access to quality education remains one of the most powerful drivers of long-term social mobility. Yet for millions of students globally, the path to college is complex, opaque, and out of reach.
Today, higher-education is more competitive than ever — Ivy League acceptance rates have declined fivefold over the past three decades. While every student must cross the same finish line, each one begins from a different starting point shaped by their family income and access to timely information and guidance.
To navigate this maze, the elite turn to educational consulting firms that provide support across academics, extracurricular development, and college admissions essays. However, these services are prohibitively expensive, with preparation packages running into the millions of dollars. Though nonprofit initiatives address access gaps for low-income students, they fail to meet global demand, leaving most students underserved. A study done by Sedifly found that 95% of students who applied to a US or UK college without an educational consultant would have paid for one if it were more affordable.
Sedifly, a global EdTech firm, is changing that. Founded by Joash Lee, who came from a non-traditional education pathway and was one of the first students from his school to attend an Ivy League college, Sedifly is democratizing access to higher education by delivering what Lee describes as "200% of the service at 20% of the cost."
The firm enables access for those stuck in the "sandwich class": students who can't afford the hefty price tag of educational consulting incumbents, yet don't qualify for nonprofit support. Combining expert-led college admissions guidance with a modularized curriculum has enabled Sedifly to scale without compromising quality — its students are up to 10x more likely to get into a college of their choice, and over 95% of students receive aid, with students receiving merit-scholarships that cover 70% of the fees on average.
The urgency of Sedifly's mission is underscored by the broader impact of education on economic and social outcomes. College graduates earn significantly higher lifetime incomes, have access to better healthcare, and are far more likely to achieve upward social mobility — because their degrees serve as proxies for experience and are favored by employers, these credentials are career launchpads.
Looking ahead, Sedifly's vision aligns with the World Economic Forum's mission to improve the state of the world, and it embraces the concept of profit with purpose. While the education system may never be level, Lee argues it can — and should — be equitable. "Our goal isn't to eliminate excellence," he notes, "but rather, to ensure everyone has a fighting chance based on performance not privilege."
When asked what drives Sedifly, he shares: "We didn't start out by building a business; we started with purpose and a problem we knew needed to be solved, then built the solution. Being purpose-led has, in turn, served us well as a business — we closed a 3x oversubscribed pre-seed round, grew to six-figures in revenue a month after, and recorded a positive Employee Net Promoter Score of +50."
This advertiser content was paid for and created by Acumen. Neither CBS News nor CBS News Brand Studio, the brand marketing arm of CBS News, were involved in the creation of this content.