Housing & Phones

Housing is a critical and foundational element of your student's study abroad experience - both in the and outside of the classroom. We recognize that feeling "at home" is the first step to success on any program. All Arcadia Abroad programs include curated housing that will support your student's holisitic development.

Housing Options

Housing options will vary vastly from program to program, but each option meets our standards of quality for safety, location, cost-effectiveness, cleanliness, and social environment. Each program has a housing page on our website that provides more detailed information about the options available for that program. 

Housing Selection

How a student selects housing will vary based on their program. There are three types of housing placement. If you have questions about how your student's housing is selected, please ask your student to contact their Program Advisor or review their program's housing page. 

Arcadia Placed

Students on programs where Arcadia places them in housing will need to submit their Housing Preferences Form and Personal Health & Self Care form prompty to ensure that we know what they are hoping for in housing.  Please note that we will do our best to honor your student's requests, but we cannot guarantee that what they are asking for is available for their program. Students on these programs will receive their housing assignments approximately 10 days before their program start date. 

Partner Placed

Students on programs where their host university places them in housing will receive information on how to submit their preferences directly to the partner. We do not control the timeline for when these students will receive their housing assignments. Transparently, some partners do not release housing information until 2 days before the program start date. 

Self Placed

We do have a small number of programs where students will self-select their housing directly with their host university. For these programs, the student's Program Advisor will send an email to students with very specific instructions and deadlines. Failure to follow the instructions and deadlines will impact your student's housing placement. Students will receive their assignment directly from their host university. 

Disability & Religious Accommodations 

If your student receives disability accommodations at their home university or if they have specific considerations related to a religious need, they will need to disclose this to us as soon as possible. 

Once a request is received, your student's Wellness Advisor will review the request and, if applicable, will email your student with additional information about what they can expect in their program's housing. Your student's Wellness Advisor may also request a one-on-one meeting to better understand their needs and may request additional documentation from licensed medical providers and their home school's disability office. 

The Americans with Disaibilities Act does not apply while your student is abroad, so your student should not expect an accommodation that they receive at their home university. Additionally, there may be additional fees for specific accommodations. These fees are set by the housing provider and cannot be negotiated or waived. Our team is available to help your student understand what's possible on their desired location. 

Required Forms

During their application process, your student will be asked to complete the Personal Health & Self Care form and, depending on program, the Housing Preferences Form. These forms are your student's opportunity to share their needs and preferences with us. Please encourage your student to complete their forms as quickly as possible and with as much detail as possible. Once received, our Advising and Student Engagement and Health, Safety, and Student Affairs teams, in collaboration with the local staff abroad, will review your students disclosures. On programs where Arcadia Abroad is responsible for selecting housing on behalf of your student, the receipt of these forms will also initiate this process. If, at any point, your student has new information to share with us, it is important that they be in touch with their Program Advisor or Wellness Advisor as soon as possible. 

Phones 

Our priority for your student is the ability to communicate in an emergency and with our local staff if they need assistance.  While abroad, your student's phone must have functionality to do the following without reliance on wifi:

• Make and receive phone calls from local phone numbers 

• Send and receive text messages from local phone numbers 

While abroad, we prefer that your student's phone has the functionality to do the following:

• Data access while not connected to wifi

• Ability to use apps (WhatsApp, Skype, iMessage, etc.) that make international calling and/or texting free 

To make this happen, your student should be in touch with their phone provider. If their current plan does not allow them to do these things, they should plan on asking their provider to "unlock" their US phone and purchase a local SIM card while abroad. Purchasing a SIM card (or an eSIM for the newest phones) abroad is often the most affordable way to communicate abroad.

Students who solely rely on their US phone number often experience spotty or unreliable service/data, an inability to communicate with local staff in emergencies, and difficulty seeking healthcare as many doctors, therapist, and hospitals may not be willing to call a US-based phone number. 

Shortly after arrival, local staff will ask students about their phone, including asking for their local number