Into Oregon State has a 12-person student care team that offers workshops and personal counseling on cultural issues that go far beyond the academic: dating etiquette, notions of personal space and privacy, driving and drinking laws, attitudes toward mental health, body language, and standards of interaction with peers, faculty members or even, if needed, the police.

The most prestigious American schools have no shortage of foreign applicants and have their pick of the best. But most colleges and universities are relatively unknown worldwide and lack the resources to do overseas recruiting. And while the supply of students abroad who want an American education is immense, the number who are actually prepared for it is much more limited.

A number of for-profit companies have stepped into that breach, offering recruitment services or college preparatory boot camps, but a handful offer something more ambitious, working with American colleges to create bridge programs for foreigners, a more common practice in Britain and Australia. Six years ago, there were no programs of that kind in the United States, but now at least 15 American universities have them, working with companies like Into and Study Group, both based in Britain; Navitas, an Australian company; and Kaplan Inc., with more scheduled to come on line.

The trend of colleges’ hiring private companies for new functions has been underway for decades. Few colleges, for example, run their own dining halls anymore, and many campus bookstores have become outposts of national chains.

“But this is an additional leap because it’s much closer to our core mission,” said Peter N. Stearns, provost of George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., which recently announced an agreement with Into. He and other administrators say universities have moved cautiously with this particular strain of outsourcing, worried about ceding control of curriculum or admissions, or watering down either academics or the caliber of the student body.