Do you want to experience the Australian lifestyle and improve your English at the same time? Homestay is perfect for you. You will live with a local family who will welcome you into their home. Many Hawthorn-Melbourne students live in homestay for part of their study period.
Your homestay host will prepare the evening meal every night, and provide you with the ingredients to make your own breakfast and lunch.
Your room will have a bed, desk, lamp and storage space for clothing. Most rooms contain one bed but there are also some homes with twin share rooms. Twin shares are sometimes requested by students travelling with a friend or relative who is also studying at Hawthorn-Melbourne.
The minimum stay in a homestay is 4 weeks. You must pay a bond (equal to 2 week’s homestay fee) as well as 2 weeks’ homestay fee in advance. You pay this directly to your host when they first arrive at the homestay. You then pay every 2-4 weeks, in advance.
Homestay families are very diverse and like all Australians, they come from a wide range of cultural backgrounds. All of our hosts speak English at home, although many hosts are also able to speak other languages as well.
Only 30% of host families consist of two parents with children. One third are single parent families and another third are single women or men who enjoy hosting international students.
70% of our hosts have a pet dog, cat or both. It is important for you to be flexible in your homestay preferences, particularly during busy times, or it may not be possible to find a host family for you.
There is really no such thing as a ‘typical’ Australian family’ or even a ‘typical’ homestay host. Australians include people from all over the world both recently arrived and here for generations. Homestay hosts reflect Melbourne’s diverse community.
A third of hosts are single people. Another third are single parent families. The important thing is that all homestay hosts are English speaking and experienced with international students.
Students usually need to travel a short distance to school on public transport. The campus is well serviced by public transport (train, tram and bus).
Homestays are generally no more than 60 minutes travel time from school with the average being 40 minutes.
Homestay accommodation is for Hawthorn-Melbourne students only. The Student Services team is happy to recommend a suitable hotel or serviced apartment nearby for family members.
We can arrange for our airport pick-up service to pick you up at the airport.
