Congratulations! AFS Staff, Volunteers, and Host Families are excited to welcome you to the USA. We wish you an enriching, fun, and memorable AFS experience.
This online resource of articles is designed to support you throughout your AFS experience with important information and helpful tips to support and enrich your study abroad experience in the USA.
Be sure to review the important Safety Tips Section, to learn more about how you can keep yourself safe in a new environment and connect with your support network while in the USA.
Please read through every section before departure, enlist the help of someone to translate the information that you do not understand and refer to it regularly while on program and as questions arise.
AFS in the United States
AFS-USA hosts more than 1,000 participants each year and sends over 350 abroad. Many host families have sent their own children abroad, were AFS participants themselves, or have hosted previously. As with all AFS partners, AFS-USA is a not-for-profit intercultural education organization.
Did you know that the fee that you paid to participate in the AFS program does not cover the entire cost of your participation? The AFS network of partners conducts fundraising to supplement the amount that participants pay. These funds, combined with your program fee, cover operational costs in your home and host country, among many other things.
Your AFS experience in the U.S. would not be possible without the help of over 2,700 AFS Volunteers that run the program at the local level, and your host family, who does not receive any compensation for hosting you. Please regularly express your appreciation to AFS Volunteers and AFS Host Families for all that they do for you and the AFS program.
AFS-USA Mission
AFS-USA empowers people to become globally engaged citizens by delivering meaningful intercultural experiences that provide the knowledge and skills needed to help create a more just and peaceful world.