A Brooklyn-based college tour organization is helping students from second through 12th grade explore higher education opportunities across the country, giving many of them their first exposure to life and education outside New York City.
My College Tours is helping young people gain exposure to higher education opportunities and envision life beyond the Big Apple by taking students on college tours across the country.
Founded in 2012 by educator Tommy O. Abney, the program grew out of his work as a teacher in Washington, D.C., and later as a substance abuse prevention and intervention specialist at Benjamin Banneker Academy in Brooklyn.
The idea for MCT grew out of the field trips Abney organized for his students in D.C., visiting colleges and universities across the country. He found the trips were impactful in helping students stay motivated through high school and pursue higher education. The business started with his students at Banneker and eventually expanded.
“My pop started a fire. My brother made it sustainable, and I just want to throw gasoline on it,” said Ade Abney, Abney’s second son. Since Abney’s death in 2025, his sons, Ade and older brother Oluwa Abney, have run the organization as director of development and director of operations, respectively.
Founded in 2012 by educator Tommy O. Abney, My College Tours has grown into a Brooklyn-based organization now led by his sons, continuing his vision of expanding college access and opportunity for students across New York City.Photo courtesy of My College Tours
MCT has grown significantly since its early years, expanding from serving about 50 to 80 students consistently in 2018 to more than 1,000 students each semester. The organization partners with schools across New York City, including Benjamin Banneker Academy, Achievement First Charter School Network, Rockdale Early Advantage Charter School, Fordham Leadership Academy, Cultural Academy for the Arts and Sciences, Brooklyn Lab and Bedford Academy. The organization plans to expand into Philadelphia, Northern New York and Staten Island.
On a typical tour day, students board buses directly from their schools and travel to one or more campuses, where they spend between 90 minutes and two hours at each stop. Students tour dormitories, eat in dining halls and meet with admissions counselors, financial aid staff, professors, department heads, fraternity and sorority members, current students and, at times, college presidents. At least one fun activity is built into every trip, and on multi-day tours, there’s always a dedicated activity day.
One aspect that sets MCT apart is its use of college students at visited campuses as paid tour guides, giving visiting students a firsthand, peer-level look at campus life while also compensating the guides. Tours are customized to the requests of partner schools, whether focused on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Ivy League institutions or SUNY and CUNY schools. Destinations range from nearby Washington and Baltimore to Atlanta and beyond.
MCT says its mission is to bridge the gap between inner-city students and students from more resourced communities by exposing participants to a broad range of institutions, including community colleges, SUNY schools, HBCUs and Ivy League universities.
“The goal is really to expose students to more colleges around the nation, eventually around the world — that’s my vision with it,” Ade said. “A lot of students in New York don’t know about HBCUs, so college tours help to expose students, specifically to a lot of HBCU culture and just the whole lifestyle.”
According to data from Equity NYC, about 51.74% of students in 2024 were considered prepared for college or equipped with sufficient career readiness skills. Among the five boroughs, Brooklyn students ranked second lowest at 50.3%, ahead of only the Bronx at 40.9%.
Data also shows major disparities across racial groups. About 40% of Black students are considered properly prepared for college and careers, compared with 67% of white students, 75% of Asian students and 42% of Latino students. Black male students face the largest gap, with only 35% considered proficient.
MCT leaders say the organization is helping fill a longstanding educational need for Black and brown students, particularly Black boys.
“We believe exposure brings opportunity, and we just want students to have the options. A lot of students who come from the communities we serve don’t understand that they have all of these options in front of them,” Olu said.
For him, a college tour changed the direction of his own life.
“It was a college tour that brought me to Morehouse College,” he said. “When I was on that campus, in that environment, I knew that space was the best space for me in regard to becoming the man that I sought to be. I just want to give that opportunity to other students.”
Kane Jacobs, an MCT alumnus and partner, attended one of the organization’s earliest tours with Abney. Jacobs later attended Morehouse College, graduating in 2018, and is now co-founder and CFO of State Driven Life Courses LLC, where he works closely with New York City youth. He said organizations like MCT are critical in combating issues facing young people in the city.
“Brooklyn, New York City, has us in a bubble,” he said. “We think we have access to it all, but that overall exposure to see our limitless possibilities gets closed in because of that bubble. Being able to really get out of the environment, going on these tours, having these actual conversations — those conversations are only real once you’re really having them with individuals that are currently in the field and you’re actually on the campus seeing these buildings and departments.”
Through customized college visits, My College Tours helps students explore admissions, financial aid and campus life.Photo courtesy of My College Tours
Jacobs recalled visiting Morgan State University during a tour and meeting Mr. and Mrs. Morgan, student representatives elected by the campus community. He said one moment especially resonated with students in the group: Mr. Morgan shared that he had been accepted with a 2.0 GPA and later raised it to a 3.4 GPA. Jacobs said the story connected deeply with students who had already ruled out college as an option for themselves.
He also recalled an admissions representative explaining that he entered college with $100,000 in scholarships while tuition cost only $28,000, leaving him with additional funds to invest in his future. Jacobs said hearing that as a 17-year-old was a turning point because nobody in his community was breaking down college that way — showing kids that, with the right information, college could actually be a financial come-up instead of just a debt sentence.
MCT leaders say they want students to understand that access and opportunity should not depend on where someone comes from or what people might think of them.
MCT wants to show people that all kids deserve access, no matter where they come from or what people might think of them.
“The biggest misconception [about our students] is that they’re apathetic,” Olu said. “A lot of older people think that young people coming up now are not as invested in their education. But the students we’ve taken — they come out of these museums, they talk to these guest speakers, they meet with freedom fighters, they cry, and they give presentations about how much it impacted them.”
The organization plans to expand beyond college tours through new initiatives, including Collegiate Conversations, a free monthly or bi-monthly webinar series featuring current college students discussing financial aid, admissions and campus life.
Other initiatives include educator mixer events designed to help administrators share ideas on college readiness, as well as the Freedom Riders Tour — now entering its third year — which takes students through Atlanta, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana while tracing the history of the Civil Rights Movement.
More information about MCT, its tours and upcoming initiatives can be found on its website, My College Tours, and Instagram page, @mycollegetours.