Home stay students are placed with carefully selected Canadian families that offer a secure and friendly environment.

Home stay is an important part of the Connect experience.

We can find home stays for students from 12 to 75!

You can enjoy a home stay from one week to one year.

Connect provides a variety of home stay family-types including: retired couples, vegetarian, single professional people, families with children or families with teen-agers. Students are provided with a private bedroom, bathroom facilities, meals and contact with English-speaking Canadians every day. The host family provides basic information on how to function in Canada such as: how to use the public transportation to go to and from school, where to shop, and how to get to the local library, bank, and recreation centre and pharmacy. We encourage you to book your home stay early so we can match you with a family of your choice.

All of our accommodations are located in appealing, safe neighborhoods accessible to your Connect by public transportation. At Connect you can choose accommodations to suit your budget. ALL of our hosts meet our exacting standards for safety and cleanliness.

All of our accommodations include, at a minimum

• A bed with clean linen
• Private storage for your belongings (such as a chest of drawers or a closet)
• Access to a bathroom with your own clean towels (Typically bathrooms are shared among members of the host family)
• Internet access

You will also be provided with a quiet place to study, often in your own room. Private bathrooms are available for an extra charge.

Before you come to Canada, we will send you detailed information about your home stay family, including photos when possible. We hope that you will contact your home stay family in advance as this will help you get to know them before you arrive.

Finding the Perfect Match

To design a match especially for you, we follow a few simple steps.

Step 1: We learn all about you

When we know what you like, we can find a host who likes you!

We arrange a personalized match between you and your Canadian host, based on your backgrounds, interests, lifestyles, and educational goals. We want to know what you expect of yourself and your experience in home stay, your background, what you like to do in your free time. What you like to eat, whether you like pets, and so on.

The information you give us in your application helps us select the host who is most likely to meet your expectations. Tell us as much as possible about yourself!

Step 2: We find excellent hosts

We search year-round for the best hosts and host families. Our hosts represent a variety of Canadian lifestyles and experience. To ensure they are compatible with your background and experiences, we ask each of our hosts to complete a detailed application like yours.

This is why the process of finding your host begins many months–sometimes years–before you arrive in Canada. Our Home stay Manger visit interested hosts in person, in their homes, and carefully inspect their accommodations. We discuss their interest in international students, their professions, lifestyle, and hobbies. We discuss in detail our expectations for the kind of care and attention you will need. We follow simple rules to ensure that we are not working with hosts who are interested only in money, and to ensure your immersion in spoken English is maintained, we do not allow more than one student of any nationality in a home stay. All of our host applications require both personal references and a police background check.

Step 3: We stay in touch

We are here to support you. While you are in Canada, you can speak with our Home stay Manager as often as you would like, in person or on the phone. On your first week of school, our Home stay Manager will meet you in person. Our Manager is available to answer your questions, to ask how things are going, and to help you with anything you are concerned about. In addition to these visits in person, our Home stay Manager will ask you to evaluate your home stay experience in writing soon after you arrive, so we can make any changes required as you get settled in Canada.

What makes a great home stay?

A sensitive and patient family. It can be overwhelming for a student to be so far away from home. A thoughtful host family appreciates that each student is unique, and that communication and mutual understanding take effort.

Our hosts are interested in sharing their lifestyle in a positive and mutually rewarding way. We do not accept hosts who are interested in money alone. These motives are obvious to students, and interfere with the intended home stay experience: a safe, secure, welcoming environment to learn and grow in.

Youth Hostels

The biggest advantage of staying in a youth hostel is the price. You can sleep in a bed for between $20 CDN to $30 CDN per night. In Canada, the youth hostel may have up to 10 people in one room. There are some other room options but you need to book well in advance especially during July and August. You will share a bathroom and food is not provided although you might be able to pick up some breakfast in the lobby.

The locations of the youth hostels in Toronto are central and close to public transit. The hostels are generally safe but they cannot guarantee any given night the type of person who may enter the hostel. Cleanliness of the space may also be an issue for some individuals.

Dormitory: there are very few dormitories in Toronto. They operate from May until the August. They offer private rooms and shared kitchens and bathrooms. The rooms are air-conditioned and Internet access is available. 24-hour security is also provided.

Kitchen facilities are available on each floor with a fridge and oven.

The dormitories are centrally located in Toronto and close to public transportation. Food is not included in the fees however you can purchase a meal plan. The dormitories recommended by Connect offer a good security system to ensure your protection. They are safe and clean.

Standard Apartments:

There are very few places in Toronto that offer a basic apartment in Toronto. Connect recommends three places but these are booked very quickly.

Unfortunately, due to the lack of apartment options in Toronto, the prices have gone up very high in the last three years. Therefore, to stay in a basic, furnished apartment with a kitchen in Toronto will cost between $1600 CDN to $2000 CDN. The apartments are safe and in central locations close to public transportation and Connect. They offer other benefits such as air-conditioning, maid service, telephone service and television. Ideally these apartments are good for couples or a family with a maximum of two children. You will also have to pay a security deposit.

Please note:

If there are more than 2 people are staying in the apartment, you will have to pay extra for that person.