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Advanced education leads to greater employability and higher salaries upon graduation, but paying for college can be a vexing proposal. Student loans, government grants and scholarships recognizing excellence provide valuable financial aid resources for college students striving to make ends meet. But higher education costs go beyond tuition expenses; including additional expenses for books, housing, and special spending on lab fees and other course requirements. Standard cost of living expenses don’t vanish during school either, requiring resources for food, entertainment, transportation and other general spending.
What is the best way to make ends meet during college? For many, the answer is part-time employment, offering enough earnings to get by, without getting in the way of course work. While not every college job is a cash cow, there are many reasonable alternatives for part-time work during your college years.
Hotels and Resorts
Hospitality employment is varied, from front desk and concierge work, to bell-hop services and even accounting related work as auditors and bookkeeping. Depending on where you are going to school, the resort industry may be thriving; offering countless positions perfect for college students. In most cases, students seek evening and weekend hours during the school year, so hotels, inns, resorts and other properties are ideal, due to their 24-hour nature. Part-time service is also common within the hospitality industry as a whole, so the number of hours required by many positions do not stand in the way of getting good greats.
Work on Campus
Work-study programs bring part-time employment opportunities to students, but they aren’t the only jobs available on campus. Close to your classrooms, jobs at school are highly coveted for convenience and flexible scheduling options. Roles in the library, financial aid office, and even residence hall work are extended to ambitious students who qualify. Food service has expanded dramatically on most campuses, creating part-time employment for students at cafeterias, coffee shops and concessions facilities. Sports events also furnish seasonal jobs in security and other stadium services.
Retail Work
Many retail jobs are geared toward a younger crowd of consumers, so college-aged floor people are in demand. Malls and department stores furnish excellent part-time work, and the seasonal demands placed on retailers during the holiday period are synched with students’ availability, allowing them to pick up extra hours during semester breaks and summer vacation.
Food Service Jobs
Restaurants, catering facilities, bars and other hospitality properties are always looking for good help, so college students cash in on food service work. Even if you don’t have experience, restaurant work furnishes lucrative earning potential, allowing you to juggle employment and school responsibilities.
Positions are widespread, including bartenders, restaurant servers, hostesses, and back of the house work preparing food. Because many positions include the opportunity to make tips, the hourly wage earned in food service jobs is considerably better than other part-time positions. Banquet and catering work is a good fit for college students, because weddings and other special events take place at night and on weekends, when students are available. Aspiring chefs and restaurant managers are particularly well suited for hospitality work, jump-starting their careers while earning money to put toward higher education.
Academic Tutor
Formal tutoring jobs are organized by some academic departments; referring students needing assistance to those who can provide it. But you might also have success networking to promote yourself independently. Foreign language tutors, for example, are in demand on-campus as students strive to accelerate their mastery of second languages. Science, mathematics and other tech subjects are also prime targets landing tutoring roles, provided you are qualified to assist in these areas.
Part-time employment during college presents the need to balance your primary educational objectives with the opportunity to earn much-needed cash for college. With perseverance, most college students land agreeable roles; bringing-home income to supplement loans and other financial aid resources.
Author Byline:
This guest post is contributed by Rebecca Gray, who writes for Backgroundchecks.org. She welcomes your comments at her email id: GrayRebecca14@gmail.com.