Mission Statement
We are a 501(c) non-profit foreign student exchange organization fully accredited by the U. S. Department of State and CSIET (the Council on Standards of International Educational Travel). We sponsor 15-18 year old foreign high school students for a year or a semester of study in the U. S. while they live with an American family or individual in the district of the high school they attend.
All our students speak English, have their own spending money and health insurance, and want nothing more than to be part of an American household while they attend the local high school.
Hosts my be single, married, retirees, empty-nesters, and with or without children living at home. They provide room, board, and an interest in their student's or students' well-being. The Internal Revenue Service allows hosts to write off a portion of their hosting expenses.
Students for the 2010-2011 school year and first semester come from Poland, Germany, China, Thailand, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Spain, Norway, Austria, Bolivia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Hungary, South Korea, the Netherlands, Turkey, Vietnam, and occasionally other countries as well.
United Studies Student Exchange firmly believes that the best way for the next generation to learn about American-style democracy, society, and culture is by full immersion in our society's values, and that such can best be achieved by living in an American home and attending an American high school. At the same time, we equally believe that our own American experience will be deeply broadened and enhanced as we learn about other cultures through daily interaction with our exchange students, a win-win situation. The ultimate result, we hope, will be a smaller, more understanding, more tolerant world.
