While most high school students visiting colleges typically take campus tours with their parents and university-sanctioned guide, students are increasingly electing to hire private counselors to show them Boston University without their parents in tow, according to Admissions Associate Director Jacqueline Serafino.

Although Serafino recommends that students visit BU with their parents, she acknowledged that visiting with a group led by a counselor might be a beneficial introduction to BU.

“Chaperones, for the most part, know what they are doing, have been to campus before, can anticipate bottlenecks or problems and know how to provide the smoothest college tour possible,” she said.

Serafino said she recommends prospective students participate in BU’s Overnight Stay program, which allows them to spend a half-day attending a tour and information session, and the rest of their stay visiting with a trained host.

“It’s important for [prospective] students to speak with current students to see what their experience has been like,” she said.

College Campus Tours is one of the many companies that offer high school students a trip to visit various colleges with a counselor instead of their parents. CCT’s goals are “to provide a quality evaluation of a college or university, to give an opportunity for students to see a variety of schools and to have people be more open-minded about schools,” CCT Director Stacy Arthur said.

As a small, family-run company located in California, CCT coordinates most of its trips with specific high schools. Each trip takes 15 to 25 students with one or more counselors to an average of 25 colleges in a concentrated geographic region for a weeklong tour. According to the company, it costs approximately $2,150 per student, including airfare and lodging.

Arthur said CCT does not take parents along on trips because the purpose of the tour is to “give students a feel for college without parents around.” She said parents are not usually as experienced in schedule planning as CCT employees are. CCT’s tours may lift a financial burden on a family by cutting out parental traveling expenses.

However, some students said bringing their parents on college tours was helpful.

“My parents were looking for the real experience, even when the admissions people tried to sugarcoat it,” School of Management freshman Kristin Bartashunas said.

SMG freshman Rachel Penzias said she also appreciated the presence of her parents while visiting colleges.

“Parents ask better questions about issues like safety and food, but students may only think of fun and academics,” she said.

College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Jane Falanga said she believes visiting a school without parents present may be a beneficial experience for a student, but parents should accompany their children on tours to give them direction.

“As long as there is a supervising adult, it’s good for one to experience college life [on one’s own],” she said. “But parents can often give their kids cues about what to say, help them answer questions and know what is appropriate and what’s not.”