<p>I am looking for ideas for my son to pay his living expenses at college, should he come up short in scholarship money. For example, working at certain food outlets gives you a big discount on food - which ones? Or living as a live in helper for a person with special needs may give him free room and board. He would still need time for extracurricular activities as well as studying of course.</p>
<p>It won’t work for your son, but I sold TI Graph Links on eBay for about two years. I made about $2000 a year from doing so.</p>
<p>Some sororities employ “houseboys” who do work in the kitchen and what not. My brother did this is college and he actually lived at the sorority house! Not a bad gig!</p>
<p>My husband lived in a room in an academic building while in college for free room-and-board, just to make sure the building was secure overnight. I wonder if any schools still do this?</p>
<p>Learn to cut hair?</p>
<p>Live with a family instead of in a dorm–I know some students who lived with older couples or young families who did house/yardwork or babysitting for room/board. (These sometimes can be found through church connections).</p>
<p>Two of my sons have soccer referee licenses. They find local leagues/clubs/tournaments and put their name on the referee list. Pay is $25 to $50/game, depending on the level of play. They generally tried to ref two games a week…but if there was a local tournament and they were really ambitious they could ref six to eight games over a weekend.</p>
<p>One son also taught Hebrew at a local congregation–$25/hour. He also did Bar Mitzvah tutoring at $40/hour. The congregation expected him to work 8 hours/week (4 hours on Sunday, two hours each on Tuesday and Thursday) and to work with a b’nai mitzvah student 2 hours/week.</p>
<p>An on-campus job during the year plus a summer job may cover it depending on how expensive the campus and area are.</p>
<p>If he has the right personality for it, he could apply to become an RA in the dorms as an upperclassman. RAs get a free room. That wouldn’t cover food, but a summer job would probably provide enough to pay for the meal plan.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, though, this option is not available freshman year, and it might not be available to someone who did not live in the dorms freshman year.</p>
<p>^ Yes being an RA seems like the obvious choice, and at my school (USC), RA’s receive a free basic meal plan which they can upgrade by paying only the few hundred dollars to upgrade (you could feed a small family on the upgraded plan).</p>
<p>Plus confiscating booze from residents eliminates the need to budget in buying alcohol.</p>
<p>Great ideas! Please keep them coming. I think RA would be great - some schools give room and board. It’s just not guaranteed that someone will be chosen to be an RA and not available freshman year.</p>
<p>Many colleges are now requiring students to live on campus their freshman year. </p>
<p>What’s the situation?</p>
<p>How much can you contribute?</p>
<p>What are his stats?</p>
<p>He can borrow $5500 per year towards some living expenses if needed.</p>
<p>Can he work over the summer to save some money for his costs?</p>
<p>How much money he’d need varies all over the place depending on the campus. California is pretty expensive for campus costs (for no good reason at some of the UCs since the land was free - gripe) but some campuses in some other areas are much less expensive and maybe more doable for him.</p>
<p>On one thread, someone mentioned that his friend who lived off campus would rent out his bedroom to amorous on-campus couples who wanted a little “alone time.” BYOS (Bring your own sheets…)</p>
<p>[Hey, you wanted creative ideas…]</p>
<p>sign up for psych experiments</p>
<p>tutor other HS or college student</p>
<p>Too bad they eliminated on-line poker; my S’s friend made a fortune from this (paid off parent’s mortgage, got great job). </p>
<p>Campus jobs–coffee shop, etc</p>
<p>I guess I should add that he eventually wants to go into the ministry, so some ideas, while humerous, won’t work in this situation.</p>
<p>OP,
help us out with a bit of info about your son. Does he have any hobbies or special talents or play any sports that he could use to make money?</p>
<p>One of my son’s friends has a VERY successful e-bay business, for example.</p>
<p>One son picks up old bikes at campus security, does basic repairs and sells them to fellow students for $25-$40 a piece. He does a pretty steady business.</p>
<p>I had a friend in college who to a job for as a funeral home assistant in exchange for a monthly stipend plus an upstairs apartment with kitchen facilities.</p>
<p>Check the ‘work study’ box on the FAFSA application. That will open up job opportunities on campus. My son got a job paying $10 an hour and will work 15 hours a week. The work study wage is not counted as income in regards to FAFSA. Thus, next year when he applies for FA his income will not count against him and result in a higher EFC. He also will get community service credit as his job is tied to government programs which promote CS. He works with a homeless shelter and with homeless kids. A job like this would be perfect for someone heading into the ministry. My son is heavily involved in theater (one of his majors) so EC time was vital for him.</p>
<p>My university had a med school/teaching hospital affiliated with it and student could get money selling both blood and tissue (skin) needed for research. The tissue paid by the cm, if I recall correctly</p>