Information for Host Families
Becoming a host family for international students is a big decision that should be made as a family. Whether hosting students is a good fit for your family will depend on many variables, including:
- How much time you have to devote to a student’s unique needs
- Your work/activity schedule and whether it enables a routine that is easy for students to adapt to
- The evident reasons for you having these students in the home. Cultural interaction for your children or yourself, filling a “hole” left by a departing child, or a preference to keep control of your entire home are all good reasons.
Ultimately, you should have some motivation other than monetary compensation for having these guests in your home. Some families are able to earn some extra spending money if their costs associated with hosting are not that high. But if this is your only reason for wanting to be a host, we suggest that it is probably not ideal for you.
The vast majority of our hosts build long-term relationships with their students. Many students will return for visits later in life. Some may even invite their hosts back to their home country for a visit!
On occasion, however, our student placement will not be an ideal match for your family. In these situations we attempt to resolve the issues as soon as possible for the benefit of students and host families. We have experienced nearly every type of culture shock, homesickness, misplaced expectations and plain old personality clashes. We are here to help you through difficult times. Most of these issues are resolved with due care and attention.
Hosting students can be very different depending on whether you are hosting a long-term high-school student or students from a short-term group. Longer-term students will often develop a network of friends and extracurricular activities. They will often learn to be independent. Short-term student groups do not have the time to do this, and therefore need to be treated very differently. They may require more interaction, assistance with sightseeing, and more regular eating schedules. We attempt to adjust our compensation based on the expectations we ask you to fulfill.
Please see our information documents directed toward the different types of visiting students. Let us know which you think is a better fit for your family!
If you feel you are ready to register, please download an application form and host family agreement. You may return it to us and we can proceed with the next step of your registration; visiting your home.