About Host Families for Students Abroad (Oktibbeha County, MS)

Council for Educational Travel USA (CETUSA) is seeking volunteer host families across the United States to open doors to their homes, their communities, and their hearts for international high school exchange students. Exchange students from Europe, South America, and Asia are now being placed in volunteer host families for the 2016-2017 academic year.

CETUSA places students through the diligent work of Community Coordinators. Coordinators work with the local high schools to ensure school placement for the students and look for volunteer host families to welcome the students into their homes. CETUSA Coordinators are dedicated to helping the students and host families make the most of this life changing experience.

CETUSA works with partner organizations around the world to identify students with exceptional English skills and maturity to participate in the US Department of State J-1 Exchange Visitor Program. The exchange students are fully insured and come with their own spending money. They expect to be treated as one of the household and want to live the life of " a typical American teenager". The host families are asked to provide a bed in either a shared or private bedroom, a place for the student to study, three meals a day, and a welcoming home environment. Some students stay for a semester, others stay for an academic year.

If you're interested in hosting an exchange student in the Oktibbeha County area, contact Matthew Monroe at [email protected].

Application Process

1) Brief interview with Matthew Monroe to learn more

2) Home Visit Personal Interview - meet any person/pet living in the home and take pictures of home/property
- anyone living in the house 18 or older must receive a background check (cost covered)
- create a family profile: all information is submitted through corporate office for approval