How to Make Money While in Graduate School

Graduate School is extremely expensive, according to the New America Foundation the median debt for graduate students is approximately $57,000. According to Above the Law the average law student borrowed $112, 776 to finance their degree.

Luckily there are ways that you can help alleviate some of the financial concerns that come along with a graduate degree. The modern gig economy has opened up a number of opportunities for graduate students to earn extra money to help cover some expenses. Gig economy jobs offer a ton of advantages for the average graduate student. Scheduling is significantly easier than a standard job, and the typical gig allows you to work at your own hours.

Here is a list of ways to make extra money in graduate school!

Uber driver

There has been a decent amount of backlash against Uber in various major cities due to their steady encroachment against taxi cabs. However, the fact of the matter is people love Uber, Lyft and Via. While taxi cabs might not be going the way of the dinosaurs just yet, it’s clear that the ride-share’s are in and here to stay.

The nice thing about Uber is that it’s easy to sign up and start earning money. Legally your not an employee of Uber your an “independent contractor” so you go to work anytime you want and you pick the areas you want to drive in. Driving for Uber can also be very profitable, I know some people who make $100-$150 a night.

There are some Cons:

There are some rules to driving for Uber. Most cities require that you drive a four-door that is ten years old or newer. In addition you must be over the age of 21. This limits a lot of graduate students who may not even have a car or own an older model vehicle.

Depending on the area you are located in, sometimes the Uber traffic is largely seasonal. I’m located in D.C and Uber drivers complained during the Government Shutdown that they were losing their shirts. Of course when the government shuts down the greatest effects are felt here in D.C, but it reflects a wider component of Uber. If you are studying in a city that has an influx of tourists in the summer or winter than expect those times to be the best periods to drive for a ride-share company.

Work at your school

Usually first year fall semester graduate students will not have access to research assistant positions. Many schools simply don’t offer positions for first semester students. However, opportunities frequently begin opening up during the spring semester. Professors often need research assistants, and other faculty will often hire students to assist in administrative/research work.

Pros

Your school is hiring you, they have no problem working around your class schedule.

Dependable source of income, these positions are typically on set part-time schedules. A research assistant position is not going to make you rich but I used mine over the summer to cover my daily expenses of living in a big city.

A research assistant position with a professor works double-time on your resume. You will likely garner some real experience that you can add to your resume and you will have a reference from a professor afterwards.

Cons

Your usually going to be paid minimum wage or not far above it.

There is usually a cap on how many hours you can work (frequently it’s 20). So if you’re doing a research assistant position over the summer you will likely also want to get a part time internship/job somewhere else.

Online tutoring

This is helpful not only because of the money but also because you will be getting a review of the material that you have been studying. Most online tutoring will require that you pass a certification test, but if you do it can be a great side income.

If your interested, some of the most popular online tutors include tutor.com and Chegg. Pay varies depending on the subject, and service you work for but it can reach above $20 an hour.

Positives

Working from the comfort of your home is always nice!

Pays more and is more reliable than many other gig economy jobs.

Cons

This is really only for someone that enjoys teaching. If you don’t enjoy teaching other people than your likely to be miserable, but luckily there are other avenues for you to pursue.

The payout varies quite a bit, some online tutors pay upwards of $15 an hour but others may not have much work for you.

Sell Stuff Online

Textbooks

Do you have any extra textbooks that are going to collect dust in your library? Most textbooks I use even in law school I never open up again. Used Graduate level textbooks can be extremely expensive, and plenty of people would rather purchase your used copy than get ripped off by the school bookstore.

Be warned though, sometimes I feel like Textbook companies run a better racketeering operation than the Mafia. Ever wonder why textbook companies publish yearly editions even in subjects that haven’t changed over the past two decades? Textbook companies are in the business of selling textbooks, and they know that pumping out yearly editions will help reduce the number of students who purchase pre-owned books.

Be creative

If you have the time and interest over the summer you could start a business. Although the nuts and bolts of starting a buy & sell business are outside the scope of this article, I do know a guy that started an Amazon store in law school and was making more than $5000 a month. That being said, it can be a huge time commitment and substantially riskier than the other options on this page.

Online surveys

There are a ton of different online surveys and free products that you can test in your free time. Although services such as swagbucks certainly wont make you rich, it will help you make some extra money in your downtime for performing very minimal work.

Here’s a couple of the most popular:

Swagbucks is by far the largest and most popular online survey site. They offer rewards for a number of activities such as playing games, making online purchases and watching videos. Most people who have done have given it positive reviews. Other Survey Sites include Toluna, LifePoints and OnePoll.

Be careful when your surfing for a survey site, you don’t want to tread too far off the beaten path with trying them. Some survey sites are not reputable.

Secret shopper

You could work as a secret shopper. A secret shopper in a nutshell gets paid to visit certain businesses and evaluate them on their performance. A secret shopper basically reviews things like the products and employee interaction with customers.

Benefits include that you get to pick your own hours, assignments, and the jobs are usually arranged online.

Pay varies depending on the individual assignment. Convenience stores might pay as little as under $10, but larger department stores and/or more complex assignments will often pay significantly more.

Secret Shopper is one of the most reputable and well known secret shopper companies, and it’s extremely easy to sign up. Other highly reputable sites to check out include Pinnacle, Market Force and GBW.

Similar to the survey sites your going to want to be careful when looking for secret shopper assignments. There are hosts of fraudulent websites that have sprouted up attempting to lure people in with promises of “work from home”.

Convenience Delivery Service

I love these things, the advent of convenience delivery services is a blessing for us that are too lazy to leave our apartment to pick up food ourselves. Restaurant delivery services were always hit and miss, as many restaurants don’t have one. Suddenly companies like grubhub, ubereats, and GoPuff have emerged on the scene to make our lives easier.

Doing food deliveries for these companies is similar to driving for uber or lyft. There are some key differences though. You live in a big city and don’t have a car? No problem, my last grubhub guy delivered my Thai by bicycle. Depending on the area you live in you can drive, bicycle, scooter or even walk your deliveries.

Of course some of the same negatives apply to working for these services as applied to ride-share services. Some areas just don’t have enough people using the service, and this is more applicable to convenience delivery because the services are not as widely used yet as ride-sharing.

Fiverr

Fiverr gets its own category in my mind because it’s just such a cool website. It’s an enormous gig economy marketplace that offers literally hundreds of services. You can do anything from programming to writing articles for websites. It’s really easy to sign up and it doesn’t matter what your passion or strength is there will be something for you on Fiverr.

There are some problems with Fiverr like any other gig marketplace. The biggest issues is that although they have measure in place for removing scammers they certainly are not perfect. Additionally it can take some time for your service to build some reputability, but hey that’s the nature of gig economies.

Other Opportunities?

There are literally thousands of things you could do to make money while your in graduate school. Here are a few things that I have personally done for additional income while I was in school.

YouTube Videos

I used to make YouTube videos for a car repair channel that still received about 60,000 views a month. Although, I was only receiving anywhere between $100-$300 a month from youtube ads, I also funneled some of the traffic to an automotive website that also earned several hundred a month. The great thing about YouTube is that depending on the industry, once you have the traffic it remains stable for years. I have not made a single video in over a year and I still receive a monthly check for around $150.

I had some automotive knowledge by the time I went to undergrad and I made anywhere from $500-$1500 a month repairing other students cars over the weekends. It was a great gig and it ended up paying for my summer study abroad experience.

Buying and selling

Sometimes I surf Craigslist for deals on gaming consoles and resell them on Ebay. I noticed years ago that people will often unload their entire collection of video games without recognizing the value of them individually. I then break up the collections and sell games/consoles individually on Ebay. I’ve done this with several other types of items as well such as furniture and even cars.

If your good with your hands and like fixing things there’s a cool website called liquidation.com. This website specializes in wholesaling liquidated products from department stores such as Wal-Mart, Target, and others. Some of the stuff is overstock, but others are returned merchandise and may have defects. It’s an interesting site to take a look at.

Conclusion

Graduate school is tough. Not just because it takes a tremendous amount of time and energy, but also because many students attend school with the specter of money problems hanging over their shoulder. Hopefully, this article helps you with making ends meet while you are getting through schooling!