The biggest curveball of all from dd: studying abroad, graduating early, gap year???

[Luckymama]

:eek:

 

Hold me.

 

:lol:

 

So.

 

We have nixed the request for an international boarding school for junior and senior years because (1) she's way past that in some subjects (2) she couldn't deal with high school restrictions, (3) price :lol: and (4) dh and I both have friends who attended boarding schools in various countries and their stories are just....

 

Options

• going ahead as we had planned with application for a competitive summer-abroad program followed by junior and senior years with classes with me and at the university

• graduating a year early and heading straight to college

• graduating a year early and taking a gap year theough a competitive State Department program (read: essentially free)

• graduating a year early and taking a gap year abroad (to work on languages and be exposed ti different cultures) through something like AFS (read: $$$)

 

For those who don't follow our saga ;), dd is kind of advanced. We could easily graduate her a year early. We decided not to (last conversation was in May) because she would be even more competitive for scholarship monies and for admission to lottery schools by staying in high school until traditional age. Our EFC is quite high but we cannot pay it. At this point, dd would like to work for the government (FBI/CIA/NSA/alphabet soup or State Dept) or an NGO after college graduation.

 

This post is partially a vent, partially a request for support, and partially a cry for any been-there-done-that experience.

 

If we graduate her a year early, this would be the PSAT year. She has a testing site. She would have to prep for the new format (her score last year as a ninth grader showed that with targeted prep, she could hit the (past) NMSF level for our high-number state). We had kinda counted on the extra year to get her all set, yk?

 

Anyone familiar with AFS or other year-abroad programs? My experience is from 30 years ago when I had friends go away through AFS and new friends come to our town through AFS (one from India, one from Germany).

 

Anyone have a kid do a gap yeat abroad? Did you use a program or did you arrange it privately?

 

I would not want dd to spend her "senior year" abroad. I would want her to apply to colleges, figure out where she's going, request the gap year (of course, she'll make sure this a 'normal' thing for her target schools), and then turn for college. I cannot imagine trying to have her apply to schools from a differemt country omgosh.

 

(Pleae excuse any incoherence. I stress-weeded, cooked dinner, and then had an adult beverage. I may need a second.)

[Chrysalis Academy]

:grouphug:  is all I got, but you're welcome to it, there's more where it came from! 

 

:cheers2:

[Penguin]

Do you have any friends or family abroad that she could stay with for a year?

 

When we moved overseas, I set up an exchange semester for my Middle Son between his high school in the USA and the local overseas high school.  Neither school had an exchange program in place; I had to put it together.  It took me a zillion hours, but I did it!

 

If she doesn't do the state department program, what would she want to do for her year?  Study?  Volunteer? Any target regions?  Maybe we can help you brainstorm alternatives to prepackaged gap year programs.  

[Alessandra]

I had a friend who was happy in a boarding school after graduating here in U.S. at 16. She went to England and did A levels. Came back to U.S., went to college, is now a physician.

[8filltheheart]

Could she apply for a yr abroad through nsliy for 11th grade?

[katilac]

How old is she, and what month is her birthday? 

 

Studying abroad during college is my personal preference over a gap year abroad, for various reasons: gap years can complicate scholarships, many colleges have great study abroad programs in place, and, at some schools, your merit aid can apply directly to the cost of studying abroad.

 

I also prefer dual enrollment to early graduation. As you noted, she will be more competitive with that extra time in high school, and, on the selfish side, I'm in no hurry for mine to go away sooner than they have to. I do think that 16 or barely 17 is very different from nearly 18, though. 

 

There is a lot to adjust to at college above and beyond the academics, and starting DE at a local university can be a great way to ease in. She's already taking one language course there, yes? Would she want to add more? That might be a better challenge than gen ed courses. My dd is taking double-speed Spanish; 101 & 102 in the same semester. 

 

 

[Miss Marple]

Yes, my #3 boy did a gap year abroad.  #2 son did a partial semester abroad.  Both were at a school we knew a lot about and with which we had friend connections.

 

I would not hesitate to do it again.  It didn't count for college credit, but our goal was not credit as much as it was learning/growing experience.  Both boys had a great time; son #2 was sad that he didn't do the full year and encouraged #3 to do the full year which he did.  It was remarkably inexpensive (as that sort of thing goes) and we view it as money well spent on our kids

 

We had hoped #4 would do the same thing.  He opted not to.  I wish he had...and I think he does as well.

 

If you can afford it, and if you are comfortable with the school/program I would encourage you to do a gap year (post high school).  DS2 did it in his last semester of his 12th grade.  He turned 18 in February and the program started the 1st of April and went 8 weeks.

 

DS3 was not in line for any great scholarships due to his learning disability and ACT scores (not horrible, but not stellar).  It is interesting to note that he has become a 4.0 chemical engineering major.  I think much of this success is due to his experience abroad.

 

Oh, and all the boys did dual enrollment from junior year through high school graduation.

[Cosmos]

• graduating a year early and taking a gap year abroad (to work on languages and be exposed ti different cultures) through something like AFS (read: $$$)

 

 

This is what I did in a similar situation 20 some years ago. It was such a transformative experience in my life, and I am so glad for having done it.

 

I did not, however, graduate a year early. I simply wrote to colleges and explained that I wanted to apply as a junior. I was missing the fourth English credit, etc., but the colleges didn't seem to care. I had excellent grades, test scores, and recommendations and was accepted at all three colleges I applied to. After being accepted, I asked to defer my admission (and scholarships) for a year in order to go abroad. And my college agreed to that as well.

 

[Luckymama]

Do you have any friends or family abroad that she could stay with for a year?

 

When we moved overseas, I set up an exchange semester for my Middle Son between his high school in the USA and the local overseas high school. Neither school had an exchange program in place; I had to put it together. It took me a zillion hours, but I did it!

 

If she doesn't do the state department program, what would she want to do for her year? Study? Volunteer? Any target regions? Maybe we can help you brainstorm alternatives to prepackaged gap year programs.

We don't have any friends or family abroad. We do have good friends who are from Beijing, but I don't think dd would want to live there for any period of time (we traveled there w our friends in June 2014).

 

She would want to become fluent in another language during a gap year, whether that is through studying or volunteering. Being with a group of English-speakers (or those wanting to improve their English) would not appeal.

[Luckymama]

Could she apply for a yr abroad through nsliy for 11th grade?

She's trying to decide if her odds would be better applying for a summer first. It seems like most of the year students are older, with many deferring college for a gap year (dd and I read nsliy's social media feeds).

[Luckymama]

How old is she, and what month is her birthday?

 

Studying abroad during college is my personal preference over a gap year abroad, for various reasons: gap years can complicate scholarships, many colleges have great study abroad programs in place, and, at some schools, your merit aid can apply directly to the cost of studying abroad.

 

I also prefer dual enrollment to early graduation. As you noted, she will be more competitive with that extra time in high school, and, on the selfish side, I'm in no hurry for mine to go away sooner than they have to. I do think that 16 or barely 17 is very different from nearly 18, though.

 

There is a lot to adjust to at college above and beyond the academics, and starting DE at a local university can be a great way to ease in. She's already taking one language course there, yes? Would she want to add more? That might be a better challenge than gen ed courses. My dd is taking double-speed Spanish; 101 & 102 in the same semester.

She's 15 now with a very late December birthday, so she wouldn't be that young should she graduate a year early.

 

She is planning on studying abroad at least one semester during undergraduate years---potential majors basically require it!

 

We have seen a distinct change in her attitudes and behavior since spending a month away this summer. She has matured greatly :)

 

The plan is for her to start university Russian next year while continuing with Arabic (200 level). If that won't fit in her schedule, she'll choose a different language, most likely an Asian one.

[Luckymama]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. We're having a "meeting" tomorrow to discuss options.

[8filltheheart]

I asked dd about the young man she is familiar with who did the yr abroad. She said he did do it his sr yr but he did end up having to take a gap yr due to the complete inability to apply to colleges during that yr abroad.

 

It is a tough choice. On the one hand, the funded yr abroad is an amazing opportunity, but conversely a gap yr may make them feel like they are spinning wheels while they could be forging ahead.

 

Fwiw, my dd is a jr and I have been scouring affordable options, and I am turning up mostly blanks. There is not the scholarship $$ in languages like there is for STEM. If your EFC brings you in cheaper at tippy top schools like Ivies or Stanford compared to other institutions and your dd would enjoy that environ, if she were my dd, I would pursue summer abroad, and 2 full yrs of high school to make her highly competitive for that route. The most affordable route we have found outside of that option is researching full tuition merit schools.

[swimmermom3]

:eek:

 

Hold me.

 

:lol:

 

So.

 

We have nixed the request for an international boarding school for junior and senior years because (1) she's way past that in some subjects (2) she couldn't deal with high school restrictions, (3) price :lol: and (4) dh and I both have friends who attended boarding schools in various countries and their stories are just....

 

Options

• going ahead as we had planned with application for a competitive summer-abroad program followed by junior and senior years with classes with me and at the university

• graduating a year early and heading straight to college

• graduating a year early and taking a gap year theough a competitive State Department program (read: essentially free)

• graduating a year early and taking a gap year abroad (to work on languages and be exposed ti different cultures) through something like AFS (read: $$$)

 

For those who don't follow our saga ;), dd is kind of advanced. We could easily graduate her a year early. We decided not to (last conversation was in May) because she would be even more competitive for scholarship monies and for admission to lottery schools by staying in high school until traditional age. Our EFC is quite high but we cannot pay it. At this point, dd would like to work for the government (FBI/CIA/NSA/alphabet soup or State Dept) or an NGO after college graduation.

 

This post is partially a vent, partially a request for support, and partially a cry for any been-there-done-that experience.

 

If we graduate her a year early, this would be the PSAT year. She has a testing site. She would have to prep for the new format (her score last year as a ninth grader showed that with targeted prep, she could hit the (past) NMSF level for our high-number state). We had kinda counted on the extra year to get her all set, yk?

 

Anyone familiar with AFS or other year-abroad programs? My experience is from 30 years ago when I had friends go away through AFS and new friends come to our town through AFS (one from India, one from Germany).

 

Anyone have a kid do a gap yeat abroad? Did you use a program or did you arrange it privately?

 

I would not want dd to spend her "senior year" abroad. I would want her to apply to colleges, figure out where she's going, request the gap year (of course, she'll make sure this a 'normal' thing for her target schools), and then turn for college. I cannot imagine trying to have her apply to schools from a differemt country omgosh.

 

(Pleae excuse any incoherence. I stress-weeded, cooked dinner, and then had an adult beverage. I may need a second.)

 

Oh Luckymama, sending :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:  - as soon as I quit laughing - albeit rather hysterically.

 

Sailor Dude went to Spain this summer.  His two best friends are on a year abroad. One is studying in Morocco and the other has graduated from high school and is taking a gap year to teach English in China. She has been accepted to George Washington and plans to do some kind of specialized teaching.  I can ask her who she is going through.

 

Because of his time overseas and because of what his friends are doing, Sailor Dude thinks a gap year that allowed him to pick up a third language, one possibly of interest to the State Department, would be a really good plan.  His interests are economics and foreign policy.

 

I can also ask the friend in Morocco about the program, but I think she got there by winning an essay contest. She too, is a very advanced student that is aiming for McGill for research, but she has dual citizenship with Canada.  Her family has looked for every extra avenue to keep her engaged and she is in an excellent public school.

 

I hope you find an answer that works for all of you. It's getting to the point dear heart that I feel compelled to have a glass of wine when I read one of your threads, part in sympathy and part in celebration of the amazing young woman you are raising.

 

 

[Matryoshka]

I graduated from high school just 3 months after turning 17.  I did not feel ready to go right on to college.  I decided to do a gap year abroad.

 

My mom suggested I contact the country's cultural institute and inquire about programs.  She had done the same when she was 16 (in her case to Mexico).  She suggested a mutual exchange rather than the typical one-way 'exchange', which isn't an exchange at all (her exchange was also a mutual one; she's still in touch with the person she exchanged with).  We found a program that normally was with some other schools (not mine) in the US and some boarding schools in Germany.  Usually the German kids came and stayed with families here; the Americans lived in the dorms at the boarding schools.  One of the schools also had local kids attending as day students; we wrote and asked if there was a local family interested in a mutual exchange.  There was, and the girl came and lived with us my senior year, then I lived with her for a year after graduation.  One of the best experiences of my life.

 

While I obviously planned the exchange a bit in advance, as she came to us already a year before I graduated, I did not get around to planning out college before I left.  My guidance counselor was a twit and gave me no help in figuring out how to apply to college and ask for a gap year deferral.  I ended up applying from Germany to the state flagship, got in, and graduated from there.  Worked out well in the end. :)  Seems like gap years and deferrals are much more common now, so I bet you can make that happen. :)

 

Do not go through AFS.  I've heard of lots of bad situations with that organization.  It costs $$$.  They do NOT screen the families well.  You do not get to choose which country you're going to, even.  We had a German exchange student live with us a couple of years ago (for a full year).   She thought about AFS.  She decided not to, and just wrote to our school and asked if there was a family interested (similar to what I did, but in the other direction).  We were, we were able to talk and get to know each other ahead of time, and only then did she apply to an official exchange program through her gov't, which was next to free.  With AFS, she would have paid over $10K and they wouldn't have told her the country or the family ahead of time.  Her friend did go through AFS, and also ended up in the US.  She did not get to choose where in the US to go.  She was with a single, childless woman and very lonely; she just sat alone in the house most of the day.  She ended up switching families halfway through the year, but she did not have anywhere near the experience our student did, and paid lots more money for the privilege.  My dd also ended up going to spend the summer with our student; they were just Skyping this afternoon.

[mckive6]

If she is looking to become fluent in French, Spanish, or German, En Famille is a great program. It is a language immersion program for ages 9-17. They match your student with a student in one of the 3 countries. One child arrives to the exchange country for 6 months then they both go back to the other country, so essentially they are matched to be like siblings. My daughter just returned from France and she is now fluent in French. It was hard but she lived in the culture and went to school there.

 

Paulime

[Hoggirl]

I asked dd about the young man she is familiar with who did the yr abroad. She said he did do it his sr yr but he did end up having to take a gap yr due to the complete inability to apply to colleges during that yr abroad.

 

It is a tough choice. On the one hand, the funded yr abroad is an amazing opportunity, but conversely a gap yr may make them feel like they are spinning wheels while they could be forging ahead.

 

Fwiw, my dd is a jr and I have been scouring affordable options, and I am turning up mostly blanks. There is not the scholarship $$ in languages like there is for STEM. If your EFC brings you in cheaper at tippy top schools like Ivies or Stanford compared to other institutions and your dd would enjoy that environ, if she were my dd, I would pursue summer abroad, and 2 full yrs of high school to make her highly competitive for that route. The most affordable route we have found outside of that option is researching full tuition merit schools.

I agree with all of this. I would defnitely look into the NPCs at the reachy reach schools if that is what she thinks she wants to do. Before you make any decisions, you need to know if you can afford those reachy reach schools. Yes, they are more generous than others with need-based finanacial aid, but you still may not get any or enough.

 

If big merit is something you are going to be after, NM can certainly provide that, so I would absolutely make sure I knew which year was going to "count," and I would call the NMSC and talk to them about various scenarios. Ds has a friend who took the PSAT during his true junior year and scored remarkably well. He THEN decided to go abroad the next year, but did not treat that as his senior year. He is back now doing his senior year of high school. They had considered treating the year abroad as his senior year (and having him do the English credit online, etc.), but the college application process was going to be too challenging during the time he was abroad. Just like what 8's dd's friend found to be true. Basically, ds's friend wound up taking a gap year *during* high school. I do think he definitely feels like he is spinning his wheels now that he is back. He is ready to move on. I can only hope he, his parents, and the school he attends took the proper steps to align that with NM requirements. I know it's possible, but it does require some hoop-jumping/notifications, etc. Now, the places that give lots of money for NM may not even be the types of places your dd would be interested in attending. It just depends on the kid. That needs to be considered as well. Regardless, I would clear up with NM the plan and what is needed to make it work so she does not lose that option.

 

Ds had another friend who graduated and THEN took the gap year. Overall, I think this was by far the better experience compared to the first friend.

 

Lastly, ds has a friend at Stanford (she's within our area, but we did not know them until they both were admitted and we found each other), who did a study abroad program in Russia the summer before her senior year of high school. I do not know which one it was, but it was funded and competitive and in a critical language. This, to me, was the BEST experience of the three. I honestly think that this really made her stand out in her application process. Her grades were good, and she had good leadership, but her test scores were low for Stanford. I think she had much interesting fodder for essays from her summer study abroad experience. Just speculation on my part. She will do a quarter (or perhaps two) abroad in college.

 

Hang in there LuckyMama. Deep breaths. I know the angst comes from suddenly needing to figure out many things that you thought you had a year or so to think about. I hope the "meeting" goes well today.

[Kim in SouthGa]

My son did an intensive Arabic language program the summer before his senior year through the Federal Service Language Academy at University of North Ga.  It is a program for kids wanting to study critical languages and that are interested in working for the government/security.  Anyway, he did great, and they encouraged the students to apply for scholarships for study abroad through ISA (I think) and offered letters of rec for those that did well in the program.  My son could have done it, but chose not to.  Two of the students he studied Arabic with did apply and got full scholarships for Morocco study abroad.  It might be something that would work for your dd.  http://ung.edu/global-engagement/fsla/index.php

[Kim in SouthGa]

And I should add...my dd will be graduating a year early (she will turn 17 in March, graduate in May).  We are letting her go to China for a month with a friend to a martial arts boarding school. :crying: I feel like a crazy person for allowing it, but she really wants to do it, figured out a timeline of all she needed to do, and got a job to pay for it.  The person she is going with is a first generation immigrant who has family in China.  He goes to this school every summer, and his family will pick them up at the airport and deliver them to the school.  Still.  This is the girl that is applying to the American University in Rome and the American University in Paris.  I can't keep her still.  She will probably do a gap year program (Impact 360, Christian program) unless she settles on Samford's Fellows program, in which case she wants to jump in right away. 

 

Oh to be young again!

[Kim in SouthGa]

And I should add...my dd will be graduating a year early (she will turn 17 in March, graduate in May).  We are letting her go to China for a month with a friend to a martial arts boarding school. :crying: I feel like a crazy person for allowing it, but she really wants to do it, figured out a timeline of all she needed to do, and got a job to pay for it.  The person she is going with is a first generation immigrant who has family in China.  He goes to this school every summer, and his family will pick them up at the airport and deliver them to the school.  Still.  This is the girl that is applying to the American University in Rome and the American University in Paris.  I can't keep her still.  She will probably do a gap year program (Impact 360, Christian program) unless she settles on Samford's Fellows program, in which case she wants to jump in right away. 

 

Oh to be young again!

 

[Luckymama]

I asked dd about the young man she is familiar with who did the yr abroad. She said he did do it his sr yr but he did end up having to take a gap yr due to the complete inability to apply to colleges during that yr abroad.

 

It is a tough choice. On the one hand, the funded yr abroad is an amazing opportunity, but conversely a gap yr may make them feel like they are spinning wheels while they could be forging ahead.

 

Fwiw, my dd is a jr and I have been scouring affordable options, and I am turning up mostly blanks. There is not the scholarship $$ in languages like there is for STEM. If your EFC brings you in cheaper at tippy top schools like Ivies or Stanford compared to other institutions and your dd would enjoy that environ, if she were my dd, I would pursue summer abroad, and 2 full yrs of high school to make her highly competitive for that route. The most affordable route we have found outside of that option is researching full tuition merit schools.

Right now dd is leaning toward graduating in 2017 instead of 2018, with a (hopefully) funded gap year. She knows she'll have to start college searching very soon if that will happen. We had a very frank financial discussion yesterday.

 

I run NPCs for giggles----I have to laugh otherwise I'd cry. We are almost at full-pay for schools like Georgetown's SFS (with the exception of very generous places like Harvard) yet there is no freaking way at this point we could spend that much money on undergrad.

 

The full-tuition-plus merit schools are so appealing financially, but it's going to take some work to find some that would appeal in other ways (location, for one!).

 

:grouphug: This is so frustrating! Why couldn't she stick with math?! (:lol:)

[Luckymama]

Do not go through AFS. I've heard of lots of bad situations with that organization. It costs $$$. They do NOT screen the families well. You do not get to choose which country you're going to, even. We had a German exchange student live with us a couple of years ago (for a full year). She thought about AFS. She decided not to, and just wrote to our school and asked if there was a family interested (similar to what I did, but in the other direction). We were, we were able to talk and get to know each other ahead of time, and only then did she apply to an official exchange program through her gov't, which was next to free. With AFS, she would have paid over $10K and they wouldn't have told her the country or the family ahead of time. Her friend did go through AFS, and also ended up in the US. She did not get to choose where in the US to go. She was with a single, childless woman and very lonely; she just sat alone in the house most of the day. She ended up switching families halfway through the year, but she did not have anywhere near the experience our student did, and paid lots more money for the privilege. My dd also ended up going to spend the summer with our student; they were just Skyping this afternoon.

You don't get to choose the country? That's really different from what's on their website! I know you don't get to choose where IN the country you end up, but I thought you can choose the country.

 

Back in the Dark Ages, AFS kids who left from and who came to our high school were able to choose the country during the application process. The Rotary exchange kids had no choice. I remember a friend's mom just about swallowing her tongue when he was matched with Turkey in 1984!

 

I'll definitely look into AFS problems--thank you.

[Luckymama]

If she is looking to become fluent in French, Spanish, or German, En Famille is a great program. It is a language immersion program for ages 9-17. They match your student with a student in one of the 3 countries. One child arrives to the exchange country for 6 months then they both go back to the other country, so essentially they are matched to be like siblings. My daughter just returned from France and she is now fluent in French. It was hard but she lived in the culture and went to school there.

 

Paulime

That program sounds interesting, but unfortunately dd is more interested in "critical" languages (per the State Dept) than European ones. She says French will probably be her fourth :lol:

[Luckymama]

My son did an intensive Arabic language program the summer before his senior year through the Federal Service Language Academy at University of North Ga. It is a program for kids wanting to study critical languages and that are interested in working for the government/security. Anyway, he did great, and they encouraged the students to apply for scholarships for study abroad through ISA (I think) and offered letters of rec for those that did well in the program. My son could have done it, but chose not to. Two of the students he studied Arabic with did apply and got full scholarships for Morocco study abroad. It might be something that would work for your dd. http://ung.edu/global-engagement/fsla/index.php

This program is on dd's short list for next summer, if the study-abroad stuff doesn't plan out! She thinks it would be very interesting :) I'm glad to hear your son enjoyed it.

[Luckymama]

Thanks everyone for all your thoughts and comments. We have another meeting scheduled in two weeks, giving dd time to do some more research. And me, too!

 

She's been working on her nsliy application essays today :D

[8filltheheart]

Right now dd is leaning toward graduating in 2017 instead of 2018, with a (hopefully) funded gap year. She knows she'll have to start college searching very soon if that will happen. We had a very frank financial discussion yesterday.

 

I run NPCs for giggles----I have to laugh otherwise I'd cry. We are almost at full-pay for schools like Georgetown's SFS (with the exception of very generous places like Harvard) yet there is no freaking way at this point we could spend that much money on undergrad.

 

The full-tuition-plus merit schools are so appealing financially, but it's going to take some work to find some that would appeal in other ways (location, for one!).

 

:grouphug: This is so frustrating! Why couldn't she stick with math?! (:lol:)

I completely relate. It sounds like our situations are very similar. On top of that, finding full tuition scholarship schools with a Russian major (not minor) is slim pickings. We are going to visit some that have it as a minor and talk to the depts in person to see if that is even a realistic alternative bc otherwise it is a very, very small affordable list.

 

I would make calling and finding out how to deal with the PSAT a priority just in case so you know your options there.

 

Btw, have you figured out a way to edit their PDF for the transcript without it altering the format?

[Luckymama]

Btw, have you figured out a way to edit their PDF for the transcript without it altering the format?

No! Argh! So frustrating!

 

And my tech support had the nerve to move across the country ;)

[Matryoshka]

You don't get to choose the country? That's really different from what's on their website! I know you don't get to choose where IN the country you end up, but I thought you can choose the country.

 

Back in the Dark Ages, AFS kids who left from and who came to our high school were able to choose the country during the application process. The Rotary exchange kids had no choice. I remember a friend's mom just about swallowing her tongue when he was matched with Turkey in 1984!

 

I'll definitely look into AFS problems--thank you.

 

That's what our student told us, anyway - she could have chosen among like three countries? Or maybe two?  I know two on her list were US and China.  I've never actually looked at the AFS website.

 

But besides all that, really, I am not impressed with their 'screening' process for host families at all.  And the huge admin costs.  Do they pay the families anything?  If they do, at least that explains where some of that money goes.  But, honestly, I think you'll find (ironically) better outcomes with programs that don't pay the host.  We've done lots of exchanges and never been paid.  I think otherwise some people just do it for the money.

 

[Luckymama]

That's what our student told us, anyway - she could have chosen among like three countries? Or maybe two? I know two on her list were US and China. I've never actually looked at the AFS website.

 

But besides all that, really, I am not impressed with their 'screening' process for host families at all. And the huge admin costs. Do they pay the families anything? If they do, at least that explains where some of that money goes. But, honestly, I think you'll find (ironically) better outcomes with programs that don't pay the host. We've done lots of exchanges and never been paid. I think otherwise some people just do it for the money.

Thanks :) Life would be easier if dd spoke French or German or Spanish or even Portuguese!

 

(For anyone reading along, AFS does not pay their host families but states that the families are eligible for a tax deduction http://www.afsusa.org/host-family/faqs/)