Educatius Nordic Avis 43

I’ve been abroad for my exchange year with Educatius in Sweden in 2024/25.
I can only spend bad words about this agency.
First of all they promised to give me a placement maximum 14 days previous my departure, and they were late for that.
Then I arrived in my first host family: they were extremely rude and racist towards me and my culture (I’d say every culture besides theirs to be honest), and forced me to speak only Swedish after just one week after my arrival.
That pretty much ruined the whole experience: after few months I was completely disgusted by just listening other people speaking Swedish cuz of the torture learning method my ex hostfam gave me; quite a big problem if you live in Sweden.
Btw my ex host mom told me she decided to host me just cuz the Coordinator of the agency in the country prayed for her to do that, and that say a looot.
Also the delay with the placement created problems with the school: I got in the first one that had a free space for me days after the regular Swedish school start.
I’ve first complained about the family in the end of October. I finally got to switch it in February.
THREE F-CKING MONTHS. Three months of hell, fighting with the Local Coordinator (and his substitute) that repeatedly ghosted me and delayed the date for the change making up excuses over and over again! -remember what I said before about the conditions I lived in-
I’ve talked with other students from Educatius and they told me their families were changed much quicker (for someone even just a week).
And also, the veeeery great majority of exchange students that year in Sweden switched families; that tells really a lot about the agency.
Due to the lack of host families, then, they asked me to ask my school friends if they had a free spot for me in their house, and for them to ask their family to spread the word to make network. Like what the f-ck!? It’s literally their job to give people families and they’re asking us to find new ones?
Oh and in the preparation camp, before my departure, they sponsored the fact that they don’t pay host families as one of their biggest strength points. Guess what, I’ve asked my host dad and it came out that they paid him 3000 SEK a month (€ 280 circa) to have me. They’re just liars, nothing more nothing less, that are always gonna be telling a different version of the truth to keep it in their advantage.

The story has way many more details, that’s just the top of the iceberg.
I’m sorry for everyone that decided to join Educatius for their year. The staff doesn’t care about the students living conditions at all!! If you have a kid NEVER EVER send him for his exchange year with this agency!!
I hope for them to go bankrupt and fail so that no one will ever have the same hellish experience.

I am an exchange student 25/26. I have been in the USA for 5 months now, and I have only had very good experiences with Educatius. Before I came to the USA I felt that I was very good prepared. I felt that I knew all the rules and had good tips for all kind of things before I even came there. Always when I had questions I got a good answer that came back to me really fast. And not only was I prepared but also my parents. I would really recommend Educatius.

WARNING: DO NOT CHOOSE EDUCATIUS FOR AN EXCHANGE!
Our daughter came from the US and had t he most horrible experience. Before leaving, Educatius seemed to be a proper organization, until they received the money. Little we knew that they do not make proper checks with the host-family (we were not informed about mental challenges family member had) and they provide absolutely ZERO support when there are problems. A big trauma for our family and they deny everything! Please use other organizations such as AFS for a trusted and good experience. Dont make the mistake we have made!

I was an exchange student 24/25. If you or your child is looking for what exchange organization to go with, please don’t go with Educatius. There are better organizations, such as EF or Rotary if you need an affordable option. Educatius will help you before you leave your home country and you will think they’re awesome by their consultations and answering fast and all the questions you may have. But once you arrive in the U.S they “can’t do anything” to help you with issues that may arise. Me and many other exchange students had problems with host families and they don’t care. They want to keep these messed up host families so they can keep making money and blame the problems on the student. Educatius partners with organizations in the U.S (Setusa and Greenheart) who only have the Americans and the host families in the best interest. Meaning the student will not be taken care of. 15-18 year olds are going on these exchanges but the things they have to handle is insane because people can’t do their job. I had no real local coordinator during my year and no one who I could trust. I had to switch host families and almost got kicked out of my second one. There is a difference between cultural shocks, which the coordinators like to blame everything on, and abuse. You as a student have rights to treat your host family good and obey by their rules but you also have a right to get treated as a normal teenager and human being. Educatius put students in home with alcoholics, perverts, control freaks, people who host because their children are bullied and need a friend, parents who only want the exchange students and the children in the family are against it, unclean homes with poop on the walls, vomit laying in the toilet for 3 days , not getting flushed and dogpoop that lays for days inside without getting picked up, host families who will not give the exchange students rides to places when you can’t walk or take the bus in America, host families who won’t let the exchange students join extracurricular activities and never show up to their events, host families who take zero interest in the exchange students life, hostfamilies that will force their political ideas on the student and mock the student’s country’s politics, hostfamilies that won’t buy any food, the fridge is empty because they can’t afford it, hostfamilies who can’t drive anywhere because they can’t afford gas right now, hostfamilies that will scream and fight every minute of the day and they wonder why you stay in your room, hostfamilies that have cameras in their house but never tell you, hostfamilies that is violent, host families who don’t have a single vegetable or fruit at home only frozen food, hostfamilies that make fun of you, host families that will let their kids bully you and when you snap back of exhaustion, you’re the bad one. There are also many students that get placed in dangerous, ghetto areas. And schools where the students can’t speak English. I know students who had to end their exchange year early and had to go through therapy after what they’ve been through. These are not just mine but other people’s experiences. I also want to break this belief that “host families don’t get paid” because that’s not true! They don’t get directly pay from the organization but they can apply for a tax deduction which they can benefit them a whole lot! I had a great year but that’s because I luckily had good friends who helped me, took me places and I could stay at their house when my host family didn’t give a crap about me. 95% of my experiences wouldn’t have happend without my friends. They took me to my practices, they showed up and supported me, they helped me, they took me to the ATM when I needed to take out money, the they took me to the store when I needed to buy something, they gave me rides to places, every single amusement or restaurant I’ve tried has been with my friends or my friends families. Then my host family was jealous and mad that I was doing stuff when they never ONCE asked me if there’s anywhere I want to go or something to do at home together. I suggested things and they dodged it. It genuinely made me sad, they couldn’t even take me to something simple as Raisin Canes to try or play a card game together, they didn’t give a shit about me. I still wonder why’d they even hosted me. These are just a few examples. A lot of people had knows that my hostfamily treated their previous exchange students bad and is in general a complicated family but still you make a 15 year old from a foreign country live there. Gaslight them the whole year and don’t let them move. Now when I’m back I haven’t heard anything from Educatius. Save yourself the money and pain.

Jag tycker att hela upplevelsen och utbytesåret med Educatius var fantastiskt. Jag tycker att Educatius var väldigt personliga och jag kände mig väldigt trygg under hela processen både innan avfärd och under utbytesåret. Utbytesåret i sig var helt otroligt och det är verkligen ett helt annat liv och en erfarenhet jag tar med mig resten av livet.

Jeg fikk god hjelp underveis og de gav en oversiktlig prosess i forkant av selve utvekslingen. Jeg var veldig glad for avreisegarantien siden jeg dro i 2022 når det fortsatt var litt usikkerheter pga corona. Soft landing camp var en veldig god start på året, og jeg følte at jeg fikk god etterfølging i løpet av tiden jeg var i USA.

Dette utvekslingsbyrået har vært profesjonelle og godt organisert. De har levert god støtte gjennom hele prosessen, fra forberedelser til selve oppholdet. Soft landing-campen var et høydepunkt, der jeg fikk møte nye mennesker og bygge sterke vennskap. Totalt gjorde softlanding- campen ikke bare at overgangen til et nytt land ble mye lettere, men også at jeg har fått kontakter jeg kan besøke i andre byer under utvekslingsåret. Så det er noe av det jeg satt mest pris på med å reise med educatious!l Et solid valg for de som vil ha en trygg og godt planlagt utvekslingsopplevelse!

Jeg fikk også mye bra svar på konsultasjonsordningen educatious har for å vite hva jeg kunne forvente om utvekslingsåret mitt og jeg kunne spørre noen som allerede har vært på utveksling selv som var veldig spennende og betryggende😊

Utveksling til Australia er et av de beste valgene jeg har tatt, alt man lærer om seg selv, alle man blir kjent med, er en så spesiell opplevelse. Med god oppfølging med raske svar fra koordinatoren ved Educatius har ikkenoe med utvekslingsåret blitt en byrde da man får svar fortløpende og direkte da de vet det meste. Og om de ikke vet svaret på det du lurer på vet de nok om noen andre som gjør det. Super god opplevelse i min bok!

Rask hjelp, mye informasjon, føltes veldig trygt og blitt tatt godt hånd om.

Jeg har kun haft gode oplevelse med Educatius! De tager sig virkelig godt at dig og hjælper hvis der skulle opstå et problem under dit udvekslingsår. De tager sig virkelig tid til hver enkelt udvekslingsstudent og sørge for at man får et fantastisk år!

Jag var en utbytesstudent som deltog i Educatius Classic program i USA. Jag hade blivit placerad I Arizona och jag hade en helt fantastisk upplevelse, tills ungefär November-December när jag nämnde till min skolas kurator att jag må vara transperson. Hon frågade om hon kunde förmedla vad vi hade diskuterat till min koordinator, inkl. min könsidentitet, och jag svarade ja. De nästa månaderna var en mardröm av telefonsamtal med koordinator, CETUSA, och kontakter hemma i sverige. De hade fått för sig att det var oärligt av mig att dela denna väldigt personliga hemlighet till min kurator men inte min familj, och tyckte att jag borde byta familj. Detta var i januari, och programmet slutade runt sen maj. Jag bad om och om igen om det fanns något sätt att kunna stanna med min värdfamilj, eller åtminstone stanna kvar i samma skola där jag hade många av mina vänner. De sa att det inte fanns några familjer tillgängliga i Arizona, och att de var tvungna att leta utanför delstaten. Jag var nöjd, inte glad, men nöjd nog med det svaret. Det var dock tills jag pratade med en annan utbytesstudent som också hade behövt byta familj, och han nämnde att han hade kunnat leta efter sin egna värdfamilj, och att han hade stannar kvar på sin skola. Jag frågade min koordinator om detta och hon sa att jag hade redan sagt att jag inte ville. Vad hon hade frågat innan var "har du möjlighet att bo med en av dina vänners familj?" vilket jag inte kunde. Jag fick aldrig svar på varför jag inte fick samma möjlighet som den andra utbytesstudenten, och pga. att jag var tvungen att flytta så förlorade jag många av de möjligheter som beskrevs till mig innan året hade börjat (inkl. ta studenten i USA). Jag var också tvungen att praktiskt taget börja om, för jag blev flyttad till en främmande familj i Iowa till en skola där jag inte kände någon alls. De sista månaderna av mitt utbytesår var väldigt svåra. Det var bara tack vare mina föräldrar som jag hade möjligheten att åka tillbaka till mina vänner i Arizona efter året hade slutat, vilket jag är väldigt tacksam för.

Tl;dr: Om du är en queer/transperson som inte har kommit ut ännu, låt inte någon inom Educatius eller CETUSA veta, för då finns det en möjlighet att ditt år kan bli förstörd.

Under mitt utbytesår med Educatius i Australien, som avslutades tidigare i år, har jag haft en fantastisk upplevelse. Educatius har varit ett otroligt stöd genom hela processen, från ansökan till hemkomst. Deras hjälp under ansökningsperioden, med rådgivning och samtal med ambassadörer, var till stor hjälp. Även under min tid i Australien kände jag mig alltid sedd och fick den hjälp jag behövde. Jag är otroligt nöjd med mitt utbytesår och mitt val av organisation och kan starkt rekommendera Educatius till den som funderar på vilken utbytesorganisation att välja.

I 2023 dro jeg på utveksling med Educatius Nordic og det er det beste året noensinne! Jeg valgte akkuratt hvor i USA jeg ville med select programmet, noe Educatius er noen av de eneste som tilbyr! Educatius ga meg god hjelp både i Norge og i USA og hjalp meg gjennom året mitt! Jeg fikk god oppfølging og hjelp da jeg skulle velge stat og skole, de hjalp til godt da jeg skulle dra dra Norge på utveksling med VISA, flybillett osv. Også i USA gjorde de sitt aller beste på å hjelpe meg! Flybilletten hjem kom også i god tid, med datoen jeg var forberedt på! De sørget for at året mitt skulle bli det beste!

My exchange in Michigan was awesome! I had good support both during the exchange in the US but also from the Nordic offices. They also supported my parents a lot haha when they had a tough time with me being away, so I think my parents were even more in contact with Educatius than I was!

Jeg reiste på utveksling med Educatius i 2021 til USA. Og for en bra organisasjon, som alltid fikk meg til å føle meg trygg. Gjennom hele prosessen fikk man god veiledning og jeg kunne stille alle spørsmål jeg lurte på. I løpet av året fikk jeg god støtte og fine tips fra Educatius ved vanskelige situasjoner og hjemlengsel. Educatius ville det beste for meg og jeg og familien min hadde et trygghet å lene oss på. De fikk meg virkelig til å oppleve et fantastisk år med uforglemmelige opplevelser og venner for livet!

Jeg var på udveksling med Educatius 23/24 i USA. Educatius gjorde processen nem og sørgede for være i god dialog med os under processen. De sørgede for at jeg fik en allergen plads, så min værtsfamilie kunne håndtere min allergi.

Jeg var på udveksling i år 2023/2024 med education nordic og det var et fantastisk år! De sørgede for man fik en god afrejse, holdte med en hele vejen igennem programmet og hjalp til hvis der opstod problemer. De sørger også for sociale arrangementer så man lære andre udvekslingsstudenter at kende, og får venner som kan relatere til oplevelser m.m. Kan 100% anbefales!

Jeg elskede mit ophold i USA. Educatius gjorde det nemt og var med hele vejen. Jeg havde selv fundet min værtsfamilie, og Educatius hjalp med at få opholdet istandsat med den lokale skole. Derudover hjalp Educatius med at gøre den besværlige visa proces overskuelig. Jeg kan klart anbefale at rejse med Educatius, hvis du skal på udveksling, enten til USA eller et andet sted.

Jeg reiste til Oak Park i California skoleåret 21/22, og hadde det helt fantastisk! Educatius var til hjelp hele veien både for meg og mine foreldre, og vi følte oss alltid trygge på dem. Utvekslingsåret mitt ble det mest minnerike jeg kunne ha ønsket meg, og til den dag i dag har jeg kontakt med både vertsfamilie, lokal koordinator og venner. Jeg anbefaler både utveksling og Educatius på det varmeste! De skiller seg virkelig ut som organisasjon på en svært positiv måte!!

Jag reste med Educatius till Kansas, USA och mitt utbytesår är en av de mest fantastiska upplevelserna jag har varit med om. Educatius fick mig alltid att känna mig trygg, omhändertagen och hörd vilket gjorde allt så mycket enklare och roligare. Jag fick snabba svar på eventuella frågor jag hade både innan och under min tid i USA vilket uppskattades mycket av både mig men även mina föräldrar. Jag tackar Educatius stort för att ha varit en så viktig del av mitt grymma utbytesår.