Becoming a Host Family for Students
Becoming a host family for students gives you the joy and satisfaction of sharing cultures with students from around the world. Foreign students staying in your home also offers a steady source of extra income—about $1000 per month for each spare bedroom you can offer a student.
What does this look like?
Students apply for homestay for as little as one month or as long as a full semester or even a year at a local university. Host families can choose to host long-stay or short-stay students. Hosts plan two meals per week with their student(s) to bond with them and help them converse in English. They include them when possible in family gatherings and occasionally plan activities together. These can be as simple as a walk in Fairmount Park, a craft night, attending a neighborhood event, or a trip to Amish country. Hosts treat their international students as family members. Students with off-campus housing in PA keep their rooms and shared areas tidy and help as much as you allow in the kitchen.
Becoming a Host
How do I become a host?
Hosting international students and scholars is a great way to stay home and make friends from all around the world. The host application process includes paperwork, a criminal record check for all household members over 18, personal references, and an interview to be conducted in your home.
Homestay is not a rental agreement. Its purpose is to include homestay guests in your life for the purposes of helping them learn English and experience American culture. Hosts must be excited about this mission.
Hosts provide each homestay guest with the following things:
- Intentional, relaxed conversation in English
- American cultural experiences (e.g. the post office, a little league game, a museum or a birthday party)
- A comfortable, private bedroom, including bed, linens, desk, desk chair, desk light, comfortable chair, internet access, and air conditioning from May 1 to September 30
- Access to a shared bathroom, free laundry facilities, cleaning supplies, a microwave and toaster oven (in the kitchen), and space in a cupboard and refrigerator to store personal food
- A variety of healthful foods for daily, continental self-serve breakfast
- Three fresh, sit-down, family-style dinners a week in which English is spoken and enjoyed
- Assistance with transportation on the first day of class
The Homestay Fee is calculated at a rate of $35 per night, payable during orientation on move-in day. If you would like information about becoming a host for Right at Home Homestay, please complete the host inquiry form and someone will contact you.
Application Process
First, complete the host inquiry form. After review, the Homestay Coordinator will contact you and provide you with a full Host Application packet. Then, submit the completed application and all supporting documentation to the Right at Home Homestay office at 435 South 45th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104.
After reviewing it, the Homestay Coordinator will contact you to arrange a time for a Home Study visit. This visit includes a face-to-face interview with all members of the family over 18 years of age and an opportunity to see the home and the fully-prepared homestay rooms.
An $85.00 Home Study Fee, payable by check to Right at Home Homestay, will be collected at the time of the Home Study.
Forms for Current Hosts
Here are frequently used forms (PDF files) for your convenience. Please note that some forms can be emailed for your convenience, but others require signatures and must be delivered in hard copy form.
Homestay Student Request
This important form must be submitted as soon as you know the departure date for the student(s) currently living in your home. It is our way of knowing that you will have a homestay room available. Applications are being received and students are being assigned to homes all the time, sometimes many months in advance of their arrival. The sooner you have stated your availability, the better we are able to make timely and compatible matches. You may submit your Homestay Student Request as an email attachment for your convenience. Thank you for keeping your Homestay Student Request as up-to-date as possible.
PDFHomestay Student Request form
Excursion Agreement
This form must be completed prior to any excursion lasting more than one night. Please carefully review the plan with your student(s), have all parties sign the agreement, and turn it in at least one week before your departure. The Excursion Agreement requires both host and student signatures and must be submitted in hard copy form.
Homestay Student Evaluation
This form must be filled out and submitted by every out-going student. It is the host’s responsibility to see that students complete and turn in an evaluation before moving out of the homestay. The Homestay Student Evaluation requires a student signature and must be submitted in hard copy form in an envelope sealed by the guest. New guests cannot be placed in homestays until a Homestay Student Evaluation from all previous guests has been submitted.
Homestay Student Evaluation form
Internet Security Agreement
This form can be used to define the limitations on guest use of host's home Internet service. It can be filled out by incoming guests upon arrival in the homestay. It is an agreement exclusively between the host and homestay guest and a copy is not required for the file.
Internet Security Agreement form
Guidelines for Accommodating Dietary Restrictions
This form is used to define the parameters of the host’s responsibility for accommodating dietary restrictions. When an applicant indicates dietary restrictions, a review and signing of this form becomes part of Orientation to Homestay which take place in the home office on move-in day. The form becomes part of the guest’s official file.
Guidelines for Accommodating Dietary Restrictions form
Non-Use Policy
This form is used to establish that the Homestay Fee must be paid according to schedule from move-in day to move-out day, regardless of use or non-use. A review and signing of this form is part of the Orientation to Homestay which takes place in the home office on move-in day. The form becomes part of the guest’s official file.
Host Family Information
This form is part of a host’s official file and the information contained in it must be kept current. Annually, hosts will be asked to update this form on May 1. If your circumstances change at any time during the year, it is your responsibility to inform the Homestay Coordinator of Right At Home Homestay, LLC immediately. The Host Family Information form requires a signature from each head of household and must be submitted in hard copy form.
Host Verification: Homeowner's Insurance
This form is part of a host’s official file and the information in it must be kept current. Annually, hosts will be required to update this form on May 1. If your circumstances change at any time during the year, it is your responsibility to inform the Homestay Coordinator of Right at Home Homestay, LLC immediately. The Host Verification: Homeowner’s Insurance form requires a signature from each head of household and must be submitted in hard copy form.
Host Verification: Homeowner's Insurance form
Host Verification: Taxes
This form is part of a host’s official file and the information in it must be kept current. Annually, hosts will be required to update this form on May 1. If your circumstances change at any time during the year, it is your responsibility to inform the Homestay Coordinator of Right at Home Homestay, LLC immediately. The Host Verification: Taxes form requires a signature from each head of household and must be submitted in hard copy form.