Pre-College Programs: What They Cost and Whether They Help You Get Into College
There are more than 175 pre-college summer programs for high school students, and they vary widely in length, cost, format and outcomes. Brown's Pre-Baccalaureate Program runs for seven weeks and awards Brown credit for regular undergraduate courses. Columbia's summer program in New York runs for three weeks and ends with a certificate and an evaluation letter from your instructor. Stanford's Pre-Collegiate Summer Institutes run entirely online. Prices range from about $3,000 to more than $15,000. It can feel overwhelming.
This guide explains the main types of pre-college programs, what well-known programs cost, what admissions offices have said about them, and how to choose one that fits your goals. Every figure comes from the program's own website or from named admissions officials, as published in September 2026.
What is a pre-college program?
A pre-college program is a summer program that lets high school students take college-level courses, usually on a university campus or through a university's online platform. Most run between one and seven weeks. Many are run by a university's summer school or professional studies division, which is a separate office from the undergraduate admissions office that decides who gets into the college. Columbia's pre-college programs, for example, sit within its School of Professional Studies. Keep that separation in mind, because it explains most of what follows about admissions.
Pre-college programs fall into three broad groups.
Credit-bearing programs
These programs enroll you in real undergraduate courses, and you earn college credit for them. Brown's Pre-Baccalaureate Program puts rising and recently graduated seniors in regular Brown summer courses for seven weeks, alongside enrolled Brown students, and every course carries Brown credit. Columbia's College Edge program also awards Columbia undergraduate credit and a transcript. These courses carry a real workload. Harvard Summer School, which runs a similar credit program for high school students, tells applicants to expect 8 to 12 hours of work outside class each week for every four-credit course.
Non-credit programs
These programs give you a short stretch of college-style classes, and often campus life, without college credit. Columbia's summer programs in New York and online are non-credit, and students receive a certificate of participation and an evaluation letter from their instructor in place of a grade. Summer@Brown offers more than 200 non-credit courses, and Brown's dean of pre-college and undergraduate programs, Adrienne Marcus, has described Brown's programs as a chance to "investigate areas of study without the pressure of grades or credit." Stanford's Pre-Collegiate Summer Institutes are also non-credit and are now offered online only.
Selective free programs
A small number of programs cover the full cost for every student they admit and accept very few applicants. The Research Science Institute, run by the Center for Excellence in Education and hosted at MIT, brings about 100 high school juniors together each summer for roughly seven weeks of coursework and mentored research. The Telluride Association Summer Seminar admits sophomores and juniors to five weeks of college-level seminars, three hours a day, with no grades. Both are free.
How much do pre-college programs cost?
This helpful table shows published prices for several well-known programs. Residential prices include housing and meals, and online and commuter prices do not, so compare programs by what the price covers as well as by the total.
Program | Length and format | Published cost |
Columbia Pre-College, NYC | 3 weeks, residential, non-credit | $12,838 (summer 2027 estimate) |
Columbia Pre-College, NYC | 3 weeks, commuter, non-credit | $6,381 (summer 2027 estimate) |
Columbia Pre-College, online | 2 weeks, online, non-credit | $4,018 (summer 2027 estimate) |
Brown Pre-College | Varies by length and format | $3,000 to $17,000 |
Yale Young Global Scholars | 2 weeks, residential | $7,500 (2026) |
Stanford Pre-Collegiate Summer Institutes | Online, non-credit | $3,200 (2026) |
Harvard Pre-College Program | 2 weeks, residential, non-credit | $6,100 (2026) |
Harvard Secondary School Program | 7 weeks, residential, 8 credits | $15,735 (2026) |
Telluride Association Summer Seminar | 5 weeks, residential | Free |
Research Science Institute | About 7 weeks, residential | Free |
Application fees come on top of these prices, such as Columbia's $80 fee. Columbia's listed prices cover housing and dining along with activities, health services and technology fees, and Columbia notes that its summer 2027 figures are estimates that still need approval from its Board of Trustees. Brown's range is wide because its programs run from one week online to seven weeks on campus.
Financial aid policies also differ from program to program. Yale Young Global Scholars offers need-based aid of up to the full cost of tuition to both domestic and international students. Harvard Summer School limits its need-based scholarships to U.S. citizens, permanent residents and DACA recipients (students brought to the U.S. as children who hold deferred action status), and says awards usually cover part of the cost. If you are applying from outside the United States, check the aid policy before you invest time in the application.
Do pre-college programs help with college admissions?
Several universities that run these programs have answered this question publicly, and their answers are consistent. Columbia's pre-college FAQ says that students' "participation will have no influence on any ongoing or future application and admissions processes at Columbia College." In 2024, Brown University spokesperson Brian Clark told the Brown Daily Herald that Brown's admissions office "does not receive the names of precollege program participants, does not track these students during the application process and has no information on their admissions outcomes." In 2015, Brown's then-dean of admission, Jim Miller, told PBS NewsHour that summer programs receive "zero" weight in Brown's decisions.
Harvard Summer School's FAQ adds a useful detail. It says attending does not guarantee admission, and that "attending Harvard Summer School and performing well will strengthen your application to any college or university." The benefit it describes comes from the work you do in a course and the grade you earn.
Admissions deans have also written about summer more broadly. In "Time Out or Burn Out for the Next Generation," an essay published on Harvard College's admissions website, Dean of Admissions William Fitzsimmons and his co-authors write that "summer need not be totally consumed by highly structured programs, such as summer schools, travel programs, or athletic camps." MIT Admissions says "there are absolutely no 'right' or 'wrong' answers" about how to spend a summer, and the programs it recommends are either free to attend or offer generous need-based aid.
Taken together, these statements give you a practical test. A program that selected you from a large applicant pool, such as RSI or TASS, tells a reader something about you. A strong grade in a credit-bearing college course tells a reader something about your academic readiness. A project, paper or product you finished tells a reader what you can do. A paid program you attended, with nothing to show from it, gives the reader much less to work with.
Are pre-college programs worth it?
A pre-college program is worth the cost when you go in with a clear reason that has nothing to do with the university's name on your application. Three reasons hold up well.
The first is testing a subject before you commit to it. If you think you want to study economics or computer science, a few weeks of college-level coursework will show you what the subject looks like past the high school version. Columbia's evaluation letters and Brown's non-credit courses are designed for this kind of exploration.
The second is proving you can handle college-level work. A credit-bearing course such as Brown's Pre-Baccalaureate Program or Columbia's College Edge gives you a grade on a university transcript, which can be especially useful if your high school offers few advanced courses.
The third is finding out what living away from home is like. A residential program gives you a few weeks of managing your own schedule, meals and workload in a dorm.
A pre-college program is harder to justify if the main goal is to add a university's name to your application. The universities running these programs have said that attendance does not factor into their own admissions decisions, and a two- or three-week non-credit program leaves you little time to produce something you can describe in detail. If the cost would stretch your family's budget, the alternatives below may give you more to show for the summer.
What can you do instead of a pre-college program?
If a pre-college program does not fit your budget or your goals, you have several options that admissions offices have pointed to directly.
A summer job is one. The "Time Out or Burn Out" essay describes an ordinary summer job as "often invaluable," because it offers a contrast to the school year and a chance to work alongside people of different backgrounds and ages.
Selective free programs are another, and they are worth applying to early because their deadlines come first. For summer 2026, TASS applications opened on October 15, 2025 and closed on December 3, 2025, so expect a similar window this fall. RSI accepts only high school juniors, which gives you one chance to apply.
Research and project work give you something concrete to describe on your application. That might be an independent research project with a teacher or professor, a product you build and put in front of real users, or an internship with a company. At VTSP, our six-week virtual program places students on internship projects with startups, and students join from more than 85 countries. Whatever format you choose, the useful question is what you will have finished by the end of the summer.
How do you choose the right pre-college program?
Start with eligibility, because it removes options fastest. Check the graduation years each program accepts, whether international students can apply, and whether financial aid is open to you. Brown's Pre-Baccalaureate Program requires students to be at least 17, and TASS requires international applicants to be sophomores.
Next, decide what you want to leave with. College credit, a research paper, a finished project and a campus experience are four different outcomes, and each program is built around one or two of them. Pick the program whose outcome you could describe in a sentence on your application.
Then compare cost by the week and by what is included. Columbia's three-week residential program works out to about $4,280 a week with housing and meals included, while its two-week online program works out to about $2,010 a week with no housing. Seeing the numbers side by side shows you how much of the price is paying for the campus experience.
Finally, apply early. Many paid programs admit students on a rolling basis, which means they review applications as they arrive and fill seats until the program is full. Some also award need-based aid in the order applications arrive, so applying early can affect your aid as well as your seat.
How should you list a pre-college program on your college application?
Most U.S. colleges accept the Common App, a single online application you submit to many schools at once. Its activities section gives you space for up to 10 activities. Each entry has 50 characters for your position, 100 characters for the organization name and 150 characters to describe what you did. That is about one sentence, so use it to describe what you produced.
Compare two versions of the same entry. The first says: "Attended Brown summer program in economics." The second says: "Took a Brown Pre-Baccalaureate course in microeconomics for credit. Wrote a 12-page paper on rent control using city housing data." The second version tells the reader what you studied, that it earned credit and what you made. If you do not expect to produce anything you could describe that specifically, weigh that before you pay for the program.
Frequently asked questions
Does attending a university's summer program help you get into that university?
The universities that have addressed this say no. Columbia states that participation has no influence on admission to Columbia College, and Brown's admissions office does not receive the names of pre-college participants. Treat a pre-college program as a chance to do strong academic work, and do not treat it as a route into the host university.
Are pre-college programs selective?
Selectivity varies widely. Free programs such as RSI and TASS admit very few students, and RSI takes about 100 juniors a year. Most paid programs describe their admissions as selective but do not publish acceptance rates, and many admit on a rolling basis until seats fill. Applications usually ask for a transcript, a counselor recommendation and one or more essays, and students whose first language is not English often need to submit a TOEFL, IELTS or Duolingo English Test score.
Do pre-college programs give you college credit?
Some do and many do not. Brown's Pre-Baccalaureate Program and Columbia's College Edge award undergraduate credit, while Columbia's summer programs, Summer@Brown and Stanford's Pre-Collegiate Summer Institutes are non-credit. If credit matters to you, ask whether it will transfer to the colleges you are considering, since each college sets its own policy.
Can international students attend pre-college programs?
Most pre-college programs accept international students, but aid is a separate question. Yale Young Global Scholars offers need-based aid to international students, and TASS is free for everyone it admits, though international applicants must be sophomores. Some programs limit need-based aid to U.S. citizens and permanent residents, so check before you apply.
Are online pre-college programs worth it?
An online program costs far less and covers the same kind of coursework. Columbia's two-week online program is listed at $4,018, compared with $12,838 for its three-week residential program in New York. What you give up online is the campus experience, so decide which of the two you are paying for.
When should you apply to pre-college programs?
Apply in the fall or early winter of the school year before the summer you want to attend. Free programs close first: TASS closed on December 3 for summer 2026. Paid programs often admit on a rolling basis, so seats and aid tend to go to earlier applicants.
Before you apply
Pick two or three programs that match your graduation year and your budget, and open their official pages side by side. Write down the application deadline, the financial aid deadline, the total cost and whether the program awards credit. Then write the 150-character description you would hope to put on your Common App at the end of the summer. If you cannot write that sentence for a program, look harder at the alternatives.
Program details reflect what each organization published on its official website as of September 2026. Dates, tuition and eligibility change every year, so verify them on the program's own site before you apply.
About the Authors
Written by the team behind the Venture & Tech Summer Program (VTSP), a six-week virtual innovation program that has brought together high school students from more than 85 countries. Each session pairs students with internship projects at startups in Silicon Valley and beyond, and brings in guest speakers working in technology, innovation, and venture capital.
