Texas Reality Check Budget Calculator Web Application by X Design Group The web application promotes career exploration and highlights regional and state salary data and job projections data. The site has been extremely successful since its introduction in 2002. The site has been so popular states such as California, Arkansas and Nebraska have duplicated the site for their own use. Nebraska site - http://www.educationquest.org/realitycheck/index.php Arkansas site - http://www.real-lifearkansas.com/start.aspx California site - http://www.californiarealitycheck.com/start.htm According to Google Analytics users (students and jobseekers) view a minimum of 1 million pageviews each month and stay on the site an average of 12 minutes for the California site. The Texas site is undergoing a major site update to accommodate new data and design and bring it into the new decade (see picture gallery for current and after pictures). About Texas Reality Check The Web Application is designed to supplement the career development and guidance process by drawing attention to the connection between lifestyle expectations and earnings associated with various occupations. Specifically, the site is designed to vividly draw the connection between the need for postsecondary education and a more affluent lifestyle. The Web Application helps jobseekers and middle and high school students become aware of the impact their career selection will have on their spending habits and reinforces the importance of career selection, exploration, and education. Middle and High School students are usually not aware of the impact education has on monthly and yearly career earnings. The Reality Check Budget Calculator Web Application provides a dose of reality in regards to monthly expense categories and monthly expense amounts. Students have THREE ROUTES to navigate through the site. ROUTE 1 Student will select the city in Colorado they want to live in. A student will then select the different expense choices they want to incur in the future. Each city provides a different expense amount for each item selected. Once all items are selected they are totaled up on the Total Expense page. The student is then directed to find a career that pays a salary that will cover total monthly expenses. This is the Career Section. Within the Career Section, the student can choose different educational levels to narrow down their career options. ROUTE 2 Student selects a desired yearly salary. The student is then directed to find a career that pays a salary that will cover the total monthly expenses. This is the Career Section. Within the Career Section, the student can choose different educational levels to narrow down their career options. ROUTE 3 Student selects a career of their choice by going through the Career Section. Once a career is selected the student is then presented with their yearly and monthly salary. Using the monthly salary as a starting point the student is then guided through the Reality Check Budget Calculator Web Application to determine if the monthly salary for the chosen career is sufficient to cover their monthly expenses. By going through this route the Reality Check Budget Calculator works in reverse, subtracting monthly expense totals from the monthly salary.
Texas Reality Check
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