Best job to take during college to help pay for school?

There are plenty of great opportunities both on campus and off. Working on campus always has the most flexibility schedule wise and can help cut costs. With some campus jobs, they will pay for your books rather than receiving an actual paycheck (books are incredibly expensive and this would be a huge help). After your freshman year, there are also opportunities to be in RA in a dorm. This helps would help to cover the cost of living which is also a huge expense.

For work outside of campus, I personally worked in restaurants. The pay was higher and they were always willing to work with my schedule. If you are looking for an office job, just make it very clear what you schedule is. If it is around the campus area, they tend to be more understanding.

In contrast to the previous commenter, I have found that most internships do not pay much, if anything at all. For jobs, most training is done within a week. I have never worked somewhere where it takes longer than that.

Hope this helps!

When I was in high school, I stumbled into web design. I ended up making a portfolio that helped in every aspect of life - acceptance into college, making friends, getting job offers, and making money. If you are a good artist, programmer, or combination of both, you can make a portfolio to get you work that you can do in your spare time. Computer programming is a great skill to learn, and if you find that you have the aptitude for it, you can easily find work while studying. The other option is shift work - waiting tables, working at the library, tutoring, etc.

In todays society, the majority of people have to work part time while going to college to help pay for the costs. Therefore, I would not worry about that as it is natural to incur some debt while trying to get a college degree. Many colleges offer a variety of different times that you can take classes and some offer night classes so that you can work during the day and either take classes at night or get your degree online.

My suggestion would be to try to find an internship at some point while you are in college so you can determine if you like the line of work you get into plus it would give you experience to put on a resume which will help give you a chance to land a job when you get your degree. Retail work is always flexible with your schedule as well and you can find part time jobs that allow weekend work or work at night at restaurants and retail stores. This will enable you to be able to go to college and still work while helping pay for some of it. The more people you work with the more likely you are to make a better network and find someone that knows someone who might be able to help you.

As far as training goes most companies will not give you a lot of training. Be prepared to have to pick things up quickly. I would suggest if you know what your job is going to be to read up on what the job responsibilities are. If you are interviewing for job and have been offered it, ask could the manager walk you around to see the atmosphere and if you could ask questions of other employees to get feel for what they do. This will prepare you better mentally at least on what to expect. A common saying I have heard is Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. Always go into something prepared!

Good luck!

I wanted to echo Margaret's suggestion to think about becoming a RA after your Freshman year. Having my room and board paid for was a huge help, plus it wasn't too time consuming so I was also able to work as a Nanny during college. If you like kids, a regular babysitting gig is great since you are paid in cash and generally you can choose your hours. I worked for a writer so she was flexible about my hours each semester as my class schedule changed. She was more concerned that I would commit to certain number of hours each week. Bonus was when the baby napped, I could study!

Hi,

You should look for an internship in the field you want to work in. This will give you real world experience and also get paid to learn your career. I would look as early as possible for internships because they fill up quickly. This will give you an advantage over everyone else that is in the same career field as you. Good luck.