To get the financial scoop, be sure to include these questions.

Time Money reports.

The 4 Questions to Ask on a College Campus Tour

Campus tours are a carefully choreographed part of colleges’ marketing efforts. But they’re also a great opportunity for students and parents to push past the sales pitch and get the facts they need to make smart financial decisions.

So, in addition to sunscreen and comfortable walking shoes, bring along some serious questions for both college officials and your student guides. The latter, armed with actual experience attending the school, are an especially rich source of real-world information, on everything from which meal plan to pick (three-a-day or bare bones, if most students eat off campus) to which academic or extracurricular costs turned out to be surprising budget busters.