One of the most important phases of the college search is the campus visits and tours, because it helps students where they want to apply to. This is the part where soon-to-be college students get to have the feel of how it is really be in college. However, not everybody is fortunate enough to get this experience and this is what college diversity fly-in programs is for.
According to College Mapper, fly-in programs are specifically designed to make campus visits possible for low-income but high achieving high school seniors, so that they can also get the opportunity to tour around and try the college experience.
For some colleges, they are the ones who pay for all of the students' expenses for the visit, but it will vary depending on the different types of programs that colleges offer.
These fly-in programs are usually two to three day college tours that really target students from underrepresented backgrounds, US News reported.
Miguel Alvarez, senior assistant director of undergraduate admissions at Carnegie Mellon University, said that they are really looking into the students with low socioeconomic status, the ones who do not normally get to have this opportunity to make campus visits. The nice thing about fly-in programs is that most colleges would cover all the expenses for the food, transportation and housing for the students during their campus visits. Parents are also allowed to, though they will have to pay for their own costs.
Through these fly-in programs, low-income students will be given an opportunity to imagine and feel the life of a college freshman student so that they can more or less see how it is going to be to be living independently away from their families and away from home.
To make the most of the program, students are encourages to do their own research about the school they want to visit, take down notes and also ask more questions.
