| No | Questions | Answers |
| 1 | What is a Homestay? | A Homestay is a wonderful experience for international students to live with real local families and experience the local culture first-hand. |
| 2 | What are the benefits of a Homestay? | For international students, a homestay is often the most affordable and rewarding option when traveling abroad. Students forge lasting friendships with their hosts, and develop a much stronger understanding of the culture in which they are immersed than if they were to find an apartment or roommate on their own. Living in a homestay also forces international students to practice the local language, and language-learners have found that this immersive experience is the most valuable tool to developing new language skills |
| 3 | What does the price include? | The Homestay price depends on your location, program, and amenities. In additional to paying your Host Family, the price also goes towards covering the cost of processing applications and payments, preparing files and orientation materials, carefully matching students with their host family, recruiting and maintaining hosts, licensing, website management, and all other administrative overhead. |
| 4 | What is reservation fee? | The one time, nonrefundable $150 reservation fee is charged when you place the initial reservation. This ensures that all students who place a reservation are serious in their intent of staying with one of our host families, and it covers any work that we may have done on a student’s placement should they decide to cancel. |
| 5 | Why do I need to send my flight information if I am not getting an airport pickup through OSHCstudents’ homestay? |
We like to make sure that our Host Families are prepared to welcome all of our students. In order to do this properly, they must know what time to expect your arrival. If they do not have this information, we cannot expect them to wait around all day for you to show up at their house, especially since students do occasionally miss their flights. Sometimes hosts have to change around their work schedules to make sure that they can be home to greet you, so this information should be provided to us at least two weeks prior to your arrival. It is also important that we have your precise flight information so that our hosts can track your flight to make sure that there are no delays. |
| 6 | Duration for make a reservation | Minimum 30 days, no maximum |
| 7 | How does OSHCstudents choose its hosts? | Each homestay is different. Just like every family is different, so is the makeup of all of our homestays. Some are nuclear families, while others are single professionals. Some are retired empty-nesters, while others have many children living at home. Regardless of the family makeup, we choose our hosts on four main criteria: – Location: We only use hosts that live in convenient locations to the schools (usually by public transportation), and that are located in safe neighborhoods. – Warm Hospitality: How friendly and welcoming is the family? We want to make sure that all of our students stay with people who will go out of their way to make them feel comfortable and at home. – Cleanliness and Quality: All of our homestays have been personally visited by a local representative to ensure that they meet our standards and are places that we would feel comfortable sending our own children. – Each host must submit an extensive application, and we conduct both telephone and in-person site visits for every host. We then conduct background checks on the adults in the residence, once someone has been deemed a good candidate to host with us |
| 8 | Amenities and services |
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| 9 | May I choose my own host? | No. We take care to know each host very well, so we are best suited to make placement decisions. Based on the information you provide on your Application and the availability and special requirements of the individual host, you will be placed with the best possible host to suite your individual needs. If, for some reason, you are unhappy with a placement, we can work to find you another option as soon as possible, but we cannot host multiple hosts for a student while they make up their mind on where to stay (this is unfair to the hosts, who need to make plans around whether they are hosting someone). |
| 10 | Will there be other international students in my homestay? |
Frequently there is more than one international student living in a homestay. This can be a wonderful way to make a good friend. Remember: when you are home you should only speak the language of the country in which you are staying (i.e. English in the U.S., French in France, etc.) |
| 11 | May I contact my host family before I move in? |
Yes, we encourage you to reach out to your host, either via telephone or by email, before you go to your homestay. This is a great way of introducing yourself and making the transition into the homestay a smooth one |
| 12 | What will my homestay family be like? | Every homestay family is different, just like every family in general is different. Some love being outdoors and being active, others enjoy cooking and listening to music. Each Host has been chosen because they are interested in welcoming international students into their home and in sharing their lives with people they don’t know. Keep an open mind and get to know your hosts, and we are confident that you will have an unforgettable experience. |
Important Guidelines – USA & Canada Homestay service
10/09/2018
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