I want to do a homestay in the U.S., but I'm curious as to how much it costs …
Aren't there a lot of people who may be wondering the same thing?
To be honest, the cost of a homestay varies greatly depending on how you find it.
There are various ways to find homestay program such as asking an agency, the school you attend, or searching it yourself.
With that said, I would like to introduce you to the cost along with how to find a homestay program.
How to Find a Homestay
Let's get started on how to find a homestay.
Homestay Agent
A homestay agent introduces you to a host family that suits your requested conditions.
The benefit of using a Japanese agent like us, Education Bridge, is you can make inquiries and requests in Japanese.
You may have requests on types of host families you want to stay in such as a home without pets, a host family that communicates a lot, or a host family with children. If you’re able to communicate in English smoothly, it wouldn’t be as challenging. However, if it the commucation isn’t smooth, then it may be challenging.
Because we have Japanese staff, you can find a homestay location without any stress.
Further more, another big advantage with agency like us is that we ask for background checks of the hosts for safety measure to investigate criminal reacords as well as to be well-informed about who they are.
Requesting the School
Most language schools can also arrange homestays.
It should be kept in consideration that if there are no Japanese speaker staff at the school, the communication will be in English.
For your information, colleges and universities may introduce you to homestay agents, but in most cases you have to contact them yourself.
Find It Yourself
You can find a homestay on websites such as Booking.com or Homestay.com
It's difficult to mention the merits with these websites and there are some host families who provide cost of stay at a reasonable.
I don't recommend it because there are many uncertainties, but I have listed it as a search method.
What is uncertain is that every site with explanation of what kind of homestay it is is written by the hosts themself. With that in mind, the reviews may be biased.Important factors to consider when choosing homestay is to hear a third party opinion such as reviewing previous guests’ experience or ask agents who know the host families well.Moreover, it is uncertain if background check has been conducted. Additionally, the conversational exchange is in English. With these in mind, there aren’t any recommendation points to give when searching a homestay yourself (> _ <)
Price of Homestay
We are not familiar with the pricing of other companies, so here we will introduce our homestay costs. Let's discuss the cost of a Los Angeles Language School homestay as well.
手配費：$280（入居日から遡り1か月前のお申込みは$380）
滞在費：$1,280（4週間あたり）
※18歳未満は別料金
※滞在は1日単位で可能
※2022年の滞在費は$1,440/4週間に改定
Placement Fee:$100 to $300
Housing Fee : Roughly $1,300 to $1,500 for 4 weeks
The price may go up in-season in some areas.
Homestay Important Notes
The biggest advantage of homestay is that living with American families can help you improve your English.
Cultural exchanges such as Thanksgiving, Halloween, and Christmas, which are different from Japan, would be a great experience.
There are many good things about having a second family in the United States, but you should also know in advance that homestays have house rules.
The rules differ for each host family, but here are the general house rules that can be found in any homes. Please observe the following examples of house rules that can be expected.
Shower is once a day and try to do so within 5 to 10 min.
Follow lights-off time and curfew.
Maintain cleanliness of your room and bathroom.
Call a host in advance if you won’t be joining them for dinner.
Get permission from the host if you want to invite a friend to their house.
Do not stay overnight without permission.
Drugs and smoking are not allowed.
Homestay experience
I will be introducing experiences of former participants. I hope these will help you visualize what homestay is like.
Sayaka: "I was looking forward to talking to my host family every day."
Soya: "Experience I gained because I took a temporary leave of absence from school."
Hina: "A host family with good security and delicious food."
Summary
“I want to know more details of the flow of homestay and the application process!” You can see the detailed summary of what our company offer including a unique homestay service that other companies do not offer.
If you have any questions or concerns about homestay, please feel free to contact us.
English 
日本語