For Alex Russo, Granville, Ohio, sophomore, hosting prospective students for overnight visits was one of the few jobs on campus available to her since she didn’t need to qualify for work study to do it.  

“It isn’t a very hard job, you just need to try and entertain someone, and kind of show them what it’s like to be a college student,” Russo said. 

However, hanges to the admissions office’s overnight stay program for prospective students are making it harder to get positions as an overnight host. Hosts must now go through an application process, provide references, and undergo an interview for the positions. Russo is one of 53 trained hosts for the program. 

According to Michelle Coscia, admissions counselor and head of the overnight program, students applying to host must also live in a residence hall and provide a place for the prospective student to stay such as an extra bed or futon.  

“If all else fails, I have a blow-up mattress I can lend them,” Coscia said.   

Coscia said only allowing accepted prospective students participate in the overnight stay program was another important change. 

“This helps us weed out the students that are more serious about coming to Albion College,” Coscia said. “In the past, students have taken advantage of the program.”   

According to Coscia, there were instances of students coming to visit friends by going through the overnight program so that the guest didn’t have to pay to eat and their host was paid to house them overnight.  

Because students must be accepted to the school before, overnight visits will now only occur during the spring semester. Already this semester, about 80 prospective students have participated in the overnight program.   

Also among the changes were new guidelines for where the prospective students could go. In the past, hosts were not allowed to take guests outside of the Albion area or to fraternities.   

Hosts are still required to stay within the Albion campus and community, but the fraternities are now in-bounds. 

“We want them to get a feel for the campus and the Albion community,” Coscia said.   

Under the new rules, fraternity visits are allowed provided there are no drugs or alcohol in the room and hosts and guests leave by 10 p.m.  

“I think these changes have made the program stronger,” Coscia said. “Most overnight stays make or break it for a student looking at a college. It’s important to give these kids an opportunity to have a good experience on campus with hosts who enjoy promoting Albion and what it has to offer.”