Simple, transparent pricing

A private in-person counselor costs $5,838 on average. Waystone costs $25

The IECA’s 2024 survey puts the average total cost of a comprehensive in-person counseling engagement at $5,838 — a one-time fee covering 2 to 4 years of service. That buys a generalist who doesn’t know your student’s target career. Waystone does.

$5,838
Avg. total cost
in-person counselor
IECA 2024 · covers 2–4 years
$2,250
Essay help only
(personal statement)
Market range $1,500–$3,000
$224
Average hourly
counselor rate
IECA 2024 · in-person
$25
Waystone
single analysis
Full 10-section report

Start with one report. Stay as long as you need.

Build your student’s profile for free. When you’re ready to run the full analysis — school recommendations, tuition strategy, essay angles, career alignment — choose the access that fits where you are in the planning process.

Single
See exactly where your student stands
$25
One report. No subscription. Yours to keep.
  • Full 10-section analysis of your student’s profile
  • School recommendations built around your student’s career goal — 1 Reach, 3 Good Fit, 1 Safety
  • In-state tuition pathways, grandparent waiver eligibility, and merit scholarship thresholds for each recommended school
  • Five personal statement angles drawn from your student’s actual experiences
  • Activity scoring with a specific gap closer plan and deadlines
  • Career and degree alignment tied to real employer hiring requirements
  • PDF report you can download, save, and share
Get your analysis — $25
Annual
For families planning from sophomore year
$99
12 months of access from purchase. Re-run anytime.
  • Everything in 3 Months
  • A full year to build the profile, complete action items, and re-run — without thinking about cost
  • Full report history so you can see how the profile has changed over time
  • Access to every new career track module added during your subscription year
  • Early access to new features as they roll out
Get annual access — $99

Ten sections. One document. Built for your student.

Every analysis is generated from your student’s actual profile — courses, activities, sports, GPA, test scores, career target, and state of residence. Nothing is generic.

School recommendations

Five schools matched to your student’s academic profile, career goal, and financial situation — one Reach, three Good Fit, one Safety. Each includes the average admitted GPA, SAT range, acceptance rate, and any documented connections to agencies in your student’s target field.

Tuition strategy

Every realistic pathway to in-state or reduced tuition is analyzed for your student’s situation — grandparent waiver programs, regional reciprocity compacts, military and veteran exceptions, and per-school merit scholarship thresholds tied to your student’s actual scores.

Activity scoring and gap plan

Every activity your student has completed is scored the way an admissions officer would score it. The gaps that matter most are identified, ranked by impact, and paired with a specific action and deadline — not a general suggestion.

Five personal statement angles

Each angle is drawn from your student’s actual experiences — not a template. Each one includes the specific moment to anchor the essay in, the quality it reveals, and what makes it stand out to a reader who has seen thousands of applications.

Career and degree alignment

The report connects your student’s degree choice and school selection to the actual hiring requirements of their target career — including GPA floors, preferred degree types, and the skills that differentiate candidates in competitive applicant pools.

PDF you can share

Every report exports as a clean, branded PDF with your student’s name, grade, career target, and date of analysis. Share it with a private counselor, a school advisor, or keep it as a planning document to revisit throughout the year.

What families want to know before they start.

How is this different from free college planning tools?

Most college planning tools help families find schools. Waystone starts from your student’s career goal and works backward — which degree, at which school, with which activities and specializations, leads to that job. That’s a different question, and one no general-purpose tool is built to answer.

How is this different from hiring a private counselor?

A comprehensive in-person counseling engagement costs $5,838 on average — covering 2 to 4 years of service — according to IECA’s 2024 survey. Essay help alone runs $1,500 to $3,000. Waystone is not a replacement for a counselor who knows your student personally, but it brings career-specific intelligence that most generalist counselors don’t have, at a fraction of the cost.

What if my student’s plans change?

Update the profile and re-run the analysis. The 3-month and annual plans include unlimited re-runs — so if your student completes a new certification, retakes the SAT, or changes their career target, you can generate a fresh report that reflects where they actually stand. There’s no extra charge.

How accurate is the analysis?

The school recommendations are built from each institution’s published Common Data Set — the same data admissions offices report. Activity scores reflect how admissions readers actually evaluate extracurriculars. The analysis is directional and research-grounded, not a prediction. No tool — and no counselor — can guarantee an admissions outcome.

Map your path now.

A complete admissions strategy built around your specific profile, career target, and state.

Start the profile analysis

Takes approximately 3 minutes · Results generated instantly · No account required