UniNursity

Are you saving enough to send your grandparents to UniNursity?

The current crop of nursing homes are some of the most depressing and dysfunctional facilities I have seen in recent memory. Alternatively, Universities can't help but build larger, more luxurious campus facilities at the direction of their aging and soon to be geriatric donors.

We currently have all sorts of programs that give breaks to parents and students attempting to save for college. Fewer exist in the case of extended care which first don't rob the family of every semi-liquid asset.

We need an entirely different approach. I propose setting up a 'college' that would simply accept very old students, and offer classes in senior-interest activities, hobbies, as well as degree programs. The 'UniNursity' would attempt to have its programs and students in attendance qualify for all the standard educational low-interest loans and grants, and perhaps even be run as an offshoot of an established University, with much more intensive care and the bulk of the cost in higher room and board fees. Of course the 'dorm' would be your standard nursing home with communal areas and more classrooms available.

To offset the costs, perhaps the UniNursity could arrange for an educational exchange. I picture a collaberation between the medical school and the geriatric center in training and internships, optional experimental drug therapy, etc. The elderly population could choose to agree to donate their bodies to science after their time is up for use in gross anatomy training classes.