CREDIT: MELANIE ANDERSON
Second-year Paramedic students Peter MacTavish (left) and Adum Lund work on a mannequin during a class exercise.

With increasing tuition costs and a difficult job market, the option of going to post-secondary school through the Canadian Forces (CF) becomes more and more attractive to prospective students. Enrolling in the CF through one of the subsidized education plans means free tuition, books and academic equipment in addition to a salary and benefits while in school.

"Definitely not having to pay tuition is a huge plus," said secondyear Paramedic student Peter MacTavish. In addition to having your schooling covered, the CF provides a wage for students. The average wage in the first year of service is approximately $32,000 — that number jumps to almost $55,000 in your fifth year. Corporal MacTavish was a CF Infantry soldier for just over four years, prior to coming to school. "I started in high school as a Reservist, I did it part-time so for the first year I was doing basic training … I was working every weekend and Thursday nights as well, that was up in Barrie. Then I did two years of college at Fleming, before applying to Fanshawe," he said.

There are several programs at Fanshawe that can be subsidized through the military. Common programs include the two-year Electronic Engineering Technology (non-coop), the oneyear Dental Assisting program (Levels I and II), the two-year Medical Radiation Technology program, and the two-year Paramedic program.

"All those programs have a contract for seven years, which includes your time at school," said Sergeant Jamie Shewaga. This means that after completing a twoyear program, students would serve five years with the CF. But the contract is not as strict as some may think. "Your contract is seven years, but if you've finished your obligatory service — which is the financial portion — you can break your contract, as long as your financial portion is paid for," said Shewaga. The general rule is that for every month the military pays for your schooling, you owe two months of obligatory services to "re-pay" them.

For many, having to make a commitment to the CF for several years can be discouraging, but for MacTavish it wasn't a difficult decision. "I had the bonus of having had done it for a number of years so I know what daily life is like better than most people. I knew I enjoyed it enough to sign on for that long." He added that most of his work days as an Infantry soldier were 9 to 5 unless he was away on a course where 18- or 19-hour days were common. "If you're working in a clinic as a med tech, you're going to be doing 9 to 5. Sometimes you'll go out on (one- or two-week long) exercises," he pointed out. As a paramedic, you can also be sent on missions overseas. "A lot of med techs in the Ontario area are part of the DART team, the Disaster Assistance Response Team, so for Hurricane Katrina and stuff like that they'd get sent out."

Shewaga pointed out that surprisingly Fanshawe doesn't have many students who go through school with the military in mind. "The biggest problem is that they don't know about it," he suggested. "It helps if they have one person in the class (who's going into the military) — that's usually our best spokesperson."

MacTavish agreed, "Even having been in (The CF) for a few years, I didn't really know that you could get a full ride through school, so the awareness is definitely something to work on."

There continues to be new programs and colleges that are jumping on board with the Canadian Forces. For Fanshawe, allowing CF workers to go through the Paramedic program is fairly new. "Fanshawe just got their CMA approval for their Paramedic program; the Canadian Medical Association approved Fanshawe, so all of our skills are at a national level essentially," said MacTavish. "This makes it easier to shift between provinces, and the CF requires CMA approval in order to sponsor you through the program."

One of the biggest advantages of going the military route is having a guaranteed full-time job right after graduation. Shewaga gave the example of the Paramedic program. "Currently in the workforce, on average paramedics have to work part-time jobs, shift work for five years, before they get a fulltime job." You may not always get stationed at a prime location, but you do get to provide the military with your top three options and they try to be as accommodating as possible, depending on the needs of the CF. "A job as a paramedic, you can pretty much go to any base that has a base hospital — there are lots in Canada. There are probably at least 14 different places you can live," said Shewaga. This does depend on the nature of the job, for example there are several Air Force- or Navy-specific careers that would require someone to live in specific areas.

If you decide to leave the CF after your contract or obligatory service is complete, a job in the military is a good resume builder, said Shewaga. "Anyone will hire you because you have just completed more training, more experience, more life skills on the trade than anyone else would because often you're doing this job all over the world."

Many more university students across Canada are taking the military route. According to Shewaga, you can take any degree program that the military can fit into a job. "It's 100 per cent paid education, tuition, books, student fees and they give you a salary to get your degree — it's just like the college program," he said. The Canadian Forces takes on about 300 university students per year, making it a much more difficult program to get accepted for. "It's a highly competitive program because university is very expensive," said Shewaga.

There are advantages and disadvantages of every job, but if money is something you are worried about, this is a good route to take. You will have no debt and a guaranteed full-time job after graduation. There are options to join the Canadian Forces after you have completed school. For more information about the Canadian Forces, visit forces.ca.