Study Abroad

Spend a Semester or Year Studying Abroad 

For 2024-25, we have seats available in grade 11.

Each year, we have 2 or 3 seats available for foreign students in grades 10-12 to spend a semester or a year in our school. The experience enriches both the student who joins us and our school as we exchange and learn about different cultures.

As wonderful as study abroad experiences are, we are a very small school with a primary focus on local students, and on providing a stable educational environment. With the many requests we get from people who wish to spend time in Monteverde, the following requirements help us select the best candidates for the very small number of opportunities we can offer.

Please note: we do not accept short-term (less than a semester) students at any level of the school and do not offer summer programs for June and July. In addition, primary students here with their family for at least a year are only considered if they can start in August. We do not add primary students mid-year.

What’s Required:

Each February or March MFS assesses what seats will be available in the following year to see which grades will be available. If there are openings, we look for:

    • High school students (grades 9-12) who are both interested and mature enough to join us without their family nearby. Tuition is $7,500 per semester plus some fees mentioned below.
    • Students who would be with us for at least a semester; we do not offer shorter stays.
    • Students interested in living with a local family for a homestay. This helps some of our school parents earn some money toward their own child’s tuition.  The family offers room and board, local knowledge, and practice with Spanish for a cost of $3,500. They involve the student in the family but are not expected to do extensive parenting. 
    • Exchange students who are fluent in both English and Spanish. Some of our courses (e.g. Humanities and Science) are taught in English while Math and Spanish Language Arts are taught in Spanish. We find that most students, even those with a few years of Spanish classes need additional tutoring, which is available for $2,500 per year.

If your student is serious about studying with us, Please fill out this short form. You can contact us in  February or March to find out whether there are seats available for the year and class you are considering. If it looks possible, the first step is to submit an application. You can find instructions and the form for “out-of-area” students at our How-To-Apply page. We usually start assessing whether we have space and the fit with applicants around March of each year, with a most definite commitment by May after current students are registered for the following year.