If you’re going to a college fair and plan to just wander around picking up brochures, you might do better staying home and surfing school websites instead. But with the right approach, the events can be a valuable resource for high-schoolers to find the right place for their future — and their parents’ dollars.

More than 200 Hawaii, mainland and international universities, public and private colleges, technical and trade schools, military services and academies, and employers will be participating in the free Hawai‘i College & Career Fair scheduled for this month on four islands, with the first session Friday at the Blaisdell Exhibition Hall. The annual nonprofit event draws at least 12,000 people each year.

A separate free event featuring at least two dozen small Christian colleges will be held Thursday at Hawaii Baptist Academy.

Many families can’t afford scouting visits to mainland campuses, so local college fairs that attract out-of-state schools can be the next best thing.

"This is a great opportunity to really start the process and maybe consider looking at options beyond your comfort zone," said Derrick Kang, director of college counseling at Mid-Pacific Institute in Manoa. "And this is an excellent opportunity to learn about schools from out of state and out of the country."

But first, Kang offers a bit of advice for those seeking to make the most of a college fair outing: "For parents it’s important to remember that the child is going to school, not the parent. The child has to take control of the process of researching schools and applying for college."

Kang worked at Seattle University for 16 years and attended countless college fairs. He urges parents to let their kids do the talking and "take control of the conversation" when engaging college representatives.

And while he encourages high school freshmen and sophomores to attend the fairs to gather materials and chat with officials, they shouldn’t monopolize the recruiters’ time. Speaking as someone whose been on the other side of the table, "I really wanted to talk with juniors and seniors," he said.

A college fair is no time to be shy about approaching representatives — "that’s the point," said Marissa Bratton, director of admissions at Hawaii Pacific University, which will be participating in the Hawai‘i College and Career Fair.

In many cases, especially for small colleges, the person manning the information table may actually be involved in evaluating applications.

"Imagine the value of having a face-to-face meeting and for them to be able to put a face to the name," Bratton said.

She also encourages students to explore colleges that "might not be on their radar or on their list, because that’s what this is for."

Kang said students should prepare a list of questions that are likely to elicit meaningful responses. For example, instead of asking how big the classes are, ask about average enrollment for introductory courses and what the typical class size is for upper-level courses.

Students also should ask about admission criteria; unique and popular academic programs; extracurricular activities; whether housing is guaranteed; how many students are from Hawaii; whether internships, study abroad and job placement programs are offered; and at what point "undecided" students must declare a major.

Parents should focus on issues such as costs and financial aid, student safety and security, and academic, health and mental health support systems, according to Kang.

Both Kang and Bratton said there’s no need for students to bring their academic and extracurricular records, but as they are likely to be signing up for dozens of mailing lists, it’s a nifty trick to prepare preprinted mailing labels with pertinent information.

Kang said this includes the student’s name, mailing address, phone number, email address, six-digit high school code (ask your counselor), grade-point average and test scores, and even simple designations such "baseball" or "theater" to indicate interests so the student can be hooked up with the appropriate departments.