Choosing a university has taken the Gordon family on a nationwide tour of campuses. Today, they are at Worcester, they've already visited Derby and still plan to see Cumbria. In the course of a week they will have visited five in all, totting up 1,000 miles and staying overnight with friends, family and in youth hostels.

"We're going to all the universities I'm interested in applying to," says 17-year-old Anna, from Ipswich in Suffolk, who plans to do a degree in outdoor adventure leadership and management.

"I'm keeping an open mind until I've seen them all."

Ben, her father, jokes that their week away has been a nice family break. But there is a more serious side to it. "We want to make the decision process easier for Anna, as university will be a different prospect for her than for her older sisters because of the rise in tuition fees next year," he says.

"We're interested in seeing the range of subjects she'll be studying, how much work will be involved – as formal tuition time seems to vary by university – and what the employability rates are. There are value-for-money issues to consider."

The Gordons are typical of the new trend to emerge in this year's application process, fuelled by next year's rise in tuition fees to up to £9,000. Universities across the UK are reporting a huge increase in the number of prospective students attending open days – up by more than 75% in some places – and, in particular, in parents accompanying their children.

Applicants are no longer just interested in choosing the most suitable course, but in meeting staff, looking at accommodation, discovering more about the location and the nature of university life.

Their parents have questions about funding – the availability of bursaries and scholarships for those on lower incomes, what "extras" the fees will include and the university's record on graduate employment. In other words, they want to know, as never before, what they will be getting for their money.

For Oli Dowling, 17, from Cambridge, visiting his five choices with his parents has already paid off.

Having met the history lecturers at one institution, he has decided to strike it from his list. "They just weren't inspiring at all and that put me off," he says. "If I'm going to devote three years to study and have to pay the fees, then I want to enjoy the course and get the best out of it."

Increases in attendance for open days at Worcester have ranged from 12% on some days to 76% on others, and the university has added extra events to meet demand. It is a pattern that is being repeated around the country. If the early indications are that applications to universities are significantly down for 2012 entry, then this is not being reflected in open day visitors.

Newcastle University, for example, has recorded one of the biggest rises, up by 24% on last year and reaching a record 18,000 visitors. At Bristol, the rise was 18%, up from 11,000 in 2010 to more than 13,000.

David Alder, the university's director of communications and marketing, says: "The visits allow prospective students to put into context all the information they have already researched about a university. They want to know that the whole experience will be right for them, from the course itself to the town or city they will be based in. Parents are increasingly a part of the process because they want to be sure their children are making the right decision."

Some of the biggest rises have been at open days held in the summer, suggesting that students are starting the selection process earlier. Leicester University saw a 13% rise in numbers from the previous year, with more than 4,500 visitors during one weekend in June.

Jonathan Tinnacher, its head of student recruitment, says: "Students are becoming much savvier about what they want and expect for their money, and are far more robust than ever before in their decision-making.

"They are asking increasingly about finance and this is a complex picture because every university will have its own criteria for administering scholarships and bursaries."

Sheffield University has seen visitor numbers up by almost 30%, while Nottingham plans to review the number of events it holds next year in the light of an overall 17% rise in attendance this year. Stewart Aitken, the director of marketing, says: "Students are looking more rigorously at the institutions and it is important the universities support them in that by making all the information available.

"They are looking not just at value for money, but also at the currency their degree will have on graduation. They want to know that they will be taught by lecturers with a solid background in research. The increased focus on employability is a growing trend, and not a surprising one in the current economic climate."

At Winchester University, one of the smallest in the country with about 6,500 students, Professor Elizabeth Stuart, the senior pro-vice chancellor, prepared answers to anticipated questions about tuition fees that were never asked by sixth-formers attending open days.

"Students seem to be resigned to the tuition fees rise – it is the parents who are worried. We were ready with responses to those who might be considering not applying, but we didn't encounter the question," she says. Just how much of an impact fees are having will be apparent after the deadline for university applications in mid-January. "Debating this now is meaningless when people are leaving it later and later to apply this year," she says.

At Worcester, surprisingly few of the students were concerned about the rise in tuition fees.

Matthew Ketch, 17, from Polesworth in Warwickshire, says: "It's going to happen so why worry about it? I want to get a degree and I won't let that stand in the way." Meanwhile, Bethan Watson, also 17, who travelled with her mother from Kington in Powys, adds: "I'll only have to pay them off when I get a good enough job, so I'm not going to worry about it. It's going to be the same for everyone starting next year."

It remains a big concern for the thousands of parents following their teenagers around campuses, however. Today, for the first time in his eight years as Worcester's vice-chancellor, Professor David Green was asked in an open session by the mother of a prospective English student whether her daughter's core texts would be included in the fees.

"To be asked such a specific question just shows the extent to which funding is a concern and the extent to which there is an expectation of value for money," he says. "There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the rising numbers of teenagers and parents attending open days is due to tuition fees.

"We haven't just seen parents, but whole families, including aunties, cousins and toddlers in push-chairs, accompanying sixth-formers. Going to university is becoming a decision that the whole family makes and everyone is rallying around emotionally, intellectually and financially."

Green believes that what he calls the "waverers" – the students who are undecided about whether to go to university at all – can't be persuaded, as they are simply not turning up to open days.

"They seem to have made that decision privately already, and sadly we are not meeting them to be able to have that conversation."

• A change has been made to the first paragraph of this story to make clear that Derby's open day had already taken place. The university has another open day later this month.