The old assumption that college students don’t have money has existed for many years. Everyone that has been a college student, or knows a college student has some idea of college life being a balancing act between seeking knowledge and surviving on as little money as possible. While studying their chosen profession, many students live a life that is, for lack of better terms, impoverished. These students live a perpetual cycle of cramming, scrounging, and using items for multiple functions and situation. They essentially recycle everything that can potentially be used for something else and do without many things that they want and sometimes do without things they need. There is a sub culture of sharing, borrowing and bartering that makes many activities possible but others remain impossible or at the least very difficult. The impossible activities usually involve the requirement to pay money i.e. (recreational ski trips, shopping, driving a car etc.) In many cases, these students are not from verifiably poor families. They are often from middle class families that aren’t able to support the students school needs (books, housing, food etc.) while also paying for the students desire for new clothes, entertainment, new gadgets, and spending money in general, etc. To put it simply, these families are doing all they can for their loved one in college but are forced to prioritize what they will spend their money on. With college tuition being a major expense for parents and in many cases the student that pays his/her own tuition, money or the lack thereof, can be a constant issue. The parent basically determines what is important in their eyes, while the student is left with no means of funding the other things that are important to them. Lets face it. Female college students want clothes. Not just any old clothes but fashionable attire that allows for them to fit in. Male students want that latest gadget and vise versa.



From this type of financial struggle comes the advent of very innovative methods of feeding one’s self such as the “mayonnaise sandwich" and the low cost means of entertaining one’s self by tossing a football or flying disc. Today, these solutions aren’t the ideal mode of achieving nourishment and entertaining one’s self, it is simply the cheapest.

Students recognize this problem and have been dealing with it since institutions of higher learning began implementing the requirement for tuition. Methods to overcome this money-less state, range from “doing without" to “getting a part time job, to volunteering as a medical guinea pig for pharmaceutical companies. As stated before, “doing without" is not an appealing option and taking a part time job is limited in its ability to provide enough money to meet all of the student’s needs and takes away valuable study time, rest and energy from living the college life. Between classes and the constraints of an inflexible work schedule, students find they don’t have time to enjoy their additional funds, and the students already heightened stress level increases as the student realizes that the enjoyment of their labors requires them to irresponsibly allot some of their study time to taking advantage of their new freedoms. Not to mention, volunteering to be a laboratory guinea pig is just plain crazy.

The best option for students to earn extra cash for their secondary expenses is to utilize the tools they already have i.e. computer and internet connection. Doing work via their online connection allows them to work at their own pace and choose their own hours. Since they are not required to travel, they are not subjected to the travel time problem robbing them of valuable study time. Setting aside a block of time to be at work is difficult for students, as they don’t know when they will need to study a bit more than usual for a given test or final. Students need to have flexibility in their schedules that allow for such hiccups that are common in college life.

Many online opportunities exist for college students to supplement their budgets and rid themselves of the need to essentially live at or below poverty level during their education years. For instance, students are using their newly acquired understanding to help correct the Internet and earning cash in return. A new website, SchoolMoneyToolbar dot com interfaces with the TypoBounty dot com website. TypoBounty allows students to earn money online buy simply noticing and reporting errors. On the TypoBounty site, businesses offer bounties or cash rewards to college students that help perfect their sells pitch by locating and reporting any errors that can be found on their internet properties. College students can use the extra cash to buy clothes, games, books, computers, supplies are whatever is they want. They also get a sense of accomplishment for doing their part to make the internet error free. “The SchoolMoneyToolbar combines my need for cash with my desire to make a difference and get paid while having fun." Says Austin Kengling “Since, it’s also a game where I can compete against my buddies. It’s actually quite entertaining."

Seven out of ten students polled expressed dissatisfaction with the amount of money at their disposal to do the things that they wanted to do. Three out of ten students expressed that money was a serious issue and put them in a position that required very innovative strategies to make ends meet. Alexander Oinfeld says, “call me picky but when I see errors on a website, I don’t forget them. They just don’t seem like professional website’s. One generation saw the creation of the internet. I’m excited about being a part of the group making it error free, while competing against my buds of course. I’m all for it."

Students can use internet oriented systems anytime of night or day. That flexibility is hard to beat. College is grueling enough without adding a rigid job into the mix. If you are a college student, know a college student, or will soon be a college student, you owe it to yourself to consider online options for making ends meet. It just makes sense to work smarter not harder.