High School Summer Study Abroad in Australia

It may be “winter” in South Australia during Greenheart’s Summer High School Abroad program, but you’ll still have the chance to explore some of the country’s most beautiful coastline and mountain ranges while studying at a local high school.  

This program is perfect for you if:  

• You love a relaxed and active lifestyle – Aussies know how to have fun!  
• You’re excited to experience a traditional small-town Australian way of life  
• You want to experience a new culture and education system while still speaking English.

2022 Prices

• 1-month program: $7,600
• 2-month program: $10,680

Packaged into the Price:

• Airport pickup upon arrival
• Host family accommodation and 3 meals per day
• Comprehensive medical/accident insurance
• Arrival Orientation with Australian Local Coordinator
• Certificate of Completion upon successful completion of the program for use on college applications.
• Access to Greenheart Travel Facebook groups to connect with alumni and others on your start date ahead of your program.
• Greenheart Atlas Program 
• Greenheart Travel T-shirt & other Greenheart swag

Our Support and Services: 

• Visa Assistance in applying for the visa ahead of arrival, including visa paperwork and extensive directions and support.
• Extensive pre-departure advice and support from your US-based program coordinators! They will be with you from your first inquiry, all the way through preparing to leave and your arrival in Australia.
• Support from in-country staff upon arrival to Australia.
• Online pre-departure cultural and logistical orientation before you leave.
• 24-hour in-country and emergency support for the duration of the program, including 24-hour emergency phone numbers to reach a program manager at any time.
• Opportunity to apply for a Greenheart Grant to give back to your community at home or abroad

Additional Expenses to Budget for (Estimates):

• Stationary and School Supplies: $100
• School and Sports Uniforms: $200-$500
• Optional School Excursions and Trips: $50
• Calculator: $50-$200
• South Australian Certificate of Education (SACE) student fee for enrollment, assessment, and certification: $50-$500
• Cell phone: $20-$40 per month
• Personal expenses (shopping, movies, nights out, etc.): $300-$400 per month
• Transportation to school: $10-15 per week

Payment Details: 

• $1,500 Application Deposit due by the program deadline to formally apply 
• $5,000 Commitment Deposit due after acceptance 
• Remaining balance is due 16 weeks before the program start date 

Summer 2022 Program Start Dates:

• May 2, 2022 (application closed February 1)
• July 25, 2022 (application closed April 15)

Arrival and Departure 

All students are required to book flights on their own. An airport transfer upon arrival is included in the cost of the program. We will provide your exact arrival and departure dates after acceptance, as well as the exact timeframes you should arrive/depart, so that you can start to search for possible flights. We require prior approval of a proposed itinerary before you purchase any flights.

Nervous about flying on your own? We recommend students and parents sitting down together to review the following resources:

• How to navigate an international airport blog
• Flying internationally video
• Webinar with tips on flying internationally

For many Greenheart Travel students, their first time flying is across the world to start their exchange program! You can read our alumni experiences on our blog, such as Emily’s or Madison’s blogs on their experiences flying to Japan or Rachel’s tips on what you actually need to know about flying.

Put on your uniform and get ready to learn! All students are placed in a local Australian high school. School typically runs from 8:00am-3:30pm. You’ll take classes just as any other Australian student would! You can also let Greenheart Travel know if you have any special preferences for subjects and we’ll do our best to place you in a school that offers them.  

• Be between 15 and 18 at the time of travel (recent graduates welcome!) 
• U.S. or Canadian citizen 
• High school cumulative GPA of at least 2.75/4.0 
• Great mental and physical health* 
• Have a genuine interest in becoming part of your host family and community
• Fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before departure

*What does it mean to be in good mental health? 

Moving to a new culture and staying in unfamiliar surroundings without your normal support structure can be very stressful, even to a well-adjusted student. Sending a student with pre-existing conditions on a long-term exchange program could exacerbate whatever challenges the student was previously facing. In order to ensure the safety of our participants, we must be rigorous in our pre-screening of all high school abroad applicants. 

Therefore, we may not be able to accept students who have struggled with any kind of mental illness within the last 2 years and/or are reliant on medication to address their existing mental health condition. Each student will be addressed on a case by case basis. 

These include, but are not limited to: 

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder
• Eating disorders
• Chronic debilitating migraines
• Bipolar Disorder

All students who currently experience one or more of these conditions will be required to submit an addendum to the terms and conditions as well as a letter of support from their current mental health specialist. If the student’s mental health issue has been managed (post-medication) for over 2 years, we will still require a note from his/her relevant practitioner (psychologist, therapist, psychiatrist, etc) as part of the application process.  We encourage you to discuss your specific situation with us directly, before securing these documents.

Please note that students who have been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD will not be guaranteed any academic accommodations plans by the host school abroad.

We place all of our students in the Australian state of South Australia! With over 300 days of sunshine per year, South Australia is a great place to call home. Our top 5 most common placements are in the following towns: Victor Harbor, Murray Bridge, Mount Barker, Port Lincoln, and Willunga. 

The majority of our families live in small to medium-sized towns outside of major cities, and it is important you be open-minded to smaller-town life.

We make it a priority to place students with host families that closely match your interests and personality, for example, if you like field hockey, we’ll do our best to find a family that also loves field hockey! For this reason, we work first to find a suitable family rather than a destination preference.

The best way to learn about a new culture and language is to be fully immersed in it which is why all Greenheart Travel high school abroad students live with host families. All our host families are volunteers and will treat you as a member of their family. By being a part of your family’s daily life, you will learn to live and speak like a local.

Prospective host families undergo a rigorous screening process. Participants can rest assured that only suitable host families will be selected. In fact, many of our current host families have hosted students in the past, showing what an impactful experience it was.

In order to qualify as a host family, the prospective hosts must:

• Successfully pass a criminal background check
• Undergo and pass an in-person interview with program staff
• Agree to and pass a home inspection

We will connect you with your host family prior to your arrival in your host country. By e-mailing and speaking with them before arriving, it will help break the ice when you finally meet in person. It will also show that you are as excited to live with them as they are to host you!

Host families have many reasons why they want to welcome you! They’ll receive a small compensation to offset the cost of living, but this is not the reason they choose to host! Many host families love the experience of cultural exchange – they learn just as much about your country as you do theirs. Many are also former exchange students and want to return the favor, or they have children who have gone or will go to study in the U.S. Having an exchange student exposes their children to new languages and cultures.

Greenheart Travel has been working with high schoolers for many years, and there are advantages of applying for this program through us:

• 33 years of experience with cultural exchange programs.
• Friendly, responsive, and professional support from your program manager.
• Connect with alumni and others on the program via our Greenheart Travel only Facebook forums, before you even leave!
• We try and make our program fees as inclusive as we can. We include things like medical insurance so you don’t run into any hidden fees down the line.
• Greenheart Atlas Program. The Greenheart Travel Atlas is a cultural training interactive guidebook alongside five videos where you will find three main topics covered: Personal/Professional Development, Cultural Understanding, & Environmental Awareness.
• Our alumni recommend us! GoOverseas.com Reviews // GoAbroad.com Reviews
• Hands-on support and personal attention every step of the way
• 24/7 emergency phone number to reach a staff member at any time
• Pre-departure “Culture Shock and Adjustment” Webinar before you leave
• Discounts for future Greenheart Travel programs
• We are a non-profit, mission-based organization
• Continued support throughout your time abroad

We also have some unique offerings to our Greenheart Travel students and alumni!

Greenheart Global Impact Grants (GIGs)

Greenheart GIG Grants are funds awarded to Greenheart Travel participants to use for community development projects in their host or home country. A GIG is the opportunity to create, improve, or maintain an impactful, community-focused project abroad or at home. Grant funds could be applied to supporting women’s cooperatives, schools, community centers, or health clinics, for example. Grant winners will be featured on our website, social media, and blog. You can see our past winners on our blog here.

Greenheart Alumni Program

We created the Greenheart Travel Alumni Program to provide resources and a community to support alumni in their advancement as global leaders, and a way to celebrate and reward our participants for being ambitious, inspiring catalysts of cultural exchange!

Junior Greenheart Global Leaders Conference

Each May Greenheart offers full-ride scholarships to around 10 teen alumni to attend our annual conference in Chicago. You can see more about what Jr. GGLC is and what you could do at the conference here.

Committing to studying abroad can feel daunting, but we are here every step of the way to make the application process as simple as possible! Below are the various steps you’ll need to take to be accepted on a high school abroad program.

1. Start Your Application Here. You will be sent more information as well as the link to our application portal to begin your formal application. Once the initial form is complete, you will be connected to a High School Abroad program manager who will speak with you and a parent to go over the details of the program.

2. Submit Basic Program Information: The first step in our application portal will be basic things like your chosen start date, etc.

3. Submit your application fee: A $1,500 application fee is required in order to apply for the program. This is subtracted from your total program fee, it’s not additional. 

4. Complete Application & Documents: Provide more detailed information about yourself in Part 2 of the application. In this section, you’ll tell us more information like your work history, motivations for joining the program, travel history, and emergency contacts. You will also submit your documents (below) within your portal account.

5. Interview: After submitting your application fee, you will schedule an interview with us.  During this interview, we will ask you questions about living with a host family, adjusting to new situations and homesickness, among other things. You will also receive an overview of the next few months and what you can expect. This is done via Zoom, and at least one parent should also be in attendance.

6. You’re Accepted! Once you’ve completed all the steps, Greenheart Travel will thoroughly review your application and will contact you within 2-3 weeks about your acceptance. Then, you’ll get more information about preparation and placement.

7. Commitment Payment: Once you are accepted to the program, you will need to submit a $5,000 commitment payment within 14 days to confirm your spot on the program. We cannot start the host family matching process until we have this payment. Once you submit your commitment payment you will unlock the acceptance portion of your portal, which includes things like pre-departure videos, travel and arrival information, the Greenheart Travel Atlas, and more.

7. Book your flights, and get ready for your adventure! 

Required Documents

In addition to completing an application, you will also be required to submit documents. You can be collecting the documents during the application process, but all documents will be due 14 days after you submit your application fee.

The following documents will be required for all destinations:

• Letter of Recommendation (from a teacher, coach or guidance counselor) – does not need to be sealed, should be scanned and uploaded to the document portal
• Transcripts from the last 3 years (unofficial transcripts accepted)
• Student Dear Family Letter
• Parent Questionnaire & Letter
• Photo Album (5-7 photos of you on a Word document with captions)
• Medical Form (including immunizations)
• Copy of your passport
• 60-90 second self-introduction video sent via YouTube link
• Secondary rules & expectations document signed by both parents and students

You’ve Been Accepted, Now What?

Start getting ready for your adventure! Your program manager will be in regular communication with you to make sure that you are on track in your preparations to go abroad.

• Upon acceptance, you will receive a student handbook (parents – you get one, too!) and access to the Greenheart Travel Atlas, as well as the Greenheart Club.
• You will receive your host family and school placement roughly 2-3 months after acceptance.
• After receiving your host family and school placement, you will receive further instructions on applying for you student visa (if applicable for your program length)
• We will also schedule an online pre-orientation with other Greenheart students a few weeks before your departure!