Hello prospective host families! My name is Caroline and my daughter, Carlilse and I hosted Maya from Rome last semester. We always knew we wanted to host an exchange student, but weren't really sure what to expect. We just went into it with open minds and hearts. From the moment we met Maya, we had a connection and in our home, it was easy for Maya to fit right in. We traveled quite a bit showing Maya some beautiful spots on the east coast, saw the Nutcracker and Hamilton, she sailed with her high school friends, experienced our beautiful coast in the waterways and on the ocean, did a lot of thrifting, eating out and lots of fun family dinners. I will say, the best parts were just the normal days having her there with us in the house as part of our family. We didn't fully realize the impact Maya could have on our family and now it's safe to say, I've gained a daughter and Carlisle a sister. Two days after Maya returned home from her semester with us, she called and asked if she could return and finish the year with us. I was elated, but unfortunately, the time to extend had already passed. Instead we planned for Maya to return in June and Carlilse to go to Rome in August. I am forever grateful for this opportunity, as hosting Maya has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life and I can't recommend it enough. Best, Caroline read more

We weren't sure what to expect even though we were totally prepared by Ayusa and our community representative, Brian. It's been wonderful. The connections we've made and experiences we've gotten to experience with our students is absolutely incredible. I'd encourage anyone to welcome a student for a semester or year! We absolutely adore our girl! read more

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First, I want to point out that the negative reviews that are on this page reflect the sentiments of families where the kids were often removed. Second, there are certain rules the state department requires that are out of AYUSA control. AYUSA must adhere to State Department polices, or else they're in violation, and risk their standing as a safe organization. AYUSA doesn't create policies out of the blue. They have the responsibility of ensuring that these children are cared for and in good hands, which is not an easy thing to do. Many host families that are posting negatively did not meet the needs of the student they chose, which is a natural and human thing to happen. Obviously, it feels yucky to be rejected, and it doesn't happen frequently, but it does happen. AYUSA steps in to mediate where it makes sense, but sometimes the student may just want to leave. AYUSA cannot force a student to stay in a host family that they don't like. The students pay lots of money and make sacrifices to be here, so they want to have a placement that they love. Some teenagers are braver than others when it comes to being assertive about their needs. Third, most of the CRs are host families too. They start hosting, then fall in love with the organization, so they sign on to be a part of it. That should tell you right there that this is a fantastic organization. Many of the host parents I spend time with are involved in AYUSA because they believe in the mission. I have been a host family for years. We hosted when I was a teenager growing up. Now, this year was my first time doing it as the "responsible adult". We have an exchanged student from Italy. We are a young couple without kids, so we were nervous about it, but we welcomed the new adventure. AYUSA has made this much less nerve wracking. They have been there for us every step of the way. In a human centered business, sometimes things can be difficult. People will be people, and teenagers will be, well, teenagers. Everyone has different personalities and sometimes students and host families are not as compatible as they thought they would be. That's just human nature. AYUSA helped guide us to choose a student that would be the most appropriate for our little family. We could not be happier with how this year has gone. Paolo will forever be part of our family! The community of exchange students we spend time with now will be friends for life. We now have multiple homes around the globe we can visit. If you're considering this adventure, go for it, but understand it's what YOU make of the opportunity. For us, this has been meaningful and special. We don't want to say goodbye, so we are thrilled we can just say "see you later". read more

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We have hosted exchange students for many years since 2006 with various US exchange programs. This is our first year with AYUSA and we are very pleased with how engaged and involved they are with the students. Any time we've had any questions or concerns, AYUSA has gone above and beyond the resolve any issues efficiently. We highly recommend AYUSA for hosting exchange students without exception. read more

Don't recommend this company. Their support system is lacking, and their actions suggest financial motivations overshadow their commitment to the students and host families. read more

I hosted a student via Ayusa and had an excellent experience. The community rep was great, very helpful, always available, and was very experienced. Hosting this student was a joy for my child and I and we had a wonderful year. I would recommend this program for hosting a student! read more

My year with AYUSA was unforgettable -- I had an amazing host family and my Community Representative Craig was always there when I needed Him. Highly recommend to anyone considering an exchange year! read more

Being a host parent with AYUSA has been a fabulous experience. We have hosted twice and had an amazing experience with both students. The organization is very involved and helpful through the whole process. The students have been great as well. read more

We started hosting high school foreign exchange students in 2015 with another placement agency and was introduced to AYUSA when our first community representative moved away. We've been very impressed by the involvement of our local CR and other AYUSA reps in our state. We've hosted 4 with AYUSA so far. It's always a great time with the students! read more

This has been one of the best experiences that our family has ever been a part of. We have been working with a different agency, and then Craig embrace our family and our student as if it was we were his own. Having Richi here as part of our family, It has definitely filled a void that we didn't even know we had. Thank you for allowing us to be part of this amazing group and I encourage anyone who has even thought about it to embrace it because it'll be the best experience you ever had. read more

Read the other negative reviews here. I went through the same as them. Lack of communication. Lack of support. Secret plans behind our backs to re-home our student. They seem to be involved with another host parent conspiring against us. We had one good year with an exceptional student, who communicated her needs to us clearly. She's now part of our family. I severely limited our involvement with Ayusa the whole year, as did our student. That made our year a success. read more

Our exchange student is lovely and we have had lots of wonderful memories with her! We are very excited to see her again soon.

I do not recommend. I got talked into hosting two kids from two different countries. The night the second one comes the CR had already been conspiring with the both of them. Less than few days before the school semester started. Wanted me to keep them enrolled. Not sure why, because they are not living here after the CR had some reason wanted them to move out over them sharing a room with separate beds and told me that it was fine. But the night the student comes to our home somehow it's a problem. And the students are removed. Yet breaking a Tx penal code doesn't matter to them about letting students who do not live in the home attend school way out of district. Anyhow, we wasted tons of money and hours and nights preparing for these kids to come be apart of our family. Just for this to last momentarily. Something seems very fishy, hope USCIS and ICE looks into this as these kids are breaking th J1Visa laws/ rules to student must be enrolled to be on the J1 visa... Not to mention, I had my speculations about these kids, just for them to show up ungrateful, disobedient to the house rules, and to yell at us in our own home ALL FOR FREE??!?!!!!! Not a dime paid to us, and the kids get removed. Sketchy , sketchy! read more

We were so excited to host exchange students this year so we reached out to AYUSA. We have had nothing but miscommunications and seems like one rep has no clue what the other one is doing or have any consistency on rules. Our rep brought her two unruly rude children to our home for the first visit (running all over our home, getting into personal things) & she just sat there. She again brought one of her children out for the visit with the kids...same issues & the kids told us how irritated they were with it. We've asked questions to this rep and either get a response days later or not at all. We have been told multiple different things from her & upper reps that contradict each other. We have been lied to by an upper rep...thank God for voice recording. We are looking forward to hosting next year with a different company that cares about not only the bottom line but the students & host family. We're even going as far as contacting the state to deal with these issues! read more

We will never work with this group again. My husband and I are a long time hockey billet host family (19 kids so far). We went with this group at the advice of a friend, we have a large house, plenty of love and as a stay at home mom someone could always be there for our kiddo. We were matched with the absolute best kid in the world for our rambunctious group!!!!! I can't say a single bad thing about our kid at all! (we still message several times a week) The management (Misti) needs an overhaul!! My kiddo didn't answer an email by their deadline of January 12th and they put him on probation!!! (never once bothered to reach out to me to find out what his schedule was, I could have had the stupid email issue fixed in 5 minutes but she instead decided to threaten a kid who has never been in trouble a day in his life) Kiddo freaked out and went home. Adding, his CR knew we were going to Colorado in February and were going to see his parents for lunch and dinner while there. You have to give 14 day's notice before taking kiddo out for more then 3 days (we had plenty of time, 29 days actually. It was a Jeep off-road event and he would have been staying with us the entire time. They were fully aware we did these events often (the 4 Jeeps and quads in the driveway was the first giveaway) Then Misti backtracked in email saying he was being put on "emotional support", not probation after making his reservations to go back home (again, the kid did nothing wrong, straight A's, varsity basketball and football, we didn't break any rules by not getting permission because the trip wasn't completely planned out yet) They got their money. In the end, we're still close with him and his family (staying with them for a vacation next year), he did go to Colorado and got to see his family and go off-roading with us and we will NEVER work with AYUSA again. (all over an email not being responded to by their deadline) read more

Do NOT use AyUSA as a hosting organization!! We have had two different community representatives (CR) in our home (one of them multiple times) investigating every area of our home that these girls would have access to and living in. We sent pictures of the rooms and all of the changes that we made of the rooms. Each room was set up with a queen size bed, a desk & chair, a dresser, a large mirror, an amazon echo dot and a night stand. The bathroom was equipped with all the hair tools that the girls would need, a towel warmer, a space heater for the winter, a smart light and an Amazon Echo Show for the girls to watch news, turn on the smart lights and listen to music while they got ready or while they were in the shower. The Ayusa representatives knew about the Echo Show. Oh and I have one in my bathroom and several in the house. Let me clearly state that the Echo Shows have never had the cameras activated, the cameras have always been turned off, again the representatives knew about the Echo Show and everyone (the representatives, the girls and the natural parents all got pictures of the bedrooms, the bathroom and the basement before everyone moved into the house. The Echo Shows were not used as cameras. They were used as speakers and as smart LCD screens. We did a double placement. We started preparing our home in March. We remodeled our basement and remodeled two bedrooms for these girls. We have spent thousands of dollars in preparing for this exchange year. We had one from Germany and one from France. The one from Germany obviously had issues and we raised the issues with the CR. She stayed hours in her room crying every night. She requested to move to a different house. She would every night eat more food than my husband, myself and the other student all combined and she barely weighed more than 110 pounds. She still complained that we did not feed her enough. I thought that she was purging. When they did finally move her I found food horded in her room. I still warned the CR. Still she is now on her 4th house and still in the same school. She is now bullying the student from France. Fast forward to this past weekend. The student from France had another student stay over for the weekend. Then all of a sudden we were reported for having cameras in the bathroom and our exchange students bedroom. We found out that the Amazon Echo Show (that had the cameras turned off and disabled and that we have no idea as to how to even enable in the Alexa app is considered a camera). Our student used these devices to turn on and off smart lights and to listen to music while she showered and got ready for sports and school. She would use these devices to listen to music as she did her homework and just be in her room and just sit with the cats. These devices are what caused the agency to send another set of parents that are not even signed up as host parents through Ayusa to come into my house with my exchange student and clean out her belonging and leave forever. The parents that Ayusa sent were the parents of the girl that reported us. When the Ayusa representative called me to get the information as to what was going on... she pretended to be my friend. She called and pretended to act like she had the same devices in her home. She pretended that everything was going to be okay. This same representative at first told me that my student was only going to leave for one night. However she then sent me an email telling me that my student was 10 minutes away from my home and needed to have one of these parents to come into my home with my student because it was for her SAFETY. Like I would hurt her or my husband would hurt her. Then after they left the parents reported me again and said that my husband and I yelled at them and my exchange student while she was packing. I have it all on the video cameras in my home proving that I did not yell and that my husband did not yell at my student or at the parents. Do NOT trust Ayusa. Do NOT host with Ayusa. They lie to the host parents and they lie to the natural parents. The natural parent of my exchange student has told me the truth of what Ayusa has been telling them and it is not what has actually been happening. Ayusa just did not remember that I have audio and video in the hallways in my home. read more

This is our third year hosting a double placement with Ayusa. We have hosted six students with them from Egypt, Turkey, Japan, France, Spain and Italy. We already have our two students picked for next year from Germany and the Netherlands. We have been very happy with AYUSA, the support they give and the quality and selection of students. Our family has enjoyed hosting! All of our students become like family. So much so that our daughter went to Egypt last summer and stayed with our exchange student's family for a month. We will only host with Ayusa as we have been very happy with them! read more

Hosted our second exchange student this year but after being back stabbed and lack of communication never again will i host thru AYUSA or host an exchange student from France. The exchange student arrived the first week of August and we were excited. We left her alone for a few hours and that's when it all went down hill. She proceeded to take pictures of every little thing that was wrong with the house and complained to the CR instead of talking to us first. We fixed the problems which were minor and thought things were going great again. Nine weeks into the stay we get a call out of nowhere saying the student is being moved to another family the next day. No explanation or reason why and boom just like that she was gone. No communication and lack of leadership that left us stunned, speechless and a little heartbroken. read more

If you are wanting to host an exchange student Ayusa is your company! The Community Representative in your area will work with you to select your student and is there for you through out the entire experience! I first learned about Ayusa a year ago and have had the joy of getting to know a darling girl from the Netherlands! She was so excited to come to the US and learn all about our culture! My family is super excited to host another student! read more

We hosted our first and only exchange student less than 3 weeks through Ayusa. Don't waste your time or money. What came out, when the student was comfortable enough to say it, was that she didn't have any interest in being in the middle of the country (she wanted to be on the west coast); with her mother's encouragement, she deleted social media postings showing her drinking and vaping; and she had a very serious boyfriend and her parents had rented them a room for a weekend in a nearby country as a final send-off before she came to the USA. Her idea of American culture was limited to NYC. She looked down on everything - how young the other students appeared/acted, how easy school was, how fat Americans are, how loud we are, etc. The student didn't want to do anything except message back home, including all days at school. She had to be nagged to get involved in anything at school. We reached out to Ayusa. The result was an extraction that rivaled Seal Team 6. read more

do not use this organization. the amount of neglect and abuse that they put me through during my high school exchange program in Brazil in 2006, when I was 16/17 was so traumatizing it still effects me to this day, nearly 20 years later. They don't vet the families, offer no support, and then blame the students if something doesn't work out. I was left to find myself a new host family when the family they found me went through a devorce halfway through the 1 year program. AS A KID IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY, I was left to fend for myself in extremely neglectful and dangerous situations time after time, putting me in danger of sexual and psychological abuse. I was withheld food from my host family, excluded from vacations and holiday celebrations, and was used as a skapegoat both by the family and the organization itself, giving me absolutely no structure or support when I tried to reach out . In the end, my own parents held my hand and supported me over Skype as much as possible, and despite everything I managed to finish the year with some positive experiences. However, STAY AWAY FROM AYUSA, They are dangerous. read more

We hosted for the first time this year. We had a boy from Germany. We have had a wonderful time. The match was good as we are more academic and our student is, too. Because the fit was so good, it seemed at times like AYUSA was asking lots of questions for "no reason." However, when I was in high school we had an exchange student, and I definitely know that if things are not going well it is nice to have support. Thus, I answered the questions honestly and kept going, They kept up with us, not just the student, which was good because we had lots of unanticipated change during the year (my mother moved to assisted living nearby and my mother-in-law passed away). Our student brought up things sometimes I was thankful for -- he learned that several families felt like the students did not appreciate what their family did for them (were not saying thank you). While our student said thank you, I was glad for every time I heard it and I was glad AYUSA was encouraging that. My biggest complaint was when we met for family orientation before the students came --it was just reading straight through rules with lots of embellishments. I know they need to know you've heard things, but it was 3 hours of straight listening to one person.... not the best way for anyone to learn. Anyway, overall, we are pleased with our experience and hope to be a host family in the future again! read more

I'm super impressed by how Ayusa runs their program. I hosted my first 3 foreign exchange students with a different organization (not so impressed with their program) but once I switched to Ayusa I've stayed with them for the last 10 students. All FES companies are governed by the same Dept of State rules. Yes, these rules can sometimes be a bummer, however, it's the employees & host families that make the company what it is. In addition to all the Ayusa planned events, I personally try to host two student events every year. This gives the other students something to look forward to as well as social time to talk about experiences. So, I feel the parents can also help contribute to making the company and the exchange experience more memorable overall. I always say "You get out what you put in". If you are considering hosting with Ayusa, you can't go wrong with them. They have such a wide variety of students to select from that will match your family. The students list their likes and their concerns in their profiles. It's super easy to select the best student for your family. Ayusa will do a home visit before (and during) the placement as well as a background check. Wouldn't you also want to know your child was being placed somewhere safe? They will provide an orientation before your student arrives and are there if you need them for assistance along the way. Just remember - people are different, cultures are different and communication is the key. If I didn't enjoy helping to make teenagers BIG dreams true, I wouldn't have hosted so many times and with Ayusa! read more

We switched from another org to Ayusa about 8 years ago and haven't regretted it since! Our coordinator is super supportive and they organize a lot of fun activities for the kids in the area. They even organize some weekend trips that are optional to meet with groups in other parts of Texas. This has led to some amazing, long lasting friendships for our students. We did struggle with two of our students and those were quickly resolved thanks to the support team. Their orientations were always helpful with ways to help your student adapt and we've actually become good friends with a lot of families in the area. The other org, our coordinator would get so annoyed if we had an issue and she would make it known how inconvenient it was for her to come out and talk to us. With Ayusa, our coordinator is always checking in and always asking for updates and photos of the students. read more

Over the years we have hosted a total of six exchange students, five of these we hosted through Ayusa. We reluctantly continued to use Ayusa because we were already established with them. However, we will not use them again. In general, our hosting exchange students has been a positive experience. However, the positive experience was despite Ayusa and simply because the majority of exchange students are serious students who want to experience the United States. After gaining more experience with how Ayusa operates, we would no longer recommend Ayusa to anyone. The main problems with Ayusa center on their true and only motive which is money. They do not properly vet exchange students which increases the risk of students that are not appropriate or ready for an exchange problem to still be accepted. Another big concern is that the pay reps that work for Ayusa receive is tied to how many students they recruit to be exchange students. We have now come across three examples of Ayusa telling complete lies to either us or our exchange students. These lies appear clearly are either because a local rep didn't want to risk losing a placement and the nice commission that come with it or because a rep didn't want to be bothered with looking into requested travel dates. The first lie we discovered was told to the family of an exchange student we hosted from Chile. The local rep in Chile told the family that if our student attended her senior year of high school that she would get a real high school diploma. That was a totally false statement that our Chilean student and her family didn't learn the truth about until after she arrived. Her father was particularly upset about this because he never would had agreed to his daughter going in the program had he known she would still need to take her last year of high school upon returning to Chile. This lie, along with our student's parents wanting her to return to Chile, was why she returned back to Chile after the first semester instead of completing the full year as originally planned. The only reason we can tell for Ayusa lying to that family was that the rep didn't want to lose the commission for signing them up. Another lie told to both us and the family of a student we hosted from Holland concerned travel dates. What was worse about this is it was actually a regional coordinator for Ayusa that told the lie. We told this student from Holland that our County Fair was be in town and if she could arrive a few days early, she could go to that. When we approached Ayusa about her arriving a few days early, we were told "oh that's not possible, we can't do that". Then about three weeks later, that same regional coordinator contacted us again telling us want a great idea it would be for this student to arrive a few days early. My wife gets the credit for immediately seeing through this. She checked the cost of the airline ticket, and saw that the date we suggested was significantly cheaper than the original date Ayusa was planning on having the student fly. As always, when it comes to Ayusa, it was all about the money, not what is best for the student. The third lie Ayusa told got wrapped up in a lie a French family told Ayusa when we hosted a student from France. This French girl's profile said she didn't want to be placed in a home with pets. Then later in the profile she said she was very allergic to cats. We have dogs, no cats. So we asked Ayusa to contact them to get clarification if the problem was just cats and if dogs would be fine. The response we got back was that the student would love being with dogs. That was a complete lie the girl's father told Ayusa. Not only did this girl not like dogs, she had a strong fear of them. The student blamed her father for the lie. The father is who was contacted by Ayusa and asked. She said that when her father told them what he had told Ayusa, her mom and her called Ayusa and tried to clarify the situation. However, the rep there in France apparently said it would be fine and never passed on the clarification. Likely this was because the rep was more concerned about getting the commission. Out dogs are mostly inside dogs, so yes it was a big issue. In this case, initially I was not sure if our French student was telling the truth about trying to send a clarification or not. However, when considering the other lies we have seen personnel with Ayusa tell, I concluded the French family was probably telling the truth and it probably all was because of the Ayusa reps concern about losing a commission. This issue with dogs and our student from France is a good example of Ayusa's sloppy vetting. Had they been more interested in achieving good placements instead of just money, this likely never would have happened. Also our student from Holland never should have been placed in an exchange program at all. read more

Ayusa is an amazing organization. We have hosted two students and our third will be here in August. We have always had great support and timely responses if we ever needed support. We are thankful that we have found Ayusa!! read more

We have been hosting with Ayusa for a couple years now, they have increased the support available to the families and we appreciated that when we had a little trouble with our Spanish girl. They helped us through our problem and we finished the year much better than ever expected. Other than the one issue, we have enjoyed hosting with Ayusa! read more

I have never seen such negligence coming from an organization that supposedly cares about students' safety. My friend from South Africa came to America with Ayusa and was placed into a tiny run-down home with host parents who only used her and her host sister for money and have been doing it for years with many other students being transferred out of the home. They did everything they could to keep her from graduating from the high school she was going to in America as well as keeping her indoors doing nothing as much as possible. She eventually was able to move out of the hell that was that home and into a different one where things weren't much better. They did not set any boundaries or rules with her upfront, however ridiculed and punished for doing things like borrowing a phone charger or using an ingredient for cooking, so her punishment for doing these things was being sent home with zero notice or warning. Their plan was to not tell her anything and lock her up in the home for the remainder of her trip cut short. Not only was she not able to graduate from the high school she's been working so hard at, but she won't be able to recover all of her credits she worked towards for almost a year. She was excited to play sports, go to prom, and graduate, but instead she was shipped back home prematurely and didn't even get to say goodbye to the friends she had made over the year. Never have I seen such ignorance coming from a compan. The woman working for this company needs to be fired for abusing the powers she has. This company does not care about their students and deserves to be shutdown after the hell this amazing young girl has gone through. There is no company support and zero accountability for their mistakes. Don't ever use this compan. They do not care. read more

I've hosted 5 students through AYUSA and loved every single minute of it! Several of our friends have hosted too and they've all had great experiences. We received a 2 hour orientation before the students arrived so we were fully prepared for the first weeks. We had monthly check-ins and they also checked in with the school to make sure our students were adapting there as well. I would highly recommend if you're looking for an academically focused program, not a gap year/party program. read more

Whether you are entertaining the idea of working as a representative or as a host family the end result is the same. You will get no support. I have been a representative and there are so many problems with communication, follow through and support that it should be illegal. As a host family, they have coddled lying children and placated their families with lies to justify keeping kids in the program. Some kids are just not suited for the experience and they treat it like a business instead of a growth experience. I can't even begin to tell you the nightmare of trying to get medical bills paid. REALLY....just DON'T do it! The student's family pays so much for the visa they forget that you are doing it for free and it honestly cost more to feed hungry teens. read more

We have had 6 students from AYUSA. Our representatives have been very helpful and understanding. We have hosted in the past with 3 other agencies and have had 15 students in all. We have had issues with students and representatives from all agencies. We have had to re-home one student, send 1 student home early and had issues about grades with more than 1 student. No matter which agency you work with, they are a business. As far as the teens, you have to read between the lines of their profile and ask the right questions. Kids will be kids no matter where they come from. If you are not someone who can deal with teens then this is not for you. We have had students from many different countries. Each culture is very different. You must be prepared to learn from your students just as they must be prepared to learn from you. Keep an open mind and read through many profiles to find the student who is the perfect fit. Ask for more information when you are considering a student. You can learn a lot by reading the parent's letter, and their teacher's letters. It's a learning process before you make a decision. Start with a short term student and go from there. Good Luck! read more

Terrible experience. We had a a 15 yr old Thai student staying with us.all she did was complain most of the time. I am not sure why she came here other then to meet boys when she found out we weren't going to let her date at 15 she started complaining to the regional support counselor,about how terrible it was here. the counselor comes over like she is trying to help out.When all along she is conspiring with the student behind your back to find another home for the student.Because They don't want to get a bad review from the parent.Because their daughter didn't have fun cause she couldn't date. They don't care about the safety of the student only that they have fun above anything else. So now they found another home for our exchange student, with a family from Laos who Can speak thai.Its funny they wouldn't let us host a filipino student Because my wife is from the Philippines. They said it would distract the student from their experience here.The thai student that was staying with us also told me that her and some of the other thai exchange students are planning on taking a road trip after the program ends on their own with no chaperone to los Angeles. 15 and 16 yrs old by themselves but do you think AYUSA cares. No as long as the students are having fun.They could care less. read more

Stay away from Ayusa. They are absolutely horrible. They offer zero support. They have insane restrictions. They take ridiculous amounts of money from students and offer little to nothing in return. Stay away. read more

I have hosted foreign exchange students for two years in a row and couldn't have had a better experience. The kids are amazing and have become a part of our family, they have brought amazing culture to our community. The shirt we have gotten from AYUSA has been amazing as well and I would recommend doing this to any one! Best experience and these kids are wonderful! read more

I have hosted 3 exchange students with another company and received one from Ayusa as an immediate placement due to a problem outside the student's control. That student was amazing as well as the support. So we decided to get another student this year. This year was a completely different experience. First of all, the person we were supposed to work with passed away without warning. However, they never found someone else to work with us. They used someone that was 3 states away to help us. Our exchange student ran away from home the first week here because we wouldn't allow her to go to the mall. Then we had numerous issues with her and my daughter. Honestly, I blame both girls for that issue but what I blame Ayusa is that they just blew our concerns away and that girls will work things out. It got so bad that our exchange student threatened our daughter. Still, Ayusa wouldn't do anything to help us. We had to ask her to be removed from the home. At that time, we were told we would get a call the following week after things calmed down to discuss more what happened. We have yet to hear from them. Instead, the girl is still at my daughter's school and is telling everyone we abused her. Ayusa has been made aware of this situation as well but has not contacted us. As far as I am concerned, the company ignored our requests for help and was only looking out for the exchange student. It is definitely a different experience from the other company we had worked with. read more

Stay away from this company! We paid them in the low five figures so our son could be abused by one of their subcontractors. They'll send you pages and pages of policies, but the only one that counts for them is the one about no refunds. Be warned, these people are bad news with bells on. read more

We've hosted 12 students through Ayusa. 10 great, 2...meh. That being said, the Area Representative was great with all the kids! Even the challenging ones! Our rep planned monthly activities, talked to our students and to us every month about how things were going, helped us navigate health insurance issues when one of our students broke his shoulder in basketball. The company itself (HQ in San Fran) has been responsive in helping us take our student out of the country (Canada) for a trip. Ayusa even contracts with a student tour company, that allows our students to go see other parts of the USA that we can't bring our students to (California, Hawaii, NYC). We've met families who've hosted with other organizations, who didn't get the same kind of support we did. I felt bad for them, because our experience with Ayusa has been great! read more