CostLine

Two acceptance letters. Same degree. $3,834 apart.

A first year at Memorial University in St. John's comes to about $18,406; at Dalhousie in Halifax, about $22,240. Tuition is only part of the story. Rent, groceries, transit, and fees can change a student's decision. CostLine lets students compare the total cost of studying across 10 Atlantic Canadian cities, trace each number to its source, and adjust a personal budget to see what changes.

What it does

Choose a city and school, compare annual cost categories side by side, and test different housing and living-expense assumptions. The interactive map and cost breakdown make the tradeoffs visible quickly; source links keep the figures auditable.

How we built it

We built a responsive React and TypeScript web app with Vite, CSS, SVG visuals, and cited public cost data. The project was developed during Hack Atlantic's 24-hour build window. Sharon directed the concept and review with Devin AI as a coding collaborator. We checked calculations and copy against source data, then tested the deployed app and responsive screens.

Challenges and lessons

The hardest part was comparing unlike cost categories without implying false precision. We separated estimates from fixed fees, surfaced the underlying sources, and made assumptions adjustable. We learned that a useful student finance tool should make uncertainty visible rather than hide it behind one headline number.

Try CostLine · Source code