Benefits of being a student

When I decided to return to school I really wanted to learn something different, and to enjoy academe from the other side.  Well, I am achieving that, but I also realized that with being a full time student comes a variety of benefits that I didn't count on.

Medical Services

Some of you may have heard that while nationalized health care is cool, it's not perfect.  One of the shortfalls is that it's hard to get a family doctor.  Well, University of Ottawa comes to the rescue, if you are a student or an employee.  As a student, I can be assigned a family doctor, and once that is done, your family doctor stays with you even after you have graduated!

While on the subject, let me pontificate a bit.  Not long ago, though we had national health care, doctors could charge what was called "extra billing."  So some doctors charge more than the plan allows, and patients pay the difference.  Of course, if you didn't want to pay the extra, you could pick doctors who didn't charge extra.  Now this naturally benefits those who had better secondary health insurance (usually from big employers) or who were financially better off.  Not "fair," in some views.  Regardless, that was the system, and we had none of this shortage of family doctors or wait times etc.  Now, with a single tier system, extra billing is gone.  But wait time increases and a lot of doctors moved to the US.  As I said, nothing is perfect.

Would I be able to pick a system, I'd pick the old way.  It's more equitable than what is in the US, which sees tens of million without proper insurance, but at the same time you can pay for better care if you can afford it.  I am no communist, as you can tell by now.  But I am not an out and out capitalist either.  Anyway, it's not up to me.

So, the UO system is great.  The university also runs multiple clinics on and off campus.  It's so nice.  Well, I have yet to make use of that, thank goodness.  But it's good to know the option is there.  I am registering with a family doctor, though.  :)

Discounts

Did I tell you I get 10% off groceries every Tuesday at the supermarket near where I live?  Some other supermarkets even do that every Tuesday and Thursday! It adds up, you know.

And I get a bus pass during the school year, so I can take public transit when I want.  Very convenient.

I also get student discounts at barber shops :)  

Over the summer, I will be spending some time back in Maryland.  Wanted to find a local gym for when I'm in town.  And many offer student rates too!  Oh yeah!

And if I want to, I can to the university's food bank to get free food.  Well, I won't do that.  But if I'm desperate!  There's also a free shop on campus, where students can donate clothing etc that they no longer want, and other students can go and pick stuff they want.  So if one day you come across a stranger wearing an Oregon State shirt, you might wonder if he/she goes to U Ottawa and got that from the free shop!



Well, enough musing.  Reading this great tome called the Rise and Fall of the British Empire.  It's something like four inches thick.  So far I am really enjoying.  Just some light summer reading.