<p>Not just overseas for that matter, anyone that lives far away. </p>
<p>What if their parents can't afford to fly them back to, say, Sweden (lol, just tossin' that up), school X can't just toss them out, so do they just chillax on campus for the 2 weeks?</p>
<p>At some (most?) schools, the dorms are closed for the long breaks...saves on heating costs. Arrangements are usually made for those students to stay with families in the area, or to do shorter/cheaper travel to family of friends.</p>
<p>Also, some financial aid grants cover travel costs, which may include the long breaks...not certain about how that works, though.</p>
<p>Ohhh... I see. Very cool they'd cover the travel expense.</p>
<p>At Andover, foreign kids get matched up with local host families who have a student in the same grade, who agree in advance to host them over Thanksgiving and/or spring break. The families and host families get a chance to meet at the beginning of the year. Nice program, and I suspect that other schools do likewise.</p>
<p>They go home or stay with friends/other families from school (that you might not necessarily be friends with) who offer to take in international students that can't go home.</p>
<p>I've never heard of a school buying an overseas travel ticket for an international student to go home at Christmas. In most cases, the students are on their own to get home or make arrangements. Very few schools will match you up with someone to stay with. Some do, but I think it's rare. But since most international students are not on financial aid, they usually have the money available to buy their student a ticket home.</p>
<p>My daughter is going to a friend's house for the Thanksgiving break.</p>
<p>At Blair parents volunteer to host students who live far away and cannot go home during breaks. I guess this is similar to Andover's program and probably similar to what many schools offer.</p>
<p>^ yay for examples :)</p>
<p>At my school, there aren't many students on FA, but those that are will typically just stay with family or friends in the area for long breaks, when the school shuts down (actually not from heating costs, here in CA, but b/c faculty and staff leave). As for short breaks, many just stay on campus. There are typically enough people around to not be bored out of your mind, though it is pretty boring compared to typical weekends.</p>
<p>My friend at "EWS" is from London and is planning on spending Thanksgiving with me and my family =)
Woohoo for American culture!</p>
<p>When my son was at boarding school, it was common for the far away students to come home with the more local families for long weekends and short breaks. Not sure how much of this was preplanned by the school, but my son called and asked if he could bring a teammate for Easter and we were happy to have him.</p>