Make a Little Extra When You Are in College

Living on your own can be surprisingly expensive. Who knew that pretty much everything costs real money? And, although you don’t mind eating Ramen Noodles every night, your date tonight isn’t really going to be thrilled about the cuisine. You need to upgrade, which means that you need cash, fast. I’s a good thing that your student schedule opens up a ton of opportunities to make cash, that a working stiff just doesn’t have.

1. Sell Your Organs

Technically I am talking about blood. Most everything else is illegal, and if you really think you can make money off of your other organs, I’ll let you look into that. Remember – if you are going to sell a kidney, make sure that someone is around to guard your other kidney. However, selling plasma is a standard in the college student’s cash flow system. You can do it regularly, it only takes a few hours, and you can schedule it at your convenience. Just don’t get too carried away. The track marks left from donating plasma can actually damage your veins badly enough that doctors can have a hard time giving you an IV when you need it.

2. Craigslist

Although Craigslist is the prime target area for scams and booty calls, they actually do have real jobs posted there. In both the general services and community section, people make listing looking for grunt work. Whether they need help moving, clearing out the meth shed that burnt down in their backyard, or are staging a flash-mob to help them in a burglary, you can innocently make some fast cash. They usually list the type of workers that they need, and how long they will need you for. Work your schedule around theirs, and you can find yourself a little bit wealthier all the time. A word to the wise: make sure that payment is clarified up front – don’t get stiffed because the advertised 50 bucks has to be split between the 20 people who showed up.

3. Campus Employment

Now, I’ve already talked about getting a job. This isn’t what I mean. It’s true, most colleges have a number of part and full time positions that you could take. I am simply assuming that for whatever reason, you don’t want a(nother) job. That doesn’t mean that your campus can’t help you out. Along with ordinary jobs like receptionist, groundskeeper, etc. There are also job opportunities on your campus that are more flexible. You could work for the art department, modeling for their live drawing classes (the only place where you don’t have to be hot to model). You could take up a research assistantship – they usually have limited, but flexible hours. Find one with a 5 to 10 hour cap, and you are on your way to a little extra cash, without disrupting your important study schedule all that much. Of course, if you really are hard up for cash, there is always your liver ….