AMCHARTS Waterfall Chart

Since I am having continued difficultly with getting the diverging bar chart and the waffle chart to render properly I decided to try the waterfall chart even though I was not sure what type of data I would put in it. Usually, I am driven by my need to see data visualized. But today I am driven by understanding the underpinnings of Amcharts better so I can figure out why I can not get my charts to render. At first, the waterfall chart would not display properly, but trying again fresh I got it to work. I am uncertain what I did differently.

The only data I could think to try to add to the waterfall chart was college costs with scholarship aid to result in a total estimated annual cost. The numbers I chose are loosely based on the University of Maryland, College Park campus net cost calculator, but the numbers are only roughly what is in the estimator. I am more interested in getting the chart to operate properly and posting it so I can see how it behaves when displayed on a phone. Unlike a traditional waterfall chart, the costs are “bad” at least from the student’s perspective and the scholarships are good so I was not sure what colors to use.

There are still a few variables I do not understand that are used to build this chart. I will have to read more into the documentation. Trying different charts and reading the documentation helps me better understand the workings of the program.

In the future, I think I could refine this chart with better data to illustrate the cost of college for different groups of students. It would be good to show that even with free tuition there are significant costs to attend college, in particular room and board.

Note: These numbers are made up for display purposes.