Cost of education in Honduras? Cancel Title is required

A little over a year ago, I started sponsoring a teenager from Honduras whose family was too poor to afford him finishing school. He will be turning 19 in May and I'm assuming he will age out of the program soon, so I asked him what he might need to continue his education. I just got a letter from him saying he wants to go to back to school but didn't provide any details - not sure if it was a translation issue, he's too shy to ask for anything, or what.

I'm curious if anyone has any ideas how much it costs to send a child to secondary school in Honduras?  And would CI have information on what grade he has completed? I'm trying to figure out what the right amount of a birthday gift for him would be to help him get back into school or if a gift like that would even be the most helpful at this point.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

I'd suggest that you call CI first and see if they can help you figure things out before he graduates. Obviously,it will be hard to help him if you lose contact. I suspect they'll have a suggestion as to how you can maintain that contact also, as well as in determining costs.

If you can afford to sponsor a younger sibling  that would be the best option. CI could give you this information. Sometimes it can even be a close relative that lives in the same area and is eligible to be enrolled in the program. Definitely contact CI. There might not even be a secondary school close enough for him to attend.  No matter what happens, your sponsored boy is very lucky to have you.  It is  difficult to find sponsors for youth, especially boys, in their late teens and many  of them graduate from the program with no sponsor, not even a letter or card.

@wilber7946 - please give us a call or chat with a rep and we'll be happy to look more into Keyvin's specific situation! 

Hi Wilber

Call CI, they have the last grade that Keyvin completed on file. Does Keyvin have any siblings listed on his family report? You could ask CI if any of them need sponsors. 

  I would also suggest asking CI if there anycousins in the program that can be enrolled.  Then you can continue to send EGs for him through their account as well. 

You could also send an EG now that is $100+ and you can state that it is to be used to help him get back into school or to go into a vocational course. EGs for education are send immediately. 

I had helped with a training course for a Honduran boy I sponsored years ago.  It was only a couple hundred dollars. 

Hi, Wilbur!

What little I know about schooling in Honduras is that this country is unique in the fact that many poor families make sacrifices to send their children to private school so they will have a foot up in life. This is important, because in some other CI areas, it is almost cruel to pay for your child to attend a fancy school where they will be behind academically and may not be accepted by the more affluent students. In Honduras, it is more common for the poor to mix with the wealthy. My point is that it might be worth asking if there is a good private school near your boy's home, where he could get extra help and attention to catch up. 

A friend of mine sends his kids to private schools in Honduras, and the last I heard, he was paying about $60 a month for tuition. Of course, tuition would vary by school and there are additional costs for education - like uniforms, supplies, and transportation.

At your boy's advanced age, another option to prepare him for the future might be vocational training. You can ask CI if they offer any programs in his area. CI was able to provide a course on refrigerator repair to one of my teen boys in Honduras. The training was free through CI, but I supplied funds to pay for his lunches each day. 

Thanks for the insights, everyone!  I talked to CI and my original idea probably won't work since he has missed several years of school, but we are exploring vocational opportunities or an unrestricted gift to help out in other ways.