Foreign Exchange students

[AustinTink]

Do you get paid to host these students? We know some people who are hosting a kid and were wondering. It seemed highly unlikely that this particular family would host, so we were thinking there was compensation involved.

 

[MichelleVW]

Do you get paid to host these students? We know some people who are hosting a kid and were wondering. It seemed highly unlikely that this particular family would host, so we were thinking there was compensation involved.

My parents had two foreign exchange students that lived with them at different times and I'm pretty sure they didn't get paid for it.

 

[AustinTink]

My parents had two foreign exchange students that lived with them at different times and I'm pretty sure they didn't get paid for it.

That was I was thinking. How did the experience go for them?

 

[Rora]

Our neighbor hosted a nice FE girl. Our neighbor didn't receive any money or compensation besides the nice parting gift her student left for her.

Neighbor said she really enjoyed the experience!

 

[MichelleVW]

That was I was thinking. How did the experience go for them?

One went great, one went ok. They were both from Spain but the first girl was a real go getter/joiner type person and the second girl was a little lazy and only hung out with the other exchange students at the school. I only met the first one and she was wonderful. My parents even went to Spain a few times after she left to visit her and her family.

 

[LisaR]

The groups I have been involved with have all worked the same. The host family needs to treat the student like they are part of the family. They need to provide a place to sleep and meals and include them in activities. The students bring spending money but that is for things like souvenirs and going out with new friends. The host family is not paid.

I only heard of one time where someone was paid and that was because a family backed out at the last minute. The person running the organization was desperate and offered up a $25 gift card to a local restaurant if someone would house this displaced student.

 

[taximomfor4]

I used to be an area coordinator for exchange students. Plus I was one, and I hosted one.

There is a place to claim exchange student on your tax return (not $$$ like a dependent, though). Even being a coordinator, I got money from the agency but it was more like reimbursing for the scheduled phone calls, etc. In a year, maybe $300 total? But not to host. Could you imagine ... people hosting just for the money, and treating the poor exchange students like garbage?

 

[NHdisneylover]

I was an exchange student and I know the family (families actually, there was an issue with the first) did not get paid. We hosted two for shorter summer programs when I was a kid and did not get paid. My DH's company has an exchange program that sends ids for 2 week stays--for that we get a $200 stipend towards expenses but it is expected that you will go and visit lots of places in those two weeks. We nearly always end up travelling out of town for a couple of says and paying hotels plus visiting lots of tourist sites--so we still spend significantly more than what we get. That stipend is the ONLY time I have heard of being paid at all to host

 

[mebbradley]

My family has hosted for many, many years with several different organizations.

This fall will be our 19th and 20th students that will become part of our family. In the past, with the organization we were associated with for the past 4 years; we provided their room, meals if we were at home, and transportation to things. They paid for food if we went out to eat, any vacations that they joined us on, and things that they bought. This year, with AFS; we will be providing all meals and paying for everything.

We have never gotten paid to host. We get a deduction (like 50 dollars a month per student) but that's it for our taxes.

 

[Green Tea]

In the US, families are not paid to host. In other countries, generally they are paid.

The students are treated like a member of the family. What you do for your own children, you should do for your student.

 

[mom2d&b]

We just hosted a student from Spain. We were not paid. We were expected to treat her like one of the family, pay for her food, and activities when she was with us. It was a great experience for our entire family.

 

[Acklander]

When my parents hosted an exchange student they weren't paid, however, when my sister applied to be an exchange student the fact that my parents had hosted students weighed heavily in her favor.

 

[Northstar]

Possibly.

It depends on whether there's an organization that actually coordinates "exchanges" (in other words, they're also helping to arrange placements for US students abroad). Most of those don't pay.

But there are lots of families providing "homestays" for foreign students. Usually the organizations recruiting families to provide homestays work only with international students who want to study in the US (in other words, they're not placing US students in other countries). Quite often, these families are paid for hosting - not tons of money, but certainly enough to cover the added expenses.

Technically, the students living with US families on "homestays" aren't exchange students, but because most people don't really care about the technicalities, any international student often gets called a "foreign exchange student."

 

[Kitzka]

If we had a larger home i would like to have a foreign exchange student. Maybe when DD is older and we are in a bigger home.

Thanks to all of you for posting messages.

Lara

 

[AustinTink]

I wish the family and their new exchange student well. This is a VERY busy family, both parents work 14 hour days everyday. The kids are very involved in after school activities. I can't see where they will find the time to add another kid into the mix. More power to them.

 

[stichy]

My sister was a FE student in Germany and her host family didn't get paid. The daughter of the family she stayed with came to visit my sister the following summer so my parents put her up and fed her for 2 weeks. They also took her sight seeing and paid for her admissions.

 

[barkley]

Possibly.

It depends on whether there's an organization that actually coordinates "exchanges" (in other words, they're also helping to arrange placements for US students abroad). Most of those don't pay.

But there are lots of families providing "homestays" for foreign students. Usually the organizations recruiting families to provide homestays work only with international students who want to study in the US (in other words, they're not placing US students in other countries). Quite often, these families are paid for hosting - not tons of money, but certainly enough to cover the added expenses.

Technically, the students living with US families on "homestays" aren't exchange students, but because most people don't really care about the technicalities, any international student often gets called a "foreign exchange student."

there are constant ads in the local papers for these types of arrangements. we have several colleges that attract foreign students and apparantly if they go through the international studies program it ties them into what basicly equates for them as a rent subsidy-and for the family that houses them an income source.

 

[nealymouse]

Our German exchange student just went home in June after being here for almost a year. He was here for his junior yr of high school.

We did not receive any income at all. We were expected to feed and house him. He was expected to supply his own bathroom supplies, restaurant meals (but we always paid) and any extras he wanted outside of the normal household things you normaly give your own children.

Our daughter will be visiting his family at Christmas time this year for a week or so.

 

[Polyluvr]

We hosted once before; never again-or @ least not from this host agency.

She was an 11 yo girl from China; very sweet girl-just too young to be away from home for that long. And we weren't allowed to let them call home; she was so homesick I was really worried about her!
We were also told that she spoke ok English-well she spoke next to no English!

It was just a heartbreaking experience watching how homesick this little girl was and it was soo difficult to communicate w her- we did have some very fun times w her! Just left a bad taste in my mouth...