Early foreign student departure... Should we be paid in full?

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Chuckles

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Just wondering if anybody has had a similar experience... We agreed to take a foreign student for a month ... it's not a student exchange or anything like that, it was being done purely for financial gain... approx. €800 for the month...things have not worked out for the child that is staying with us... very poor communication in english and homesick (after 1 week).... the co-ordinator of the stay has liased with the childs parents and is arranging for their return home... although we feel sorry for the child obviously, where do you feel things should rest financially with this?!
My better half has been told that she will be paid the equivalent of a daily rate... Of course, as the "injured" party financially, I think she should be paid the full months rate... Any comments or similar experiences?
 
Re: Any comments on this issue or similar experiences?

Should be in the contract you all signed at the start.
 
Re: Any comments on this issue or similar experiences?

There was no written contract or that... it's just a "gentlemans" agreement... We have had students other years and this issue never arose before... we have spoken to other people in the locality that take these students as well but, in our area this particular issue seems to be unprecedented.
 
Re: Early student departure... Should we be paid in full?

Presumably it's up to both parties to come to some agreement in the absence of any clear contract? Presumably you are guaranteed c. €200 one way or another? Unless the additional €600 is critical to you would you not just leave it at that or else maybe negotiate to see if they will stretch to, say, €400 (50%) or so?
 
Re: Early student departure... Should we be paid in full?

How would you feel if the reverse happened and your child wanted to return home from a foreign placement - would you be prepared to pay in full? I would look upon a "gentleman's agreement" as being just that (if you can afford to be without the cash). It might be worth checking if the organisers have a "slush fund" to compensate families for such eventualities.
 
Re: Early student departure... Should we be paid in full?

Maybe a fair compromise would be to ask for part payment for the boarding part of the visit if you set aside the accommodation and your own plans for the month but not 'charge' for bills such as food, prepaid trips and any other expenses that the child did not avail of?

However if you are not relying on the money, then personally I'd just leave it as it is probably quite a frequent and possibly even partly expected outcome where kids are concerned.
 
Re: Any comments on this issue or similar experiences?

Chuckles said:
There was no written contract or that... it's just a "gentlemans" agreement...
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Chuckles said:
Of course, as the "injured" party financially, I think she should be paid the full months rate...
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On what basis?
We have had students other years and this issue never arose before...
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Did you never previously consider the possibility of this happening and your likely reaction to it?
 
Re: Early student departure... Should we be paid in full?

What age is the child? If it were a 16 year old I could understand you being put out, but if the poor thing was only about 12 then I would feel differently. Perhaps you could ask in future if you only want older students. A friend regularly has students and one little lad was barely 11 and quite homesick but she put lots of effort in, got a few pals (old and young) around to give him lots of attention and he ended up having a great time.

Student exchanges are a great experience, I think, for people on both sides, but not an experiment to be undertaken for financial gain solely.
 
Re: Early student departure... Should we be paid in full?

TreeTiger said:
Student exchanges are a great experience, I think, for people on both sides, but not an experiment to be undertaken for financial gain solely.
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Great - but as the original post(er) says:
Chuckles said:
We agreed to take a foreign student for a month ... it's not a student exchange or anything like that, it was being done purely for financial gain...
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Re: Early student departure... Should we be paid in full?

The way I look at it is the company has probably been paid in full by the parents, therefore you should be paid in full.
 
Re: Early student departure... Should we be paid in full?

If you make a big deal of it now, will you cut off your nose to spite your face? You might not get any more students in future.

I'd take the daily rate, and maybe ask for a small amount to compensate you for the inconvenience.
 
Re: Early student departure... Should we be paid in full?

Were you planning on renting that room out to someone else at the same time???

If not then, have a little sympathy for the kid and his parents. Unless someone else has already been paid in full for the stay I would let it go.
 
Re: Early student departure... Should we be paid in full?

ClubMan said:
What company?
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Most foreign stundent accomodation/visits are run by a third party. I know in our local area its done that way. They organise and manage the schooling of the kids while they are here. Provide tours, information packs back packs and all that kind of stuff. Maybe its a different type of service?
 
Re: Early student departure... Should we be paid in full?

Might be simpler if the original poster clarified rather than people guessing?
 
Re: Early student departure... Should we be paid in full?

Just an aside,

Was speaking about students generally, seems last year was very difficult to get homes for the students to stay in, we where all so well off didn’t need the income, however this year after the schools limiting numbers arising from 2007 difficulties, there is huge supply of rooms/homes ( party to conversation was spouse of an organiser)

And relevant to the point, we used take Chinese students, paid for 3 weeks up front, and some of them stayed 21days and 23.5 hours!!!, and others left after 2 or 3 days.

We also had leader stay , 6’6’’ left because bed was to short!

All in all we enjoyed the experience of students over 3 or 4 years, but don’t think we would do it now. It is hard work, and you have to be parental, never liked how some where locked out, fed them rubbish and didn’t make them welcome, our attitude was to treat them like we hoped ours would be treated.
 
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Re: Early student departure... Should we be paid in full?

The OP has stated clearly that it was done for pure financially reasons. It is hard work and a lot of responsibility. The thing to find out is , is the company or group being paid anyway, and if they are, well then she should get most of her costs. Remember most of the Spanish students coming here are from very well off backgrounds, I have personal knowledge of this.
If your own child comes home from Irish College due to homesickness, you do not get a refund.
Fair enough, maybe as another poster said , if the child is too young, you could decide to be lenient but if this isn't the case, I wouldn't feel so generous. A friend's child has twice done this, a lovely kid but a bit spoiled and the parents had to pay full amount.
The teachers doing these courses get a reasonable amount for their work but in my opinion , it is the landladies who really earn it.
 
Re: Early student departure... Should we be paid in full?

Brianne said:
...It is hard work and a lot of responsibility. .....
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The child has gone home early therefore by your logic, its less work and less responsibility so you should be paid less.

It really depends on the original agreement. if it wasn't discussed then you'll have to argue your case. If the company can replace the student with another one then theres no problem. Otherwwise you could aregue loss of earnings, so you should be apid anyway.

Theres no right and wrong here. Simply what you can negotiate.
 
Re: Early student departure... Should we be paid in full?

Thanks for all your comments...

Just to clarify a couple of things to the individual posters...Sorry, I'm not familiar with how you insert the original quotes..

PM1234... The whole situation was entered into for financial gain therefore money is what it was it was about.

Treetiger... it wasn't an experiment...We have taken "month long stay" students over the last couple of years...we also take short stay students(3-4 days at a time)... this kind of situation has never arisen before!

Gramlab... Yes we could have taken another student from a different organising group who offered €100 more for the month but, we discussed it and felt that we had already committed to take this child from the first group and therefore should honour our commitment.

Brianne... Your spot on with your analysis... as far as I am concerned!

Again, thanks to all for your comments good and bad... I suppose I should have possibly put the post in the "letting off steam" section as that's maybe more what I was doing!

End of thread!
 
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