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Frequently Asked Questions
Q: |
Do I have to
pay any fee to USH? |
A: |
No, on the contrary, USH will pay YOU for hosting
students. |
Q: |
What is expected
from the host family? |
A: |
• A private bedroom furnished
with a bed, desk, and closet/drawer space
• A quiet study environment
• Daily dinner with the family if family provides
room with meals service
• Limited local transportation
• Open communication, encouragement and sound advice
• Treatment as a member
of the family (responsible for cleaning own room,
rules,
privileges) |
Q: |
What is expected
of students? |
A: |
• Be a responsible and caring
member of the family
• Attend school regularly and
show consistent effort
• Share his/her culture and
customs with hosts and the community
• Participate
fully in family and school life
• Open communication
and commitment to the program
• Clean up after him
or herself
• Keep his/her bedroom neat
• Responsible for preparing
his/her own breakfast
• Notify hosts if they will
be away for the weekend, won't be home for dinner,
etc. |
Q: |
How does a
family apply to host? |
A: |
You simply need to fill out our Host Application
by clicking here. Once we receive your basic information,
we will contact you with further details about the
program, students available in your area and to schedule
a visit to meet you. Once we meet with you, we will
add you to our database and you will have access to
track and choose your own students online! |
Q: |
How will our
student get around? |
A: |
Students generally use public transportation to
get to places in California. Most cities that we place
students in have reliable and good public transportation
so students most often take the bus to and from school.
Thus, you may expect that your student will get around
independently most often. However, there may be a few
instances in which they may ask you for a ride and
it will be between you and the student to determine
a time that is convenient for you to be of help. |
Q: |
Will our student
speak good English? |
A: |
Most of our students are international students
who come to the US to learn English and enroll in Intensive
English courses. Given this, they come with a very
basic knowledge of the English language and thus are
not fluent. In fact, most students speak little English
but this does vary from student to student and there
are some students (especially those who enroll in community
colleges instead of in English courses) who speak relatively
good English. Thus, your student's English level will
depend on which course they enroll in and will vary
from student to student. |
Q: |
Do I have to
go to the airport to pick up my student? |
A: |
No, USH never asks its hosts to offer airport pick-up/drop-off
services to its students. Instead, USH arranges pick-up
service for those students who request it through a
shared ride van service but students are responsible
to arrange their own drop-off service. |
Q: |
How does it
work? |
A: |
First, you will have to submit your application
to USH to become a host. Once we receive your application,
we will contact you for further information and to
schedule an appointment to meet with you. After we
have met with you and you are approved (we must screen
all homes before placing students), we will add you
to our online database and you will be able to choose
your own students to host. It's easy, flexible, and
convenient to become a USH student host! |
Q: |
Does the student
pay me directly? |
A: |
No, all money transactions are to be handled between
USH and the student alone. In order to avoid trouble
with students having to pay hosts directly and perhaps
not having cash (since they usually use credit cards),
not paying the host on time, etc., USH asks its students
to make all payments to the USH office only. Students
are not allowed to perform any monetary transactions
with the host. They shall pay the USH office instead
and USH shall pay the host for his/her service. This
procedure is clear on both our host and on our student
agreement and we expect all of our hosts and students
to fully adhere to this policy. |
Q: |
How can I update
my profile? |
A: |
Once you are a host, you will receive an email with
log-in information for you to be able to log-in to
your account via our host website. Once you log-in,
you will have real-time access to the students available
for you, checks that have been sent if you already
have a student, and also to your file so that you can
update any personal information. |
Q: |
How can I change
my password? |
A: |
You will be able to change your password via our
online database. Once you log-in to your account, you
will be able to edit your account settings, including
your password. |
Q: |
Do I pick my
own student? |
A: |
Yes, you will be able to view and choose available
students via our online database. You can check which
students are available, where they are from, their
age, which school they will attend, etc. and then choose
the best student for you. If you do not have online
access, you may call our office and our friendly USH
Team will tell you which students are available and
help you choose a student. You will never be forced
to take a student that you do not wish to have, and
you can choose to only have students when you are available.
All in all, it's a very flexible program with no obligation
involved! |
Q: |
How soon can
I host a student? |
A: |
Once you submit your host application, you will
simply need to go through the process of receiving
a visit from our friendly USH Team before we can start
placing students with you. Once you are approved and
ready to receive a student though, you may receive
a student right away (if students are available in
your area at that time) or we may need to wait to receive
student applications for your area. Basically, you
might be eligible to host a student a week or two after
you submit your application, but when you will actually
receive a student will depend on when the classes in
your area begin. In the Los Angeles and Irvine areas,
we work with schools that have classes beginning every
month so you will most likely receive a student quickly.
In other areas though, the colleges function on a semester
basis so you would most likely receive a student at
the beginning of the new semester. |
Q: |
Do I have to
drive my student around? |
A: |
No, as explained in the "How will my student get
around?" question, our students generally use public
transportation to get to and from school as well as
other places they may need to go to. However, they
may sometimes ask you for a ride and it will be between
you and the student to determine a convenient time
for you to help them. |
Q: |
Can we host
more than one student? |
A: |
If you have more than one private bedroom available,
you may indeed be able to host more than one student
at a time. As long as you have private bedrooms and
we have students available for your area, we will place
more than one student with you. We cannot guarantee
that we will always have more than one student available
for you, but when we do, we will be glad to place more
than one with you. |
Q: |
What are my
responsibilities as a host parent? |
A: |
We do not ask our host families to become legal
guardians for our international students. All we ask
of our host families is to care for the students as
they would their own children. This means that the
families are expected to provide a clean living environment,
good nourishment and caring. The students will provide
their own spending money for expenses incurred outside
of the home and most schools require them to have their
own health insurance. |
Q: |
I don't have
an extra bedroom available in my own home, but would
like to refer a friend. How can I do so? |
A: |
That is very simple and we'd love to have your referral!
We will even pay you $50 for the first student we place
with the person you refer as a "thank you" for your
help. Please visit our Refer-A-Friend page for more
information about this. |
Q: |
Can I charge
the student extra fees? |
A: |
No. The ONLY fee hosts may charge
is for the internet and only if you are able to provide
this service for students. The maximum you may charge
your student for internet is a monthly fee of $20 and
this is discussed directly between you and the student.
Your host payment already includes the costs for your
dryer or washer machine use, cable, electricity, linens,
etc... All housing fees will be paid by the student
directly to USH only. |
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