Being a graduate student is a great achievement. Graduate students are individuals who have already completed Bachelor’s degrees in their choice of course and have chosen to continue studying a certain field. These additional courses are also called Master’s courses.
Graduate courses are certainly beneficial and arguably important in forwarding one’s dreams and career. However, like pursuing a regular college degree, graduate studies can be pricey. It can be difficult to find side hustles and job opportunities that align with one’s studies and goals. It’s also difficult to work full-time in a company while still taking up your studies.
In this article, we’ll discuss seven accessible ways for graduate students to make money. Continue reading to learn how to make money as a graduate student.
How to make money during grad school?
Earn money through your Ph.D. degree
Sometimes, earning money in graduate school doesn’t require you to go anywhere. Some degrees not only provide funding for your tuition and living expenses, but some also pay you to study. If you’re working towards getting a doctorate, this is your fate. You can learn how to make money as a Ph.D. student through your years in graduate school.
Doctorate programs concern students focused on researching and studying theories in their respective fields. In research, Ph.D. students are often paid to assist their professors and a certain sum of money for their labor. The salary is quite low compared to actual jobs outside a university, but you can expect to earn some keep from your hard work if you’re a doctorate student.
Take note that this kind of system differs depending on your doctorate program. Research and find out what kind of roles and tasks you can take as a graduate student to fully maximize your opportunities!
Become a teaching assistant
Being a teaching assistant is also an alternative job that you can take up at your university. The best part is that this isn’t limited to doctorate degrees! You can be a teaching assistant as long as you’re currently enrolled in any of your school’s graduate programs.
As a teaching assistant, you will assist a professor of yours in handling their students, grading papers, and giving lectures for class. You essentially become a professor’s apprentice: learning and executing the tasks they have to do to ease their workload. If you become a TA, you’ll be able to earn money for your work, and you may also be compensated in tuition discounts or housing.
Teach and tutor students
As a graduate student, you are already eligible to apply for jobs outside of your university or organizations. If you are allowed to, you can choose to teach and tutor students to make money as a grad student.
Tutoring other students is a solid way to earn money on the side while you’re studying. Tutors are highly in demand, especially for teaching languages such as English to people all over the globe. Moreover, tutoring is a job where you can determine your working hours to help balance your studies.
Multiple platforms employ and train tutors. Sites like Cambly or Tutor.com are good places to start your tutoring journey.
Sell your notes and reviewers
Attending school is difficult. To retain information, taking down notes and making reviewers for lessons are essential for students. However, some have more difficulty than others in making these materials.
Don’t throw away those notes and scratch papers just yet. You can sell your notes and reviewers to different websites and clients for some extra income. Sites like Stuvia accept course notes for different topics, as well as textbook summaries and even papers or essays.
Other sites like OneClass encourage students or professionals to take notes for others. If you qualify as a notetaker, you’ll be paid for uploading notes and class materials to the site each week. These can be your old notes from former classes and courses or new notes on topics that are in demand.
Becoming a graduate student is difficult. Those who want to pursue a graduate studies program will most likely need guidance and wisdom in navigating their goals. You can consider starting a blog to document your personal experiences and learnings in graduate school. You can also choose to make your blog educational, and about what you’re currently learning.
Though starting a blog from scratch won’t give you immediate income, it’s an immensely rewarding project, especially if you’re passionate about writing. There are different ways you can monetize your blog. The most common ways are through ad placements on your blog, as well as brand sponsorships or affiliate marketing. You can read more about it in this article!
Make video content on YouTube or TikTok
Not much of a writer? You can try making visual content on platforms like YouTube and Tiktok! This strategy is similar to starting your own blog but in video format. Your content doesn’t have to be about your studies or what your experiences are like in graduate school; it can be about anything under the sun.
People look towards content creation as a way to earn money besides their main careers. The opportunities are promising because you can monetize your YouTube videos by featuring advertisement breaks during your videos, or through brand marketing for both YouTube and TikTok. In the United States, TikTok also has the Creator Fund, where you earn a particular sum of money depending on your views and followers.
Freelance writing
Finally, freelance writing is always a solid way to make money. Freelance writing is writing content for clients all over the globe. There are all kinds of freelance writing: writing articles, blog posts, or helping in SEO optimization.
Depending on your skillsets and what you’re currently studying, you can establish your niche as a freelancer. If you’re currently studying in the medical field, you can freelance as a technical writer related to health groups. Regardless of your specializations, you can also aid in research-based content.
Sites such as Fiverr, Upwork, and Flexjobs are beginner-friendly, freelancing sites you can check out if you’re interested in becoming a freelance writer.
How to become a grad student?
Now that we’ve talked about how to make money as a graduate student, we’ll discuss some tips on applying to and surviving graduate school. To qualify as a grad student, you will first need to earn your Bachelor’s degree from a university. A bachelor’s program takes 4-5 years to complete. After this, you can apply to become a graduate student in your desired course
There are different kinds of graduate courses, depending on the field you want to study. The graduate course also does not have to directly relate to the course you formerly graduated from. The admission and examination processes per university vary. Be sure to research what school and graduate course fit your interests best!
