Why Costa Rica? For starters it is one of the most beautiful places in the world; and having lived in Costa Rica for 20 years personally it is the best place to help you with your student in so many ways; also you need to understand that Costa Rica is not Mexico. The infrastructure In Costa Rica is on the same level as found in the US with the same standards and believe it or not you can Actually drink the water from the tap which I personally did for 20 years and never got sick once and the safety issues that are always apparent in Mexico have nothing to do with Costa Rica. CNN rated Costa Rica as one of the best places in the world to live or to retire see their article here; https://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/07/05/costa.rica.happy.nation/index.html
Also I am very much a “gringo” but I lived in Costa Rica for 20 years and it was safer for me to live in Costa Rica than it was in South Carolina which is typically thought to be fairly safe. Also Costa Rica is now known as the “new Hawaii” and is a great place to get a vacation home, retire or to invest. Costa Rican‘s or Tico‘s as they are called have some of the highest levels of literacy in the world somewhere around 94% almost everyone in Costa Rica speaks English which is mandatory in K-12 and college in Costa Rica. Costa Rica is sort of the little brother of the United States and does not have an army because the United States is typically made anyone and everyone aware that they are under the US protection. The people are highly educated, kind, attractive, and typically will do anything for you. Costa Ricans love Americans and recognize that their number one industry is tourism and so they are very cognizant of that fact and try to make sure that Americans are accepted and appreciated. All of these factors considered Costa Rica in my opinion is Paradise and the number one place for your student to grow up, learn the discipline they need and have an incredible study abroad experience.