Surviving the summer

[Apogeee]

How do you survive the summer between obtaining an MA and starting a PhD? I am still looking for work. Also, I have BA student loans, no longer deferred! Have to make a payment in July. Any ideas on how to navigate the next three months?

[rising_star]

Why are your BA loans not deferred? You may be able to ask for a hardship deferment if you have no source of income.

If you just need money to survive, retail or fast food work would tide you over if you can find it. You could also try tutoring, babysitting, summer camp work, or nannying, depending on your skills and desire to be around youth. 

Last, but not least, there's the zero or low interest credit card option. This would be a last resort in my book because it can potentially put you in serious financial trouble. But, I've done it when I knew I'd be able to pay it back once I started earning money again. In my case, I got a credit card that was 0% interest for 12 (or maybe 16?) months, which meant I had about 8 months to pay it off once I started earning money. I also only put the bare minimum on it, to avoid having more to pay off later. 

[MastersHoping]

Would you be interested in a job teaching English online? I get around $20 an hour for it. 

[klader]

Do you live in an area where there are seasonal farming jobs? You could potentially get some free food while harvesting for farmers, selling at farmers markets for farmers, or working at veggie stands. Farming is grueling work, but it's not always difficult to learn if you have someone showing you what to do.

Produce might not come in until later in the summer depending on where you are, but there are spring crops and also lots of planting to do this time of year. 

[themmases]

I'm staying at my MS school for PhD so I'm just keeping my jobs, but I had a transition summer before starting the MS because I couldn't get out of my old job fast enough and grad school provided a good excuse.

At my school I was eligible for hire as an hourly RA the summer before my program started. If you're able to be in the area during the summer, that could be an option. Mine turned out to be great-- I have some great contacts in other divisions because of it and I still work for that boss. The project eventually gave me funding.  I also do some freelance editing in a field I used to work in for researchers whose first langage isn't English. That is pretty easy, interesting work-- the only thing was I had to buy EndNote for my personal computer, luckily with a student discount.

Another of my friends swears by tutoring and test prep-- she is always suggesting it to me whenever I have any sort of transition.

[Oriole Doc]

On May 21, 2016 at 6:03 AM, MastersHoping said:

Would you be interested in a job teaching English online? I get around $20 an hour for it. 

Do you have to have a teaching credential to do that?

[MastersHoping]

2 hours ago, Oriole Doc said:

Do you have to have a teaching credential to do that?

Not necessarily,  but it wouldn't hurt.

You need to be a native or near native speaker of English with a neutral North American (aka USA and Canada) accent and have a bachelor's degree. 

[Oriole Doc]

Where do you go to get started?

[cktoo]

Hi Agippina et al.,

My company is hiring online English tutors to teach English to Chinese students over the summer. We're anticipating a flood of students over the summer months and are looking for qualified tutors to teach. Hours are 6AM to 10AM EST Monday through Saturday and you set your own availability so you'll still have the rest of the day to enjoy the summer. You don't need a teaching degree to tutor, just some experience in teaching/tutoring and a passion for online learning. Check out http://gveoe.com/tutor.html for more information.

CK

Edited May 24, 2016 by cktoo
Clarification

[Ciarrai300]

How much does it pay per lesson? It isn't listed on their website. Also do you plan your own lessons or just execute theirs?

[cktoo]

1 hour ago, Ciarrai300 said:

How much does it pay per lesson? It isn't listed on their website. Also do you plan your own lessons or just execute theirs?

The pay ranges with experience but they are in line with industry standards, maybe a bit higher. Lesson plans are provided but the execution is up to the tutors.

[Swingin_Sween]

On 5/25/2016 at 9:34 AM, cktoo said:

The pay ranges with experience but they are in line with industry standards, maybe a bit higher. Lesson plans are provided but the execution is up to the tutors.

Are you still hiring?

[dicapino]

On 5/21/2016 at 2:03 PM, MastersHoping said:

Would you be interested in a job teaching English online? I get around $20 an hour for it. 

I think I will be interested. 

[MastersHoping]

7 hours ago, dicapino said:

I think I will be interested. 

Send me a PM and we can talk about it

[ratanegra19]

On 5/21/2016 at 6:03 AM, MastersHoping said:

Would you be interested in a job teaching English online? I get around $20 an hour for it. 

What online school do you go through? I've heard that you can make some decent money doing that, but I've also heard that some "schools" are pretty sketch.

I'm a native English speaker, TESOL-certified, and have ~5 years EFL teaching experience 

[MastersHoping]

On 6/20/2016 at 2:12 AM, ratanegra19 said:

What online school do you go through? I've heard that you can make some decent money doing that, but I've also heard that some "schools" are pretty sketch.

I'm a native English speaker, TESOL-certified, and have ~5 years EFL teaching experience 

It's a private company. It is not sketch, I can assure you that.

Are you interested?

PM for details!