Student Ambassadors & Internships

Real work on a live product that families actually use — in exchange for helping students find colleges they can afford.

We are building out this program now, so the details below are deliberately high level. If it sounds like something you want to be part of, tell us and we’ll be in touch as it firms up.

What this is

Planning4College is a small, independent operation building free tools that help students choose a college on evidence rather than on brochures. That means there is genuine work to do and not many people to do it — which is exactly the situation in which a student can take on something real.

We are interested in hearing from two groups in particular.

Marketing and communications

Getting a free tool in front of the families who need it is harder than building it. There is work here in content, social, outreach to school counsellors, and plainly explaining a confusing subject to people under time pressure.

If you are studying marketing, communications, journalism or anything adjacent, this is a chance to own a piece of real audience growth — with measurable results you can point at afterwards, rather than a simulated case study.

Computer science, data and AI

The site runs on federal datasets, a matching engine, and a lot of careful handling of figures that families will make decisions on. There is work in data ingestion and quality, front-end, accessibility, and applied AI.

If you are studying computer science, data science or software engineering, this is production code with real users and real consequences for getting a number wrong — which is a very different exercise from coursework.

What you get

  • Real experience on a live product, not a sandbox project.
  • A portfolio piece you can show and talk about in detail, because you actually built or ran it.
  • A reference from us about work you genuinely did, which is worth more than one about work you shadowed.
  • Ownership of something visible — the scope is small enough that your contribution does not disappear into a large team.

What we ask

  • Help students and families use the tool — and tell us honestly where it confuses them.
  • Spread the word where you already are: your campus, your network, your counsellors.
  • Care about being accurate. We publish figures families borrow money against, and we would rather say “we don’t know” than guess.

What we are not promising yet

We would rather under-promise than walk anything back. The structure of the program — time commitment, whether particular roles are paid, and whether academic credit is possible — is still being worked out, and it will depend on the role and on your institution’s own rules. We are not making claims about any of that on this page until we can stand behind them.

What we can say now is that the work is real, the credit for it is yours, and we will be straight with you about the terms before you commit to anything.

Express interest

There is no application form yet. Email us with a line or two about what you’re studying and which side of this interests you — marketing or engineering — and anything you’ve made that you’re pleased with. Nothing formal required.

Or use the contact form if that is easier. If you want to understand the product first, the about page explains why it exists and the matcher is free to try.