Student Guidelines

Since USH cares about the homestay experience that its hosts and students share, we provide both student and host guidelines so that each party may have an idea of what to expect through the program.

Please see below for the guidelines that we set forth for our students. USH expects both its hosts and its students to follow the respective guidelines at all times.

1 Do not bring other guests/strangers into the home without having your host’s permission to do so.

2 Please do not bring overnight guests into your homestay

3 Do not duplicate your host’s house keys under any circumstances.

4 Make sure you always inform your host family of your arrival time in the evening, especially if you do not plan to eat dinner that night and you are under the room with meals plan. Host families can get very concerned about your safety; please be so courteous as to keep them informed of your plans.

5 If you are planning to bring over a friend, please make sure you clear this with your host family first. Make sure you inform your host family of what day and time you’d like to have a friend over for and how they are planning to stay and that your family approves of this before you bring any guests.

6 Always ASK your host if you are unsure about something! It will take a few days to get to know each other and it’s better to ask than to not know. It will also help you develop a better relationship with your host.

7 Make sure you turn off the lights in your room when you leave. Also, make sure any appliances such as T.V., radio, computer, etc. are off when you are not using them.

8 Be sure to lock the doors when you leave the home and turn on the alarm if there is one.       

9 Doing your laundry – you are responsible to do your own laundry. Please make sure you consult with your host family about when and how you should do your laundry. Set up hours which will be good for both you and your host to use the laundry facilities.

10 While some hosts will wash the student’s bed linens, others will ask you to wash it along with your clothes. Please check with your host about what their policy on this is.

11 Phone calls – your host will most likely not have a problem with you making local phone calls. However, if you need to make an out of state or international call, you will need to purchase a calling card. Calling cards can be purchased at convenience stores such as 7-Eleven or Rite-Aid, at the post office, supermarkets, etc. Please make sure you speak to your host before using their phone and set up times when it will be convenient both to you and your host for you to use the phone. Please do not stay on the phone for a very long amount of time so that you do not tie up the host’s phone line.                                                                       

12 If you are sharing your bathroom with the host family, please speak to your family about appropriate times when you should shower and for how long so that there is no conflict between your times and the host’s times. Also, if you have a shared bathroom, please try to occupy it for a reasonable amount of time and not overstay your time in the bathroom. Please note that it is your responsibility to bring your own personal supplies such as toothbrush, toothpaste, body wash, shampoo, towel, etc.

13 Cleanliness – you are expected to keep your room and bathroom clean at all times. This does not mean you need to vacuum your room every day or have everything extremely tidy and organized, but you are expected to keep your room reasonably clean and organized.

14 Absolutely no drinking of alcoholic beverages and no usage of drug or other illegal substances are allowed in the host family’s house.

15 If you are a smoker, please always smoke outside the home.

16 International students who participate in an American homestay must be willing to learn about and accept possible differences in America’s multi cultural society,  women's rights, freedom of speech, environmental protection, and animal rights, among others.

17 Any information USH sends to you is only intended for your use and may contain information that is privileged and confidential. You, the recipient, are obligated to maintain it in a safe, secure and confidential manner