AFS-USA Global Citizen Scholarships & Aid: Ensuring study abroad programs are accessible for all!


Host Family Info Session

Host Family Info Sessions

Are you interested in becoming an AFS Host Family?

Join us for an Info Session! These Info Sessions are webinars designed for anyone who wants to learn more about the AFS experience.

Listen, ask questions, learn from alumni, and discover how AFS can connect you and those around you to a global intercultural community.

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AFS-USA public diplomacy initiatives include four meaningful and rewarding programs that bring international participants to the U.S. and/or send American students abroad.

Learn more about the programs and their impact.

Public Diplomacy Initiatives

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NBC Chief Foreign Correspondent and AFS Alumnus Richard Engel Addresses the AFS-USA Family


Information for our Partner Schools

We understand that education has taken on a new look and feel over the past couple of years and some of that may continue in the 2023-2024 academic year. Students, families, the U.S. Department of State, and AFS-USA will continue with their goals of intercultural learning and global citizenship while keeping safety as a top priority.

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Our Mission and Impact

100 years of volunteerism. 75+ years of exchange.

AFS-USA honors the legacy of its founders—volunteer WWI and WWII American Field Service ambulance drivers—who emerged from the wars with a bold mission: to help prevent future conflict through cultural exchange and understanding.

As a partner in the global AFS network, AFS-USA offers international exchange and education opportunities in over 45 countries and hosts exchange students from 80 countries. True to the spirit of our founders, these intercultural programs are made possible by the dedicated work of AFS Volunteers—more than 3,000 in the U.S. and over 32,000 worldwide.

Our diverse study abroad programs vary in length from a year to a few weeks and cover timely and timeless topics such as sustainability and language learning. What every program has in common is a commitment to fostering intercultural and global competence in our students, host families, schools, and communities. This cultural exchange helps us come together, across typical divides, to make a more peaceful and just world. That’s the #AFSEffect.

Mission and Values Our Impact

The World Needs More Global Citizens

By supporting AFS programs, you foster transformative experiences that last a lifetime. Today’s exchange students are tomorrow’s changemakers: diplomats; thought leaders; influencers in the international business and nonprofit communities. Every new AFS Student is another global citizen in progress—an individual primed to help build a more just and peaceful world. And the impact doesn’t stop with the students. Host families’ lives are transformed by students from across the globe and host communities gain greater cultural diversity. That’s The AFS Effect.

Embrace Diversity

Embrace Diversity

AFS-USA embraces diversity at every level of our organization.

We are committed to creating safe and supportive intercultural learning opportunities for all high school study abroad participants, including persons with disabilities and people of all gender identities, ethnicities, races, religions, and sexual orientations.

Our Initiatives

The AFS Effect

AFS-USA provides opportunities for intercultural exchange that develop the global competence needed to create a more just and peaceful world. As we’ve consistently demonstrated, AFS nurtures active global citizens who make the world a better place.

Our Impact