What did you do for money or extra cash while in college?

Student Lounge College Life
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<p>Hello, I'll be entering college for the fall 2010 semester and often hear how sometimes after all work is done students like to go to town and have some fun now and then. I was just curious as to what college students do/did for money while attending school? </p>

<p>How'd you guys come up with money for things such as clothes, going out to eat, movies, or anything else that might have came up and required moola while attending school full-time? </p>

<p>I plan on dorming and I don't wanna be the kid hounding their parents for money to go enjoy themselves with every month. I know the obvious answer to this question would probably be "I got a job" but I was just curious to see what kinda of jobs you guys took and how hard was it to balance with your studies.</p>

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<p>Work study programs usually have very flexible options and have excellent pay rates (compared to similar jobs off campus). Try that. Also, maybe craigslist for freelance stuff? Ask yourself what skills you have and what you have to offer.</p>

3

<p>Work-study programs? Hmm… lol Don’t wanna sound ignorant but what exactly are those? Are they similar to internships? As a business major I plan to take internships the moment they’re available. Oh and am I right in assuming college business internships pay?</p>

4

<p>Nah, you’re not ignorant if you’re still in HS. Work-study is a school-funded program whereby the school employs you in various on campus jobs. There’s also federal work-study which is funded by the government. There’s usually a cap of 20 hours a week. Each college is different in terms of its job availabilities and pay scale but they’re usually preferred over an off-campus job that is less flexible. </p>

<p>Some internships pay, some don’t. The lower-ranked ones where you start out most likely will not pay.</p>

5

<p>In addition to work-study and internships, I also had two part-time jobs on campus that were fantastic.</p>

<p>1) On-campus bookstore. This was a great job because I got a big discount on my books and I made a lot of friends by working there. The location was convenient (I didn’t have a car) and the schedule was very flexible – I would work a few hours, go to class, work another hour or two, etc. The managers were great about letting us rearrange work schedules if we had a big test coming up or something. I worked there full-time in the summers and about 10-15 hours per week during the school year, depending on my class schedule. I also got to know many professors that way because I did textbook ordering as I became more senior.</p>

<p>2) Tutoring for the university tutorial center. This was also a very convenient and flexible job. I scheduled meeting times and locations with each individual student depending on when and where our classes were. It was very rewarding and it kept me sharp in many subject areas. It also paid better than the bookstore. I tutored about 5-10 hours per week, depending on the students’ needs. </p>

<p>I enjoyed tutoring so much that I still tutor student athletes part-time in the evenings. It’s so rewarding and I’m considering going back for my PhD and teaching full-time. </p>

<p>Both of these jobs were flexible, convenient, and rewarding. They let me be a student first and also gave me good work experience.</p>

6

<p>Federal work study. We didn’t have a cap (I’ve actually never heard of a school having one): worked an hour or two during a busy week and then pulled a 28 hour week the next.</p>

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<p>Work as much as you can over the summer. Use the money from your summer job towards your personal expenses during the academic year.</p>

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<p>Tutoring, and being a guinea pig in Grad students’ psychology experiments. That last one is really good for random extra cash… look into whether your school’s psych department needs any test subjects.</p>

9

<p>For me.</p>

<p>Job on campus.</p>

<p>Money from some websites I made.</p>

<p>Giving plasma.</p>

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<p>loans. but i’m not taking any loans for tuition or anything crucial, and the loans are sub loans. so maybe thats just me</p>

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<p>Work an on campus job, and work for the athletic dept. Paid hourly on campus, given a lump sum stipend at the beginning of every semester for the AD work. And if I have any excess loan money after my tuition is paid, it gets deposited into my bank account so I usually have extra from that too.</p>

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<p>One of my sons reffed games for local soccer leagues–anywhere from $25-$60/game depending on the level of soccer being played. Some weekends he could ref 6 games. There are also often games on weekdays in late afternoon/early evening. During times when he did not want to commit himself in advance, he would put himself on the sub-available lists where he could accept assignments at his own convenience.</p>

<p>He also taught Hebrew at a local synogogue and did Baar Mitzvah tutoring as well–which also paid around $30/hour.</p>

13

<p>You could probably find a job on campus. Be wary of some work study programs because sometimes you are working simply to pay off tuition so you don’t get a weekly paycheck to your name. You’d have to find more details about what your school offers. Some internships pay and some don’t.</p>

<p>I personally took up dancing since I get the most flexible schedule possible (I literally go in when I feel like working) with the highest amount of pay (average $700 on a six hour shift). Unfortunately this is a woman’s profession ; )</p>

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<p>Dancing is an awfully nice way to put it.</p>

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<p>Ah, the ole ballet and the spirited waltz.</p>

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<p>I worked. My parents definitely didn’t give me any money.</p>

<p>My freshman year I worked as a program assistant in the office of continuing education, 10 hours a week. My sophomore year, I was a resident assistant, and we got paid. I also did in-home tutoring for Kaplan that year. At the end of my sophomore year I applied for an undergraduate fellowship program that I got into, so during my junior and senior years I was paid by the fellowship program in return for 15 hours of research assistantship each week.</p>

<p>The RA gig was the hardest to balance with schoolwork – I quit halfway through my junior year because they increased our workload without increasing our pay and I just couldn’t handle it anymore, plus I had the money from the fellowship. The program assistant job was the easiest, since it was only 10 hours a week and was just filing and answering the phone and stuff.</p>

<p>If you do get a job (which I recommend) I recommend working on campus if possible, and if not working as close to campus as you can possibly get. I mean you want to work somewhere that you can fit in between classes and your other activities (like at my program assistant job, I worked between classes on Mondays and Wednesdays and for about 4-5 hours on Fridays, which I had free). The tutoring work was difficult because I didn’t have a car, so I had to rely on others (mostly my boyfriend) to drive me and that’s mostly why I quit, because I really liked it and it was flexible work.</p>

<p>I wasn’t eligible for work-study.</p>

<p>I also never took an internship that didn’t pay. Being that my parents didn’t give me any money, I couldn’t really afford to do this; besides, even at 19 I recognized the value of my labor and would be damned to give someone free labor. Sometimes it’s worth it to take an unpaid internship, but often you can find an equivalent internship that’s willing to pay you at least enough to live on. For example, if you want to do research internships over the summer, you should never take those unpaid (there are so many that will pay you around $3,000 for a summer, plus house you and feed you). If you want a government internship, though, that might be worth it.</p>

<p>My first two summers in college I worked at a summer camp for 5-12 year olds, and my third summer I did a research internship on adolescence in poverty in southern Alabama. It was hot.</p>

<p>It took me a while to realize what Vehicle meant by dancing (until I saw the next post, actually). A lot of girls in my school did that too, and it actually was one of the better paying jobs, of course, if you can handle it. An almost-as-lucrative position is waitressing, especially at a really popular restaurant – if you can get good tips, that is. Some of my friends waitressed and they made a LOT of money especially on the weekends.</p>

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<p>I worked a retail job. Fun. It actually got quite crazy, as I was always coming and going- needing to be at school, needing to be at work, and the circle went on and on. I did save up a lot of money, though. Some people can handle working a lot of hours and going to school, but if you just need money to use for hanging out, food, etc. I agree that 20 hours is enough a week- if that. Some retail jobs will give you 20 or less hours a week and not very long shifts at all. I’ve found this to especially be true in some malls stores. Plus you still get cool discounts :)</p>

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<p>Just wanna say you guys were completely awesome with helping me! Haha I had no idea about work-study programs and I can say I’m certainly a little less intimidated and nervous about the college transition. I noticed juillet said she wasn’t eligible for work-study in her school and I was just wondering what exactly are common requirements for those programs? I imagine you need to maintain a certain GPA but is there anything else you now that may be required?</p>

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<p>If you find someone to train you, bartending and waiting tables pays great.</p>

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<p>i wish i was a good dancer so i could strip. ha. $700/night? id only have to go once a month!</p>