I work at a bookstore and after just being promised more hours by my managers, our recent sales report is looking pretty bad so the payroll just took a nose dive. I'm not really looking for a second job right now since I'm trying to get the last of my work done so that I can graduate in May. But my paychecks no longer cover my bills and I'm picking up all the loose change I can find so that I have gas for my car.
A coworker recommended that I work as an elections commissioner. Its only a few Saturdays a year and he gets a couple hundred dollars for each day he works. Unfortunately, our parish requires a short training class which won't be offered again till August, which will be good later but not much help now.
In college, I was a test room supervisor for the ACT which was good money for a half-day of work. But I got the job because my roommate's mother was the test site coordinator and the staff is usually just their friends. And I don't know who I would contact in our area to see if they need any help.
Are they any similar jobs that I can apply for? I'm not looking for a major time commitment, just something to help supplement my income so I can stop paying the cashiers at Shell and Exxon with nickels and dimes?
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
Tutoring. Hands down the best money you can get with completely flexible hours. If you're intelligent, have people skills and an excellent academic record, you can make upwards of $150 an hour tutoring high school kids.
Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
$150 an hour!?
Edit to add: NVM, I think its a typo, some googling online shows that $15 is rather common.
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
I often considered donating plasma but never quite got up the gumption to do it.
However, my in-laws apparently did that when they were newlyweds to buy gifts for each other.
Posted by Javert (Member # 3076) on :
If you're a hoarder of books and DVDs, like me (which probably indicates why I have money problems), sell some on the electronic bay. Quick fix, and temporary, but it might help.
Posted by Strider (Member # 1807) on :
seems like if you could make that much tutoring, EVERYONE would do it.
Posted by Shanna (Member # 7900) on :
Plasma is out since I got a tattoo in September and there's usually a one-year wait requirement. Besides, I barely make it through blood donations without passing out. I don't like needles.
Who should I contact about tutoring? The schools themselves, tutoring agencies, or just put an ad in the paper? I did some tutoring before, for elementary age kids, when I was in college and considering a degree in teaching. It wasn't for me but it could be a good temporary gig. And my boyfriend is a teacher so I have free advice from him.
Keep them coming, everyone!
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by Mucus: $150 an hour!?
Edit to add: NVM, I think its a typo, some googling online shows that $15 is rather common.
OH! I wondered who the heck eros was tutoring -- Bel Air kids?
Posted by Launchywiggin (Member # 9116) on :
Aside from going out and doing manual labor, I think the best ones have been mentioned. If you have any skills like playing an instrument--teach lessons (an easy 40 bucks an hour or more). E-bay is a great idea, better than the pawn shop. Babysitting is a good one that allows you to get schoolwork done while you make money. I made a lot of money fixing computers around campus when I was an undergrad. They were always offering money for psychology studies and surveys--go to student services and they often have things like that to help bring in extra money.
And believe it or not, $150 for tutoring isn't a typo. You guarantee a grade bump on the next test/paper, and people will pay it. Especially rich, desperate slackers who are in their 6th year Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by Shanna: Who should I contact about tutoring? The schools themselves, tutoring agencies, or just put an ad in the paper?
It really depends what your local market is like. Any of the above can work.
Agencies will take a percentage off the top, but they'll help you get jobs.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
"And believe it or not, $150 for tutoring isn't a typo. You guarantee a grade bump on the next test/paper, and people will pay it. Especially rich, desperate slackers who are in their 6th year"
Prove it, please.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Another idea, though not steady work, is a test administrator for tests like the SAT.
Have you ever waited table? Serious cash flow if you have experience, and in a good place, which is harder to get into, even one night a week would help put some cash in your pocket.
Plain old "I can do this for you" work. Elderly people need things to be done all the time, and "kids these days" just aren't around to hire. Mowing lawns, shoveling sidewalks, going shopping.
Posted by Eaquae Legit (Member # 3063) on :
Strangely, I have people willing (and it was their idea!) to buy the bread I make on the weekends. Apparently giving out free samples is good advertising.
Posted by Threads (Member # 10863) on :
Crossing guards in my area make $25 an hour. That would be a good way of making extra cash if it didn't conflict with your normal work hours.
EDIT: This may be lower or higher depending on where you live. The average teacher salary in my area is significantly above the national average so it's possible that $25 is at the high end of the spectrum.
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
quote:Originally posted by Mucus: $150 an hour!?
Edit to add: NVM, I think its a typo, some googling online shows that $15 is rather common.
No, it's not a typo. It's pretty easy to get overpaid for tutoring, depending on the subject, area, your qualifications and people skills.
The very least amount of money I knew people tutored for (here, in Seattle, for high school kids) was about $75/hour.
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
quote:Originally posted by Elizabeth: "And believe it or not, $150 for tutoring isn't a typo. You guarantee a grade bump on the next test/paper, and people will pay it. Especially rich, desperate slackers who are in their 6th year"
Prove it, please.
Let's see...
One of my friends tutored a kid for the SAT's. The kid was consistently scoring 600-700 (under the older, 1600 max system). He promised a four figure score, showed his own SAT scores (a better than average but definitely not exceptional 1350) to prove he had the brains to do it, and the parents paid him $400/month for one hour each Saturday. When their son brought home a ~1100 on the next SAT, they gave him a $2,500 bonus. When their friends found out about it, they all wanted him to tutor their kids, but he valued his weekends too much to sacrifice more than a couple of hours a Saturday (he preferred to be stoned), so he farmed it out to other people.
Asian families especially will pay top dollar if you can produce results.
While I was in school, I was personally paid up to $300 to read over a 5-10 page paper and offer very basic suggestions (grammar! Effective sentence structure!). I funded all of my DJ gear and thousands of dollars of vinyl this way. Private school kids! Gotta love 'em.
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
quote:Originally posted by Shanna: Who should I contact about tutoring? The schools themselves, tutoring agencies, or just put an ad in the paper?
Friends with kids, neighbors with kids, college newspapers, high school newspapers that accept advertising, Craigslist, college study areas e.g. libraries, anywhere there's a community bulletin board, dorms, used book stores, 24 hour restaurants & coffee shops in your area.
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Jeez. Apparently, I am in the wrong line of work!
(I am a teacher)
My dad taught at a private school in Phoenix. He would always stay after school, and be there early. Some of his colleagues tutored kids after school (at the time they were expected to be there, anyway) and charged fifty dollars an hour. So, I am sure it is possible, but not in all cases, and 150 would be too much to expect at first. (especially if you don't live near a lot of wealthy people, but many of you do)
It is a good way to make money, but for me? Too boring. I think I remember Icarus saying the same thing. I know my dad feels the same way. Tutors and substitutes, I feel, are a special entity. I used to love working one:one with kids. Now, it makes me want to jump out the window. I like my students in noisy packs.
I see the people who are subs, and man are they amazing. They choose to be a sub for a living. They know all the kids, they have their own rules, and they come with their own set of strategies for teaching and managing behavior. They amaze me.
Really good tutors are also amazing. They do not just help with homework, but have a plan to fix the underlying problem . They use the time for interaction, not just a "here, do this" approach. That is not worth 150 dollars!
Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
Yeah, I can't afford children ... I'm just glad that I never had to use a tutor outside of school (and I would guess that my parents were glad too). Yikes.
$50, I've heard of, but $150? Thats crazy talk. In my personal monetary scale, thats like a whole half of a Wii or 1.5 university textbooks Posted by Launchywiggin (Member # 9116) on :
Think about how much people pay for Kaplan courses and the like--and like I said, it's not for poor people. Some rich people like paying extra for "less work". Especially when you get into the extremely difficult upper-level courses like P-chem and Physics, money isn't an issue when it comes to passing the course.
Posted by Cactus Jack (Member # 2671) on :
Student: Hey! I just did some online research and the $150 an hour you've been charging me for tutoring is a ripoff!
Tutor: See? You're getting smarter already.
Posted by Speed (Member # 5162) on :
In my experience watching madcap comedies, there's always a quick way to make a lot of money, as long as you don't mind wackiness ensuing.
You could enter a golf tournament with a hockey stick, open a revenge-for-hire business, kidnap a rich person's dog, become a male gigolo, pretend to be your roommate so that you can get a substitute teaching gig, put a mouse in a beer bottle and sue the company, get a cable access show, or buy a local broadcast network and staff it with your nuttiest friends.
Really, the possibilities are endless.
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
quote:Originally posted by Strider: seems like if you could make that much tutoring, EVERYONE would do it.
To address this one:
1) Tutoring isn't steady work. 2) $150 an hour isn't very useful if you only get to work 1-4 hours a week. 3) As specified in my original reply, there are a lot of prerequisites to being a good tutor. Look at how much money you can make founding companies like Google. Why isn't everyone doing that?
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:2) $150 an hour isn't very useful if you only get to work 1-4 hours a week.
I think that would be extremely useful.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
I paid $50 an hour for tutoring, but she had a Master's degree in the subject. She usually charged between $50 and $75 (the higher rate being for slackers whose rich parents were paying for it (she didn't say it in so many words) ). This is in northern Virginia, home to the two richest counties in the country.
I'd love to see some proof for the $150 an hour rate.
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
quote:Originally posted by katharina: I'd love to see some proof for the $150 an hour rate.
I've already referenced that proof in this thread. If you're going to call me a liar, be straightforward about it and say "you're a liar," please.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
Yeah, I think you're lying.
Got any proof besides anecdotes?
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
Fair enough. You're wrong.
Edit: No. Why would I need it? I know what I made, and what my friends made. Given that tutoring is usually a cash under the table transaction, I'm not sure what proof you're expecting.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
Anything?
There's a company that offers it at $85 an hour and apologizes for it.
This person only charges $10 a paper to look it over. For the record, I think he's way undercharging - it should be at leat four times that. You think it should be 30 times that, apparently. http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/res/575640423.html
A "in search of a tutor - willing to pay $150 an hour" ad would do perfectly as proof. Heck, I'd be satisfied if you could show me a published rate of at least three digits.
[ February 28, 2008, 01:14 PM: Message edited by: katharina ]
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
katharina, you're under the extremely mistaken impression that qualifications and pay are universally correlated.
Salesmanship has far more to do with what you can get paid as a tutor than a graduate degree does.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
Back it up, because if your vaunted salesmanship bears any resemblance to your posting style, you're not persuasive.
I think you're lying. Either you're making up the entire instance, or else on the slight chance you did get paid what you said you did, you threw in writing the paper as well as editing it.
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
Neither. But again: I have nothing to prove to you! Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
Apparently - that's what happens when you are unable to back up your strutting. Of course you don't have any credibility either.
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
I have no credibility with katharina!
My heart, it bleeds. Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
You have no credibility on this subject at all. With anyone.
Maybe not. Maybe there is someone out there who, against all evidence, is so impressed by your posting style that they believe you BS your way into regularly earning double the highest published rate.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Actually, I've heard of people paying that kind of rates. Not many, and not at my school-- next school (and district) over.
They tended to be kinda desparate and really really rich.
Not that my second-hand anecdotal evidence counts for anything, either.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
I believe it is probably possible to get that sort of rate in specific, very limited circumstances (most of which are awfully close to emotional blackmail and/or being paid to help someone cheat). I don't believe claiming otherwise (which eros certainly implied initially) is accurate or useful.
Posted by Carrie (Member # 394) on :
I charged $12/hr for tutoring Ancient Greek (a year ago) and was considered absurdly cheap. The Latin tutors hated me.
A friend of mine is tutoring HS Algebra and is charging $40/hr.
I've never heard of three-figure/hr rates, but I don't doubt it - and I'd love to find someone willing to pay that for what I've got to tutor. Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
For the record, I do in fact believe that certain people would be willing to pay $150. However, I do believe that it is crazy, and I would like to meet such people and make money off them. Preferably behind a protective glass barrier though Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
quote:(most of which are awfully close to emotional blackmail and/or being paid to help someone cheat).
Neither of those was the case in the situations I was thinking of.
Posted by MattB (Member # 1116) on :
For more advanced subjects - like chemistry or complex math - in upscale areas, tutors associated with the Princeton Review and other big deal agencies can hit up to $300 an hour. I know a guy who worked for them, but he did history, and was occasionally snide about how much more the hard sciences folks got.
In the DC area, for example, 'premier' chemistry tutors get around $3000 for ten hours. The low end folks get $1000.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
Do you have be associated with something like the Princton Review to get that?
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
You have zero understanding of how pricing dynamic works.
Examples A, C and D all appear to do this professionally: as in, tutoring appears to be their sole source of full time income. This means that they need to publish an advertised rate and stick to it, and the rate needs to be low enough to attract a very large volume of stable, repeat business. They're seeking to establish credibility, so they'll be able to continue doing this for years--probably the rest of their lives.
There's a huge difference between people like those and people like me and my friends, who were primarily interested in short-term, high paying gigs. For people like us, publishing your rates is a pretty stupid idea. Why artificially cap the amount of money you can make?
Do you know how I first got approached about revising a paper? Someone who read my Xanga and thought highly of it needed help with his CAS105 (Intro to Writing & Reasoning in the College) paper because he was consistently doing terribly. I told him I didn't have time to help him (I didn't). He said he would pay me. I said it didn't matter, because I simply didn't have the time. Then he said he'd pay me all the cash he had on him to do it, leafed out about $400, and suddenly it was worth cutting a class to spend the hour on revising his paper instead.
I didn't care whether he'd find out, two days later, that another guy smarter than me would've been willing to do it for a tenth of the money. It didn't matter to me.
My friend got the gig in my first example by making small talk with the guy who served him his teriyaki every day. The guy, in the course of ordinary conversation, brought up his stupid kid. My friend mentioned that he's a math major at UW, and could probably help him out (my friend, at this point, was thinking "free teriyaki"). He talked about the SAT prep work he'd done in the past (read: he took an SAT prep class in high school). The guy offered him the $400/month for one hour per Saturday if my friend could guarantee a significant increase.
The common factor, here, is that we didn't present a price up front, and never did later, either: to do so in any informal business setting without first feeling out what the person is willing to pay is shooting yourself in the foot.
It's the same reason why, when Radiohead released In Rainbows, they ended up making more per digital download sale than they would've selling it for $9.99 in iTunes. Letting the customer determine the price based on perceived value allows you to make WAY more money.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
Is that how much the Princeton Review charges, or is that what the tutors earn? Is is the tutors with the Princton Review that get that?
----
I understand perfectly how that kind of thing works. However, you presented tutoring as option to the opening poster and you said it pays that much if "you're intelligent, you have people skills and an excellent academic record."
Now you're saying that if you're in the right place at the right time and someone is desperate enough, you can make a lot as a one-off.
I know someone that once got a $300 tip while working as a waitress. That doesn't mean that waitressing pays $300 an hour and it would highly irresponsible for someone to say so.
Posted by MattB (Member # 1116) on :
The guy I know took home around 2/3 of what he charged. Fair, I thought, because he does nearly all the work. The Princeton Review's (in this incarnation) kind of like a talent agency that administers tutor training programs to their clients.
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
quote:Originally posted by katharina: I understand perfectly how that kind of thing works. However, you presented tutoring as option to the opening poster and you said you regularly get that much.
I know someone that once got a $300 tip while working as a waitress. That doesn't mean that waitressing pays $300 an hour and it would highly irresponsible for someone to say so.
Tutoring is an option. I said I routinely made that much money, and I did. There's no comparison to a once-off tip as a waitress. All you've done here is demonstrate that you really don't understand, at all.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
quote:The guy I know took home around 2/3 of what he charged. Fair, I thought, because he does nearly all the work. The Princeton Review's (in this incarnation) kind of like a talent agency that administers tutor training programs to their clients.
Completely fair, but he's still not getting paid what the tutoring rate is. Most sourcing agencies work like that - they take a cut off the top for doing the overhead and business aspect of it and the rate is much more than if you hire the person providing the service directly.
---
If it is such an option for you because of those vaunted people skills (and an option for the opening poster, as you suggested), why don't you do it now? Or do you have a different job that earns you more than $150 an hour?
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Woooooow.
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
quote:Now you're saying that if you're in the right place at the right time and someone is desperate enough, you can make a lot as a one-off.
quote:If it is such an option for you because of those vaunted people skills, why don't you do it now? Or do you have a different job that earns you more than $150 an hour?
If I didn't know you're at least average intelligence, I'd start to wonder about you. Seriously. It's like you're going out of your way to look stupid.
quote:1) Tutoring isn't steady work. 2) $150 an hour isn't very useful if you only get to work 1-4 hours a week.
The whole point of this thread was "extra income." I did not ANYWHERE say you can make a full time job or a steady/consistent income tutoring.
And yes, my time is worth more than $150/hour.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
The personal insults are unbecoming to you. Also, lame.
--
erso, your opening suggestion was misleading at best and empty strutting at worst. You got called on it.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by erosomniac: I did not ANYWHERE say you can make a full time job or a steady/consistent income tutoring.
But you can, and I know people who do. They're not making any $150 an hour, but they get by.
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
quote:Originally posted by rivka:
quote:Originally posted by erosomniac: I did not ANYWHERE say you can make a full time job or a steady/consistent income tutoring.
But you can, and I know people who do. They're not making any $150 an hour, but they get by.
Oh, certainly - I'm not saying it's not possible. But katharina seems to think I suggested you can work 40 hours a week making $150+/hour tutoring, which is just silly considering I said exactly the opposite.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
kat: While I was living in Hong Kong I worked as a teacher's assistant during a summer. I seemed to connect well with the kids and two seperate parents approached me asking if I would act as a sort of older brother for their son on the weekends, playing with him and tutoring him. They offered me very similar amounts to what erosomniac was talking about. I am also reasonably certain that had I done as good a job as they were expecting, I could have easily gotten several thousand dollars over the course of a month.
Unfortunately I thought it was unethical and I did not really have time to be somebody's older brother part time.
Several of my peer's parents spent thousands of dollars on tutors who helped prepare those peers for the SATs. In a major metropolitan city with many private schools, the desire to maximize a child's school performance is a very lucrative field.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
I never suggested it. I never actually suggested anything.
I did say that I think you're lying about what are realistic expectations concerning tutoring, and that is completely true.
Even if, a very big if, you personally got paid that much (which there seems to be no way to determine), you were very disingenous to suggest that as an option dependent only her intelligence, people skills, and academic record.
Posted by MattB (Member # 1116) on :
Actually, I think it is possible to make a living tutoring. A second cousin of mine in Maryland has done it - he tutors primarily English, but routinely makes around $75 an hour.
Plus, I know (from experience, back in the olden days when I was prepping for the GRE) that many Princeton Review tutors are full-time. Never actually hired any of them, precisely because they charge so much.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
*confused* Was that to me?
Wait - never mind. That wasn't to me.
Posted by MrSquicky (Member # 1802) on :
I got paid $100 an hour as an SAT tutor, with bonuses for large score increases. I don't know if this ever would have come up to $150 an hour, but it came close.
I didn't do this all that often, but it was a good way to make money in college.
Posted by Tresopax (Member # 1063) on :
quote:Yeah, I think you're lying.
Got any proof besides anecdotes?
Asking for evidence of someone's personal anecdote like this is not reasonable. If it happened, then it happened. He obviously can't prove it on an online forum, because we don't know his friend. Unless there is strong evidence to think it isn't possible, the charitable thing to do is to assume it is the truth.
But if it did happen, even just once, then it is definitely possible. Whether it is possible for someone else in a different situation with different qualifications is another question.
Posted by MrSquicky (Member # 1802) on :
quote:I did say that I think you're lying about what are realistic expectations concerning tutoring, and that is completely true.
That's not actually what you said. You said he was lying for claiming to have made $150 an hour tutoring.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
I am not interested in conversing with you, Squick.
Posted by MrSquicky (Member # 1802) on :
I'm not surprised. That doesn't mean I won't point it out when you lie about what you said.
Posted by Eaquae Legit (Member # 3063) on :
Thank you, Hatrack, for giving me the nudge I needed to get off my rear and go looking for a part-time job here.
Posted by Jhai (Member # 5633) on :
For the record, I know several graduate students at UCLA who charge $100 to $200 an hour to tutor math.
And, also for the record:
quote:katharina I paid $50 an hour for tutoring, but she had a Master's degree in the subject. She usually charged between $50 and $75 (the higher rate being for slackers whose rich parents were paying for it (she didn't say it in so many words) ). This is in northern Virginia, home to the two richest counties in the country.
I'd love to see some proof for the $150 an hour rate.
quote:erosomniac quote:Originally posted by katharina: I'd love to see some proof for the $150 an hour rate.
I've already referenced that proof in this thread. If you're going to call me a liar, be straightforward about it and say "you're a liar," please.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)