doghouse42 Wrote:Hi all,

I used this forum several years back on my way to an English degree from TESC. I CLEP'd a bunch of credits on my way. Afterwards, I got into a Computer Science Master's program (100% online and only $16k for the whole thing!), completed it, and now have been working in Software Development for about 2.5 years.

Anyway, I wanted to see if anyone here would be interested in an idea I had for a software project. I'm trying to "validate" the idea, as far as how much real world interest there would be for it, before I actually start building it. I hope this is an appropriate place to post this, and if it's not, by all means let me know.

The idea would be a web application that would guide a person through finding a suitable career path (if necessary), finding a major, then finding a program (or multiple programs) that is affordable and would meet his needs, and then guide him or her through the process of applying and paying for it. It would use the input from the user to tailor a very specific plan that he could follow through on. Additionally, there would be an additional layer of "counselors" who could directly talk to the user and help him with his research and planning.

The focus would be specifically on more "practical" fields that would lead to a stable career path, and specifically on programs, whether online or not, that are as affordable as possible. The impetus for this whole thing is that I found myself at age 25 without a college degree, without much money, and without a career path. I was eventually able to figure things out, but it took a ton of hard work and research, and I made several expensive mistakes along the way. I'd like to provide a service for others in a similar position that would take the complexity and difficulty out of the process.

So my question is - for anyone who is looking (or was in the past) for a college program, whether a bachelor's or graduate program: would you use something like this? Would you pay for it? How much would you pay for it?