In this Article:
- Key Dates
- Overview of Placement Process
- Diversity: Balancing Students' Placement Characteristics in Your Area Team
- Placing a Student on Hold (Area Team (AT) Hold/Family Hold)
- Placing a Student with a Family (Placed without Papers, PWP)
- Placing a Student Directly in a School (School Placed)
- Interested in Placing a Student Linked as Area Team Available in Another Team?
- Frequently Asked Questions
If you have questions about this process, please contact your Regional Field Specialist (RFS) and/or check out the Frequently Asked Questions. Thank you!
You will find more information on the hosting distribution process and useful resources below.
Key Dates
| November 28, 2022 | First Core and YES NH22->NH23 Rollover applications distributed |
| January 12, 2023 | National Hosting Kick-Off |
| Early 2023 | CORE, YES, FLEX, and CB applications distributed as applications are received from Sending Partners and Accepted |
| April 28, 2023 | Phase Two: Temporary Pause on Student Holds |
| May 1, 2023 | Phase Two: Regional Field Specialists select participant pool for their Regions (using input from their Region’s Area Teams’ Hosting Coordinators) |
| July 25, 2023 | Paperwork deadline for 1st arrivals (Core and CBYX Only) |
| July - September 2023 |
Rolling deadlines and arrivals for YES and FLEX students, depending on their home country |
| August 9, 2023 | 1st Arrivals for CORE and CBYX |
| August 31, 2023 | Placement deadline for all students |
| August 31, 2023 | Paperwork deadline for September Core and CBYX arrivals |
| September 7, 2023 | 2nd Arrivals for Core and CBYX |
| January 11, 2024 | 1st Semester students return home |
| January 2024 | 2nd Semester (SH24) Core and YES students arrive to U.S. |
| June 24, 2024 | Year Program CORE and CBYX hosted participants return home (except New York State/CT teams whose participants return on 01-July-24) |
Overview of Placement Process
Phase One: Nationally Available
In response to volunteer feedback, the Nationally Available phase has been extended this year. Placement Teams will be able to view the entire complement of CORE, YES, FLEX and CBYX participants during this phase.
Placement Teams should enter an Area Team Hold request when wanting to show a specific student to a family and enter a Placed without Papers request when a family commits to hosting a specific student.
Phase One Highlights:
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Once Hosting Operations and Sponsored Programs Staff have reviewed and accepted student applications, the applications will be made Nationally Available for placement in Global Link and will also be available/visible in the MyAFS Placements Widget.
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All students are Nationally Available for placement in any Team.
- However, please ensure that your team maintains an appropriate balance of participant characteristics (see below "Balancing Placement Characteristics")
- Sponsored Programs (SP) students (YES, FLEX, and CBYX) are Nationally Available for placement in any Sponsored Programs cluster.
Phase Two: Regionally Available
- Beginning in April 28, 2023, there will be a pause on student holds so that any students without a pending placement can be made Regionally Available starting the following week (May 1, 2023).
- Regional Field Specialists will represent their Region’s Area Teams’ preferences/placement limitations – and ensure that an appropriate balance of participant characteristics are represented in the Regional participant pool.
- During April 2023, please ensure you share your Area Team’s participant preferences/placement limitations with your Regional Field Specialist, and please recognize that not all students selected for the Regional pool of participants will meet all preferences/limitations.
- Regional Field Specialists will work with their Region’s Area Teams to ensure a coordinated effort in working to place the Regional pool of participants.
- During April 2023, please ensure you share your Area Team’s participant preferences/placement limitations with your Regional Field Specialist, and please recognize that not all students selected for the Regional pool of participants will meet all preferences/limitations.
- On May 1, Core and Sponsored Programs students will be linked to Regions as Regionally Available by our Hosting Operations and Sponsored Programs staff.
- During Phase Two, regional volunteers will have the opportunity to get to know specific students to share with schools, Area Team volunteers, and potential host families.
- Regional volunteers are encouraged at this time to:
- Make adjustments to student bios to ensure they are well-positioned for placement in their Region/local communities.
- Share bios in your community/Area Team/schools and work to identify families for these specific students with resources and support from your Regional Field Specialist.
- Regional volunteers are encouraged at this time to:
After May 1, any participants who are yet to be distributed will be allocated equitably (and ensuring a balance of placement characteristics) by Hosting Operations and Sponsored Programs (YES, FLEX, and CBYX) as they are accepted.
Phase Two is intended to encourage collaboration among Area Teams within a Region. Area Team Volunteers within one Area Team can work with volunteers in other Teams within their Region to ensure all students are placed.
Diversity: Balancing Students' Placement Characteristics in Your Area Team
AFS-USA staff and volunteers are all working toward the same shared goal – to place all participants for arrival on our planned arrival dates and before the 31-Aug-23 deadline.
AFS-USA is committed to inclusivity and ensuring participant diversity that stretches beyond a participant’s home country. However, we recognize that some participant characteristics may be more challenging to place in some areas/Area Teams than others.
For example:
- Some Area Teams’ host schools do not accept students who have graduated prior to arrival on program.
- Vegetarian participants can be more challenging to place in some areas of the country as compared to others.
To ensure that all Area Teams share in the effort to place all AFS-USA’s diverse hosted participants, the following expectations are set with all Area Teams:
1. Country of Origin/Home Country: Area Teams are expected to maintain a balance of participants from our Sending Partners; Area Team Goals/Targets for placement of students from specific programs/countries include:
a. Goals for placement of YES, FLEX and CBYX participants for Area Teams, where applicable
i. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to your Team’s Regional Field Specialist (RFS) if you are not aware of your Team’s goals.
b. Goals for CORE Sending Partners who send large numbers of participants for Area Teams
i. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to your Team’s Regional Field Specialist (RFS) if you are not aware of your Team’s goals for placement of German, Italian, and Thai participants.
2. Gender: A balance of participant gender is expected to be maintained
a. In a typical year, AFS-USA sees an approximate 60/40 Female/Male balance (Note: Participants identifying as Nonbinary typically represent a small fraction of the total) and Area Teams should strive to maintain a similar balance
3. Participants with Allergies: Participants with food allergies, including peanut, lactose, gluten or other allergies can represent a challenge for placement in most Teams
a. Teams are expected to strive to place participants with allergies in welcoming host families, to share the challenge equitably across placement teams
4. Participants with Dietary Restrictions: Whether stemming from religious prohibition or secular choices, participants with dietary restrictions (e.g., Vegetarian, No Pork, Pescatarian, Vegan) can represent a challenge for placement in many Teams
a. Teams are expected to strive to place participants with dietary restrictions in welcoming host families, to share the challenge equitably across placement teams
5. Participants who cannot live with Pets: AFS-USA makes clear that many/most host families have pets in the USA; However, some participants have documented allergies that prevent them from living with cats, dogs or other pets.
a. Teams are expected to strive to place participants who cannot live with pets in welcoming host families, to share the challenge equitably across Area Teams
6. Older/Younger Participants: Participants below 15.5 years of age or above 18 years of age upon program start can be challenging to place in some areas due to host school restrictions.
a. Teams are expected to strive to place participants who are older/younger in welcoming host families, to share the challenge equitably across placement teams
7. Participants with ELTIS (English Language Assessment) scores that are on the low end of acceptance range and/or with less than outstanding/very good academic history: Some host schools are very strict in their acceptance criteria which limits some Area Teams in their ability to place students with lower ELTIS scores or a moderate academic history.
a. Where possible given host school limitations, Teams are expected to strive to place participants who have lower ELTIS scores and/or a moderate academic history in welcoming host families, to share the challenge equitably across placement teams
8. Participants who will arrive on program as graduates: AFS-USA accepts a very limited number of participants who are graduates, generally due to unique circumstances of the school system in their home country; Some host schools will not accept participants who are graduates which limits some Teams in their ability to place participants who are graduates.
a. Where possible given host school limitations, Teams are expected to strive to place participants who are graduates in welcoming host families, to share the challenge equitably across placement teams
9. Semester Participants: AFS-USA accepts a limited number of participants who participate on a first or second semester program; Some host schools do not accept semester participants which limits some Teams in their ability to place these participants.
a. Teams are expected to strive to place semester participants, to share the challenge equitably across placement teams
Thank you in advance to all our Area Teams for their efforts to share in the effort to place all of AFS-USA’s diverse hosted participants. Your efforts help ensure delivery on AFS-USA’s commitment to inclusivity and participant diversity.
Placing a Student on Hold (Area Team Hold)
Hosting Volunteers may request an Area Team Hold for a student that is Nationally Available or Regionally Available or to give volunteers time to reach families and to give families time to decide about hosting that specific student.
Only two students may be on Hold at one time for any given family. Thus, the family name must be included in the Hold request. One Area Team Hold request may be submitted per student per Area Team per day, even if multiple families are interested in the same student.
Holds will automatically be released at 11:45pm Eastern on the 2nd day after the Hold request is accepted. (For example, if a hold request is accepted on Monday, the hold will expire at 11:45pm ET on Wednesday.) Of note, an email goes to the requester to alert them when their Hold has been accepted and when it will expire.
While a student is on Hold for a team, that team only has the right to PWP the student. If a queue of Holds or other requests forms for the same student, each subsequent request will be processed in the order in which it was entered. For example, School Placed requests are accepted in the order they are received; having a student on Hold gives no advantage in School Placing.
Volunteers and staff are expected to release Holds as soon as it is apparent that the intended family will not be hosting the student. To release a hold, submit a “Release AT Hold” or “Release Family Hold” placement request in Global Link. To help ensure that hold queues move as quickly as possible, people will receive auto emails 14 days after entering a Hold request if the Hold is still in queue to confirm if they still want the Hold or if the family they had in mind is no longer interested and the Hold can be released.
Placing a Student with a Family (Placed without Papers, PWP)
When a family commits to hosting a particular student, a PWP request should be entered. If additional approval is needed before accepting the PWP request, such as school or supplemental paperwork approval, a detailed note should be added to the “Comments” box here:
If a Team wants to place a Regionally Available student who is on AT Hold for another Team, they may enter a PWP request, but it will not be honored until their place in the queue arrives.
Once a family is fully screened, Hosting Operations staff will assign the student a Family Placement Confirm (FPC) status, and the host family application will be transferred to the partner country to share with the student.
Important Reminder: until a placement is FPC, host families cannot be given student contact information. Volunteers also should not reach out to students or natural families until the placement is FPC (e.g., regarding arrival orientation information or any other Team information). This helps avoid confusion on the part of the student, natural family, and AFS partner country who are not informed of the placement until it is FPC.
Placing a Student Directly in a School (School Placed)
The School Placed status will be used when a school guarantees acceptance of a particular student with a signed Placement Acceptance Form uploaded into Global Link on the student’s Placement Detail page. If you are interested in showing a student to a school for potential school placement, please enter a Hold request immediately followed by the School Placed request. That way, once your Hold is accepted you will have time to secure approval from the school. If they will not accept the student, you can release your Hold and cancel your School Placed request.
If the school fails to find a family for a School Placed student by mid-spring (exact date for 2023 TBD), the Team must decide either to make the student Area Team Available or return the student to Regionally Available.
School Placement requests for Sponsored Programs students will be reviewed and accepted on a case-by-case basis. Please note that the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) must concur before a Sponsored Programs student may be placed in non-traditional, private, or charter schools. Contact your Regional Field Specialist if you wish to School Place a YES, FLEX, or CBYX student.
Interested in Placing a Student in Another Region?
If your Team would like to show a family a student who is Regionally Available in a different Region, you should reach out to your Regional Field Specialist (RFS) who can contact the other Region’s RFS to ask permission to show the student. If the Region does not have a lead for the student, they may be willing to release the student or facilitate a trade for one of your students.
As noted above, Area Teams are expected to self-monitor to ensure an appropriate balance of participant characteristics, especially when trading across Regions. (See “Balancing Placement Characteristics” section).
Starting on Monday, June 19th, if the Region is not willing to release the student your Region/Team would like to place, and school permission can be obtained, the 3 Day Rule may be invoked. In these cases, the Team where the student is Regionally Available has 3 business days to place the student or the student must be released to the new Team for placement.
The Region that invokes the 3 Day Rule and places the student will still be expected to place all their Regionally Available students. If they have sufficient Regionally Available students to meet or exceed their hosting goal, then the Team’s goal will increase by 1 student for each student they place from another Team.
If the Region agrees that you can show one of their students, aArea Team Hold request should be entered so that it is clear to all that the student is being shown in another Team. Please also notify your Regional Field Specialist.
Please note: While an Area Team Hold request should be entered in these cases, the Hold will not be accepted by the Field Specialist as that will also reassign the student to the new Team.
The 3 Day Rule applies to welcome, semester, and permanent family placements.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: If I see a student on MyAFS that I want to place with a family, what do I do?
A: You can review the section Placing a Student with a Family or consult with your local volunteer hosting coordinator or your staff Regional Field Specialist (RFS). If the student is not in the “My Team” section of the MyAFS Placements widget, you may also need to consult the instructions above about placing a student linked to a different team.
Q: Why do some students not have student bios?
A: These students are waiting for a volunteer to submit a bio! (Or in some cases the bio is written and is awaiting approval.) Releasing students without bios allows us to get student applications out to volunteers more quickly AND it allows volunteers to highlight student aspects that might be particularly attractive to the area (i.e. Mario loves water and would enjoy seeing Lake Michigan!)
Q: Who can write student bios?
A: Any volunteer with the Hosting Volunteer affiliation can write bios. Instructions and training are available on Help & Learning.
Q: Why are there times when I can’t enter a Hold request? What if I want to place a student during this timeframe?
A: Placed without Papers requests are always allowed when you have a family committed to hosting a student. Hold requests aren’t allowed for short windows when we are transitioning to a new time of year in order to make the transition smoother. If you are showing a student during a “No Holds” period, your Regional Field Specialist can update the Comments section of Global Link.
Q: How do I know how many students from specific countries my team needs to place?
A: Your Regional Field Specialist (RFS) will provide this information upon request.