John Green ⋅ Cary, NC Information Technology ⋅ 40 years experience

The very first step before you do anything else is write a detailed exhaustive comprehensive business plan.

https://www.score.org/business-plan-resources

How will you fund the software development ? It may take a million or two to get started.

Drew Schildwächter ⋅ Wilmington, NC Salesforce ⋅ 8 years experience

Mariah: did you see this? "LinkedIn is rolling out a free Tinder-style service to pair users with mentors" from TechCrunch, posted today.

https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/03/linkedin-is-rolling-out-a-free-tinder-style-service-to-pair-users-with-mentors/?ncid=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=sfgplus&sr_share=googleplus&%3Fncid=sfgplus

Michael Leung ⋅ Purchase, NY Mastercard ⋅ 15 years experience

It may be obvious, but a lot goes into developing a product.
One thing to think about is your competition. There are other sites / apps that are very similar. Design agencies to create a mockup of your concept can be expensive - it can be $10k, but I've worked with agencies that charge $300k. It all depends on what you want them to do - typically, they would do some discovery for you on what else is out there.
You would need to determine how you are different / better than the others and what is the "tone" of your product - is it serious? quirky? etc. The language, colors, fonts, all play a part. Typically, the agency would have a copywriter to help write the copy / text thats consistent with your tone.
Developers are not cheap. If you want it available in mobile, you would have to decide if you want native app or responsive? For mobile, if you want android, thats usually a different developer vs iOS developer.
Of course, all the legal fees for trademarking your name and logo, creating Terms & Conditions, End User License Agreements, etc.
Don't let this discourage you, though. Wanted to let you know all the stuff behind the scenes that some may not be aware of.

Mariah Scott ⋅ Houston, TX U.S. Navy, Petty Officer Third Class ⋅ 4 years served

Thank you for your response, and I'll definitely use the resource you've provided.

I've begun writing up the specifics of the website. So far I've gotten through the following questions: What is the mission/purpose of the website? What's the websites core appeal? What concrete problem is it going to solve, or what part of your users’ life is it going to make better? Lastly, how will the website generate money?

As for funding the project, I be begun reaching out to developers for estimates. So far it hasn't been in the millions to create the website. It's still expensive for the average full time student to afford. I was thinking about hiring a designer to sketch up my concept and maybe seek funding through kickstarter, or other app crowdfunding websites.