The Stuff I Wish I’d Known as a First-Year: Accommodations, Free Bus Passes, Grant Funding, and More
Three years ago, I wrote a Quest article titled “Orientation Week: A Freshman’s Perspective” about all the stuff I wish we had learned during O-Week. Now, as a senior, I’m writing this article to answer all the questions I had three years ago, as well as other useful information that I wish I’d known back then.
1) How to Not Get Screwed Over With Accommodations
When you’re trying to figure out what accommodations you might need, don’t think about how you’re doing on your good days or even your average ones. Think about how you’re doing on your bad days, because that’s when you’ll need the help the most. If you tell Disability and Accessibility Resources (DAR) what it’s like on average, they’ll assume that average is the worst that it gets, which isn’t true.
You need a doctor’s note to get accommodations and the process can take a few weeks. You have to request accommodations every semester and some professors will ask you to meet with them to talk about your accommodations, but the meetings are usually pretty chill.
Possible academic accommodations include extra time on tests, a reduced-distraction testing environment, priority registration for classes, a notetaker (someone else in the class who takes notes and shares them with you), use of your laptop even when it wouldn’t normally be allowed (essay exams, lab classes, etc.), permission to record lectures, extra absences from PE classes, permission to take breaks during class if you get overwhelmed, and more.
Possible housing accommodations include guaranteed on-campus housing as an upperclassman, specific on-campus housing such as a wheelchair accessible room or a room close to a bathroom, an exemption from the board plan or from the on-campus housing requirement, having an emotional support animal, and more.
All of these are accommodations that either I have or that I heard of someone else having, so if DAR tells you “we don’t do that,” they are misinformed. The above accommodations are just a few examples of what’s possible; check the Reed webpages on accommodations for more information, and even if an accommodation isn’t listed as an option on the website it might still be possible.
If you’re thinking “it would be helpful but I can probably get by without accommodations,” that is the devil talking. Even if you aren’t failing your classes, accommodations can make a huge difference. I’m speaking from experience here: during my first year at Reed, my grades were fine, but my scores on timed tests were a full letter grade below my scores on untimed ones. After I got extra time on tests, my test scores on timed tests became the same as my scores on untimed ones.
2) Health and Counseling Center (HCC)
You can get help from the HCC even if you’re not on the Reed health insurance. This includes mental health services such as counseling, and physical health services such as meeting with one of their nurse practitioners. All students are able to get 10 free counseling sessions at the HCC per year. Also, the HCC can prescribe hormone replacement therapy! Go talk to them for more details.
3) Food
Commons, the Marketplace (the little snack store inside Commons by the booths), and Canyon Cafe (the coffee shop on the first floor of Aspen, right across from Trillium) all take board points. The bookstore sells snacks and drinks and even toiletries, but they don’t take board points, and neither do the two Paradox Cafes, one in the SU and the other in the Bio Building.
Board points carry over from the fall to the spring, but expire at the end of the spring semester. If you have extra board points, you can give them to someone who’s running low, as long as you’re both on a meal plan. To do this, email Ken Blanchard (kblanchard@reed.edu) with your student ID number, the student ID number of the person you’re transferring to, and how much you would like to transfer. To check how many board points you have left, go to iris.reed.edu. Under “Resources,” click “Board and Commuter Balances.”
If you want to go to the grocery store, Trader Joe’s and Safeway are within walking distance—they’re each about a mile away from campus. H Mart is about three miles away, so it’s doable by bike or on the bus.
4) Getting places without a car
If you don’t have a car, riding a bike can be a great option. Sometimes people sell bikes on the Reed Switchboard (a website that’s basically Craigslist but only for Reed, search it online for signup info). Be sure to lock your bike really well because bike thefts do happen.
The Bike Co-Op sadly hasn’t been active these past few years, but Community Safety has a bike pump you can borrow. You can also buy tiny handheld bike pumps for $20—I have one from Crankbrothers and it’s been incredibly useful. If your bike breaks, Sellwood Cycle Repair is fairly close by.
As for public transit, you can use a regular credit or debit card to pay for bus fare on both regular buses and the MAX light rail. It costs $2.80 for 2.5 hours of riding and $5.60 for a day pass; just tap the card against the scanner when you board the bus. Google Maps will give you information on bus routes, and the buses have bike racks on the front in case you want to bike to and from the bus stop.
If you make less than $2,660 a month and/or you participate in an assistance program, you can get the TriMet Honored Citizen pass (which gives you 50% off), and then Reed will cover the rest of the cost so you can ride public transit for free. You don’t need to be on financial aid for this, as long as your individual income qualifies.
To get the pass:
Apply for the Honored Citizen pass. This can be done online on the TriMet website, or in person. You’ll need a photo ID and proof of Oregon residency, such as a piece of mail with your Reed address. You’ll also need proof of income, which could be your pay stubs from the last month, a 1040 form, a Pell Grant, proof that you’re part of an assistance program, or more.
Once you get the pass, contact the Reed Business Office. You can bring the card over in person to the cashier’s window on the third floor of Eliot, or you can email them at business-office@reed.edu with your name, the card number, the security code, and the expiration date.
The business office will load the monthly pass onto your card and you can ride for free! You do have to contact them again every month to get the pass loaded.
5) Grant applications
Have you ever thought, “Wow, I’d love to go to this cool event or own this equipment, but I don’t have the money”? If you can argue that something counts as professional development, you can get Reed to pay for it!
The Career Advancement Fund will give you $500 per year for purchases related to professional development. It is recommended to use it for graduate school applications or travel to job interviews, but you can also use the funds for other expenses. I asked around and found that people have used it for commuting to jobs (purchasing a bike or paying for gas) or buying career-related equipment (a camera, power tools, work-related clothing, or supplies for costume design).
The Opportunity Grant will give you up to $1,700 for attending events related to professional development and you can apply for it multiple times. This grant can be used to attend academic conferences, but it can also be used to fund other opportunities. I know some theatre majors who used it to go to NYC to see the play they analyzed in their junior seminar.
Professional development doesn’t mean that it has to relate to your major, just that it relates to potential future career opportunities. I’m a neuroscience major, but I’m really interested in photography, theatre, and fire performance. Last year, I got a Career Advancement Fund grant to purchase a camera and an Opportunity Grant to attend a fire performance festival so I could network with other performing arts photographers.
If you’re into music, try getting a grant to go to a concert to see your favorite artist. If you want to volunteer with a local Portland organization, try getting a grant to pay for transportation. If you need waterproof boots for biology fieldwork, a new computer because yours is too slow for programming, art supplies so you can make art—as long as it’s potentially related to your future career, you can probably get a grant to pay for it.
There are also other grants that are department-specific, so check in with your academic advisor about those! You can also go to the “Reed-Sponsored Grants & Opportunities” webpage (search for “Reed-Sponsored Grants & Opportunities” and click the first link that shows up).
6) It gets easier
Freshman year can be fun and exciting, or it can be a confusing hellscape, or it can be somewhere in the middle. If you’re currently thinking “this is a confusing hellscape,” just know: it gets easier. It might take a while, it might take the entire year and then some, but it gets easier. Promise.