Can I bring my children and/or spouse when I study at the University of Wollongong?

Yes, this is quite common, including for Japanese​ students. Our staff can help you. Here is how...: Visa: As a Student Visa holder, your spouse and/or children will also be eligible for visas. Your children will be eligible to study at Australian schools Children's school: If the family want to enrol their ​children in a ​local government school, they wait until they have arrived in Australia and ​have established an address, as goverment​ placements are made based on residential zoning. They ​then go to the school ​in their local area ​ after they have arrived to process the enrolment. ​ Students requiring Enlgish language study can be placed in a school with ESL training and support.

Iffamilies prefer a private school, we have a very strong relationship with The Illawarra Grammar School (TIGS http://www.tigs.nsw.edu.au/) and can make an introduction to their International Manager, ( ​University of Wollongong homestay staff care for all of their international students in Homestays). As a private school, enrolment at TIGS is not based on location and they can live anywhere. TIGS also has a door to door bus service, that collects the children from home in the morning and returns them after school each day. A very safe way for children to travel if they are new to the country.

Accommodation: ​We have a collection of families who have large, ​separate sections with their own kitchens and bathrooms or ​"granny flats" attached to (or within) their homes which we can offer to families like these looking for our help ​. We do not make arrangements with Real Estate agents for rental properties. Real Estate agents require contracts to be signed, deposit bonds and so on, which we cannot facilitate. Students could do this themselves after living for a while in one of our homestay-attached accommodations.​

If ​families need a temporary place to stay with their ​ children while they find a more permanent solution, then we can certainly help.

Our discounted homestay placement fee for a family unit is $350 (normally $231 per person). Price paid to the host family is dependent on the type of accommodation we are able to acquire, the number of people, their ages and so on. We would advise those cost & inclusions when we send off the information about the location we have found so that they can make a fully informed decision.

If ​students would like to apply, please let us know so that we can send you an application form and payment ​instructions for the placement . ​

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Comment from our homestay staff:
​We do help quite a few families with accommodation. Its quite common for those doing a Masters and postgraduate, to be married. Just this week we've had a Korean family arrive (mum, dad & 7yr old daughter) who we have placed with a family for a few months until they secure a permanent rental property. The host family is assisting them with advice, and has a child of a similar age for the little girl to play with and develop some language skill. Also a Russian family (mum, dad & baby) who will probably stay with the host family for the entire 2.5yrs they are here. We hope this info helps. Don't hesitate to get in touch if you need anything else. Always happy to help.

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And don't forget:
PS – Are you aware that in the last i-Graduate English Language Barometer Survey (ELB), UOW College Homestay scored the highest in the world? i-Graduate ELB, independently surveyed 16,138 students from 123 institutions worldwide, including more than 10,500 students from 49 Australian institutions. It is very gratifying to know that our students' responses have shown our Homestay service to be as good as we always aim for it to be.