Santa Monica College is one of the most popular schools to study for our international students. According to SMC’s website, over 3400 international students choose their school each year.

If you decide to study at this school and find yourself in need of student homestay, we encourage you to apply as early as possible or you could find yourself “waitlisted” during peak semesters. The busiest intake of Santa Monica College homestays for IHPS is fall. Many of our students apply as soon as they know they are accepted, which sometimes means April or May prior to the fall start date.

The majority of our homestay students are placed within 5 miles of Santa Monica’s Pico campus. Typically, because of traffic, students should expect to commute on a city bus for at least 30 to 45 mins each way.  The City’s local bus service, Big Blue Bus, has been in operation since 1928. The commute from homestay to school each day is well worth it though. Students find Santa Monica College and the beaches a beautiful location to study. If you are lucky enough to study there you won’t be disappointed.

IHPS wrote a blog entry on the different neighborhoods we typically place our students in and ideas on what to visit nearby. Check it out here. 

In Santa Monica, the summers are warm, arid, and clear and the winters are long, cool, wet, and partly cloudy. Over the course of the year, the temperature typically varies from 49°F to 76°F and is rarely below 43°F or above 84°F.