College strategy for every family

A $50 college plan that's better than a $10,000 counselor

A personalized college strategy for your family. School list, financial plan, honest advice about what's realistic.

Build Your Strategy → See a sample plan →

$50, one time. No subscription. No upsell. Your plan in 30 minutes.

The Problem

College strategy quality shouldn't depend on family income

$300K / year
Two-parent household in Bethesda, MD. Both parents attended selective schools. Network of friends who share scholarship tips at dinner parties.
✓ $10K private counselor, full strategy, every advantage
$72K / year
Single mom in Atlanta. Spelman grad. School counselor has 400 students. Googling "how to pay for college" at midnight.
✗ No counselor, no roadmap, no one explaining CSS waivers or QuestBridge

The information asymmetry is the injustice. Scaffold closes the gap.
Same data. Same rigor. Same honest advice. $50.

A scaffold isn't the building. It's the structure you put up around the building while it's going up. It holds things steady, gives you something to stand on, and comes down when the work is done.

Your student is the building.
This plan is the scaffolding.

Three steps. Thirty minutes. Twenty pages of strategy.

1

Tell us about your family

A guided form covering your student, your schools, your finances, your priorities, and what matters to you. Takes about 15 minutes. No jargon.

2

We build your strategy

Claude Opus (the most advanced AI model available) generates a personalized plan using real admissions data, Common Data Set statistics, and financial modeling specific to your situation.

3

Read, share, revisit

Your plan lives at a unique URL. Scroll through it, share it with your co-parent or counselor, and come back to it as things change.

Read a real Scaffold plan. 20+ pages of personalized strategy.

Atlanta, GA. Single mom, $72K. 10th-grader with strong humanities skills and no guidance.

Read the Washington Plan →
What You Get

Not generic advice. A plan built for your student.

Every Scaffold plan includes six sections, personalized to your family's specific schools, finances, and priorities.

Developmental Roadmap. Grade-by-grade plan through 12th grade, with course tables and "What Not to Do" at every stage.
College List (8-12 Schools). Reaches, targets, and safeties with honest rationale, built around your finances and geography.
Application Materials. Activities list, honors projections, essay angles by school, rec letter plan, and senior year timeline.
Financial Simulation. 10,000-scenario Monte Carlo model showing what you'll actually pay, not the sticker price.
Financial Floor. Your cheapest good outcome identified and built up from. The floor is not a consolation prize.
Hidden Scholarships. QuestBridge, Jack Kent Cooke, state programs, denominational awards. The gap is "I didn't know this existed."

One price. No surprises.

The same strategic rigor that wealthy families get from $10K counselors. For fifty dollars.

$50
One-time. Your plan forever.
Build Your Strategy →

Private college counselors charge $5,000-15,000 for comparable planning. CollegeVine charges $30/month for generic advice. Scaffold gives you a better plan for a one-time $50.

Questions

Is this just ChatGPT?
No. Scaffold uses Claude Opus, the most advanced AI model from Anthropic, running a proprietary prompt template that was developed over 100+ hours of iteration and tested across five very different family profiles. The template incorporates real admissions data, Common Data Set statistics, and financial modeling. The output is specific to your family, not generic advice.
My student is only 6. Is it too early?
No. The developmental roadmap is most useful when your student is young (5-12), because it gives you years to make informed decisions about schools, activities, and academic acceleration. The school list and financial modeling become more concrete as they get older. Think of it as a living document you revisit each year.
Are the Monte Carlo numbers real?
Yes. Every plan runs an actual Monte Carlo simulation (10,000 scenarios) using published admission rates, institutional financial aid policies, and adjustments for your student's projected profile. The code is included in your plan so you can see exactly what assumptions went in. The numbers are informed estimates for financial planning, not guarantees.
What if my student's interests change?
They will. The plan is designed as a scaffold, not a script. The academic foundation stays relevant regardless of interests. The extracurricular threads adapt. The financial strategy holds no matter what. When things change, you can generate an updated plan.
Does this replace a college counselor?
For most families, it replaces the need for one. For families who do have a counselor, it gives you a strategic framework to make those conversations more productive. The one thing Scaffold can't do is sit across the table from your student and have a conversation. If your student needs that personal touch, a counselor is worth it. But the strategy and data analysis? That's what Scaffold does better and cheaper.
What about financial aid strategy specifically?
Every plan includes FAFSA/CSS Profile guidance, net price estimates at your income level, merit scholarship identification, state-specific programs (like Georgia's Zell Miller or Texas's automatic admission), and a "financial floor" analysis. For divorced or non-custodial parent situations, the plan addresses which forms different schools require and how to handle non-custodial parent waivers.
Can I get a refund?
If you're not satisfied with the quality of your plan, email us within 7 days for a full refund. No questions asked.