The Friends of HOST fund was established to help international students, facing financial hardship, to go on a HOST visit.

If a student applies for a visit and their university is non-subscribing, the student will have to pay £41.40 for your registration fee. Some subscribing universities may also ask the student for a contribution towards this fee (unless you are a Chevening or Marshall Scholar whereby your fees are paid for by the FCO). In addition, all students will have to pay for their travelling costs to and from the host family.

Due to limited availability of funds, we are sorry that we are unable to accept any applications from students at present.

I am a self-funded students. I have been trying many ways to find a part-time job. But days have passed and I still haven’t  found one, and all my money is used out to cover the daily living and accommodation, but I really hoping that I can  have  a Christmas with local people, so I am applying for this fund.

The pending travel costs could easily cover my budget for one month’s foods (usually less than £80 per month). So the total cost for a HOST visit is too much for me, which holds back my application. Here I would like to apply for the Friends of HOST fund, which will help me to fulfil my wish and release financial worries.

I’m from India and this is expensive for me. I’m here only for a year and am trying to save to travel as much as I can because I don’t think such an opportunity will ever again come my way.

I would like to apply for this fund because I was only given a sum of money for my academic study, food and rent from my parents and as an overseas student, my parents are under pressure, providing a living for four.

Yet, I would love to travel and meet people from all walks of life. Thus, I hope this fund would be available for me to travel and boarden my horizon. Else, I would not be able to travel.

Please note that the pictures above are meant to be illustrative of HOST visits and do not portray actual

Friends Fund applicants