Welcoming an exchange student into your community is as rewarding for you as it is for the international students. You get to learn about another culture, provide a once-in-a-lifetime experience for a student and form relationships that will impact your family and community forever.
Get involved by hosting a student or facilitating cultural exchange in your community!
Hosting can be a great way to bring excitement and fun into your home, in addition to learning about other cultures! Give your children, your classroom or your community a global education by hosting an exchange student. You will learn about a new culture and gain a family member for life!
EF exchange students come from 13 countries across Europe and Asia. They hail from a diverse set of communities and backgrounds which offers host families a wide variety of students to choose from.
Browse our available students online.
Our families represent the diversity of American culture; we encourage families of all shapes and sizes to host. Some families have young or teenage children, while others may be empty-nesters or newlyweds. We’ve had single people, same-sex couples and grandparents all be wonderful hosts.
EF families decide to bring exchange students into their homes for many different reasons. Some families host because they want to introduce their own family to a new culture. Others enjoy the program because their own children have grown up and hosting allows them to connect with a young person from across the globe. Whatever the reason may be, all hosts share one thing in common: they can’t wait to welcome an international student into their home. Our families are eager to share their daily life with a student and learn about another part of the world.
Our International Exchange Coordinators play a key role in the world of cultural exchange. They bring cultures together in their communities by connecting foreign exchange students, high schools and host families. The role is part-time, flexible and volunteer-spirited.
International Exchange Coordinators (IECs) wear many different hats. They find caring families in their community, help families choose their exchange student, build relationships with area high schools and provide support to students, families & schools throughout the exchange process.
Our IECs come from many different backgrounds—stay-at-home parents, business owners, teachers and more! They are passionate about cultural exchange and love to build international friendships. Some new IECs come into the role with great connections in their community already while others use exchange to get more involved locally.
Exchange coordinators are compensated for each exchange student they match with a family and for supervising all their students during the year. In addition to the financial compensation, IECs earn travel rewards and gain access to a nationwide network.
EF High School Exchange Year has been promoting global awareness through student exchange for over 40 years. We bring more students to the US than any other high school exchange program. Since 1979, our organization has connected more than 100,000 international students with caring host families across America.
We believe that cultural exchange makes the world a better place. We foster global citizenship through cross-cultural understanding, tolerance, open-mindedness and the creation of global families.
