College visits can run a family ragged. Squeezing in trips in four different directions, making hotel reservations, sorting out the overwhelming amount of reading material, and just trying to find the right fit for the student and the family budget can be daunting and expensive. That’s where FD Educational College Tours comes to the rescue.

The fledgling tour company was started by Columbia resident Faenita Dilworth so that more students could take part in firsthand visits to colleges and universities, and not have to depend on the schedule and availability of their parents to get them there. Plus, guidance counselors and professional tour guides accompany the tours, provide answers to the frequently asked questions about each school and then lead the students through a discussion about their visits on the bus ride home.  

“I found that students enjoy these tours more if they go with their peers,” says Dilworth. Parents are welcome, but not required to attend.

A dozen different tours are scheduled in a school year, coinciding with already scheduled days off for the Howard County Public School System. Day tours are offered to regional schools such as Howard, Georgetown, George Washington and American universities and schools in Maryland, Virginia, Delaware and the Eastern Shore. Overnight tours include visits to historical black colleges in the South and Ivy League schools in the Northeast. There’s even a New York City tour that includes a trip to Parson’s School of Design.

FD Educational College Tours, 410-262-6482, www.fdtours.com.