One of the best ways to minimize the amount of student debt one needs to borrow is to work a part-time job while in school. Working a part-time job during college or graduate school can reduce the amount of loans you need to borrow for living costs, and can be an enriching experience as well. Prior articles have discussed working a part-time job in law school and medical school, and it is of course beneficial to work a part-time job during college as well.
As a college student, I received income from various gigs I worked. As previously mentioned on this website, I was a Community Advisor in college, so that I could receive free housing in exchange for keeping an eye on residents and organizing social events. Although this gig did not compensate me monetarily, this job allowed me to minimize the amount of debt I needed to borrow for housing costs.
My alma mater had a number of work-study jobs around campus, but I didn’t start participating in the work-study program until I entered law school. In college, my main money-making gig involved giving campus tours to prospective students. Since this was not a work-study position, I was not paid an hourly rate for my work. Rather, I received $11 a tour no matter how long it took to walk prospective students and their parents around campus.
Usually, I only spent around 45 minutes completing a tour, so I was effectively paid about $15 an hour for this gig, which was solid cash for a college student! I usually gave several tours a week, and during vacations or periods when numerous prospective students were on campus, I would give a dozen or more tours in a given week. I almost always used on-campus dining halls for my meals as a college student, and usually only spent money on course materials and occasional trips home. As a result, the amount of money I earned while working a part-time job during college mostly covered my living expenses as an undergraduate.
I had a few smaller income sources as a college student. For instance, I was on the varsity track and field team as an undergraduate, and most weekends during the winter and spring, the team and I traveled to track meets throughout the northeast. A few times a year, we also traveled to more distant colleges across the country. Since we were away from campus representing our school, the athletics department paid each of us a stipend on most of the trips to cover our meals during the meets.
Usually, the athletics department would give us $20 if we were traveling to a single-day track meet. However, if we traveled to a multi-day track meet, such as for conference championships, the athletics department would give us additional money. Typically, I would just bring sandwiches or other snacks that I purchased with my dining points on campus and pocket the money that the athletics department handed to me for the meets. My track teammates sometimes made fun of me for this, and some took pity on me and offered to pay for my food! However, this was another way that I earned hundreds of dollars each semester in addition to the funds I made while working a part-time job during college.
If you are doing the math on how much I made on campus as a college student, you can probably surmise that I did not make enough money during the academic year to pay for all of my living costs as an undergraduate. Indeed, the main way I made money working a part-time job during college was throughout the summer months.
During the summers after my first and second years of college, I worked as a political science teacher for a summer enrichment program with AmeriCorps. Many people think that AmeriCorps is volunteer service, but in actuality, you are paid for your work. I believe that I made around $1,700 for seven weeks of work during the summer, and this money paid for my course materials for an entire academic year. In addition, by completing 300 hours of service with AmeriCorps, I was eligible for a $1,000 educational award that I could use for qualifying college expenses. Working a part-time job during college with AmeriCorps was also a rewarding experience, and summer work can help you add to your resume while earning funds that can be used for living expenses as an undergraduate.
The summer after my third year of college, I interned for Teach For America. Although the internship itself was unpaid, I was awarded this internship through the Segal Citizen Leadership Fellowship Program, and this organization paid me a stipend of $3,000 to complete the internship. This was another rewarding experience, and the money I received helped me lower my student debt burden. It is worth pointing out that my alma mater and other colleges have other programs that will award stipends to students completing unpaid internships. College students should research the offerings at their universities to see if they can also make money while working an otherwise unpaid internship.
Working a part-time job during college is not easy. Each college student has a limited amount of time to devote to academics, extra-curricular activities, and of course, having a social life. However, working a part-time job during college can have a major impact on the amount of student loans you need to borrow in order to earn a degree. In addition, as my example shows, working jobs as an undergraduate can help you meet new people and have enriching experiences.