Saving on College Visits

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"Admissions officers are all over the world recruiting students, so they will probably be somewhere near you at some point during the year," she said.

Some parents worry that their child will not have a good chance at getting into a school unless they visit the school in person, said William McClintick, director of college counseling at Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania. He recommends that families check with the school to see if it uses "level of interest"—going on a campus tour or having an interview with an admissions officer—as a factor in the admissions process. If it doesn't, then that's a case where the family can hold off on the expense of a visit until they find out they've been admitted, he said.

3) Call It a Vacation:

Most families these days are hard pressed to have the money to pay for both a vacation and visits to college campuses. So why not combine the two? This is what Louise Horgan did when her two twin daughters, seniors at Communications High School in Wall, N.J., did when they started looking at art and design colleges this year. Over the summer, they made treks to Washington, Providence, and Savannah, Ga. They stayed with family whenever possible, looked for deals on midweek hotel prices, and took a handful of day trips to places like Philadelphia and New York. Horgan said her approach saved her $2,500. "We called all our college visits mini-vacations to conserve on money."

4) Shop for hotel deals:

Hotel rates vary widely. Many colleges have agreements with local hotels and motels on special rates or upgrades for visitors. For instance, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette has deals with several hotels, said Dan Rosenfield, the school's dean of enrollment management. "Schools are doing this more than ever because they want to give parents as many options as possible in different price ranges," he said. It might also be worth checking with a school's residential life office to see if it has any programs geared towards families who plan to say overnight in the area. For example, Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill., runs guest housing programs, where alumni and families who live nearby host visiting families for as little as $20 to $45 a night. Other schools, especially the large state ones, will often let families stay overnight in a dormitory, another cost-effective option, admissions officers said.

5) Stay Within Driving Distance:

Another way to cut back is by eliminating any visits to schools that require a plane ride or an overnight stay. Families can also save by carpooling when traveling to campuses, saving on gas and other expenses, said Robert Bardwell, a guidance counselor at Monson High School in Monson, Mass. He said he has noticed more of his students visiting schools that are only two or three hours away. "I think these might be conversations families are having because there is no need to visit a school far away if it's not going to work because they can't afford it," he said.

6) Join a group tour:

One way a student can see a lot of schools in a short period is by signing up for a college tour with a trip organizer. There are several college tour groups that cater exclusively to high school students and take them on a whirlwind tour of nearly a dozen colleges over five or six days. One group that organizes these trips is College Visits, which plans trips to 10 or 12 schools over the course of a week. The prices of these trips range anywhere from $285 to $1,900 and include hotels and meals. "It's a great way to see a lot of schools for not a lot of money and can be much less expensive than if you do it on your own," says Applywise's Cohen.

7) Attend a virtual college fair:

One of the newest trends on the college admission scene is online college fairs, events where students can visit with college admissions officers in virtual booths. This can be a great option for parents who can't afford to visit out-of-state schools. One of the largest online fairs is CollegeWeekLive, which will be having its fourth fair on Nov. 12 and 13. In addition to the admissions chats, programming includes live video presentations with college admissions experts and video chats with current college students discussing their campus experiences. Organizers expect that this year's fair will be the largest event, with 200 schools participating and close to 50,000 students logging in. "More schools than ever are participating because they know that parents and students are not going to be able to visit in the numbers the way they have in recent years," said Robert Rosenbloom, president and CEO of CollegeWeekLive. "They have to do make themselves more available and this is a highly interactive way to do it."

Damast is a reporter for BusinessWeek.com.