Click to view the first segment: How to Make Money at UBC Part 1.

6. Scholarships –

Profitability: UBC has a curious tendencies of drastically downsizing the scholarship amounts after luring us in Freshman year. If you didn’t struck gold with the $20 000+ Major Entrance Scholarships, you’ll have to “make do” with mere $500 – $4000 scholarships for the next few years.

Time: The great things about some university scholarships is that you don’t even have to apply – they come straight to your mailbox thanks to a faculty committee handing them out. Others might require application forms and reference letters.

Skills/Difficulty: Not top in your class? Not to worry, you get something even if you’re second sometimes! Woot! Sarcasm aside, there is a bit of competition for grades and whatnot but we all know the atmosphere at UBC isn’t as cutthroat as those of MIT or Berkeley. So try your best kids.

7. Marketing studies –

Sauder has its marketing studies and psycology classes have their own for bonus and/or money experiments. Sometimes it’s a questionnaire on the computer, other times it’s a mini essay or a short activity. I’ve been asked to taste food many times.

Profitability: I earned $65 in term one from doing five or six studies. Obvious not one you should use to support our tuition, but it’s nice to have some spare cash on the side. FYI, they pay in cash. It’s kind of sketchy actually.

Time: It averages out to about $10-$15 per hour. Including travelling time to the labs. Not too many opportunities though, but at least the time slots are flexible.

Skills/Difficulty: I was once paid $10 to sample Chip Ahoy cookies and rate my preference for that over carrots. Oh good times! These require minimum thinking basically.

8. Textbook resale –

Profitability: I made $370 this year from the sale of all of my textbooks. I still have a few books left and I plan to get rid of it in September.

Time: Most students I know are too lazy to bother selling their books. It does take some time researching the market price, listing the books, bargaining, and finally meeting up to complete the transaction (why does this sound so sketchy?) I believe the rewards outweigh the costs in this case.

Skills/Difficulty: It’s almost becoming a ritual now. The day after my exam, I list all of my textbooks on sale on Facebook, Craigslist, and Save on Books. I never buy new books either so more often than not I’m actually MAKING money from textbooks. I take meticulous notes in certain courses and throw those in as a bonus, or up the price. 30% of the sales I made were to friends, and in this case I cut the price a little. Patience is probably the most important virtue here.

! Newsflash !

If you have textbooks you would like to get rid of, I will be happy to help out! There is a small transaction fee plus a 10% cut of your profits, and I’ll do all of the listing, bargaining, and selling for you. You sit there and wait for the money to come to you. Email me, I’m serious 😀

9. Ticket resale –

Profitability: Start small and build up a momentum. It takes a little bit of luck to get cheap tickets to a popular, limited seating UBC event in the first place,  make sure it sells out, then hope there are students eager enough to pay above the asking price. You could potentially lose a lot of money doing ticket resales. I have never done it but I’ve heard both good and bad stories. Personally I don’t recommend it.

Time: Busy around social event season. Not steady income, depends heavily on event itself and how much you can market yourself.

Skills/Difficulty: I don’t think ticket resale is the same as scalping. You’re merely catering to the high demand for a popular event. This is one of those methods where people make money inadvertently – say you buy a few extra events to a gala event for friends, and they end up not being able to go that down. If you keep it, it’s a waste of money, but if you sell it to some other eager student at a reasonable price, you’re making someone else’s day 😀

10. Blogging –

Profitability: Blogging is quite a lucrative business at UBC. I missed out on the Voter Funded Media in the AMS election this year, where eight bloggers split a jaw-dropping $8000. The awesome writers at the UBC Spectator took home $1200! Throughout the year, there were also weekly polls where I made a couple of bucks with UBC Years. Of course, you can always put ads on your blog and generate money through clicks.

Time: Blogging takes a considerable amount of time. I’m sure Justin lost sleep during the AMS elections in his “UBC spectating” activities. I’m averaging a meagre four entries a month, with some entries taking up to four hours to write and research.

Skills/Difficulty: In order for a blog to survive for a really long time, the author must REALLY LOVE blogging. Some people see writing as a homework or a chore more than anything, and are really quite puzzled as to we would do it for fun. I guess it’s a challenging, rewarding, and narcissitic experience all at the same time! I often get emails from strangers asking questions, seeking advice, or even just thanking me for writing. Those make my day.

BONUS: Company Sponsorship of Your Name and/or Clothes

I thought of this in a sudden stroke of inspiration. Since we’ve pretty much sold our textbooks, sold our tickets, sold our souls, why not sell our names as well?! Instead of being known as “Phoebe Yu, student of Sauder”, I will henceforth be be known as “Phoebe Yu – Nando’s Flaming Chicken student of Sauder” (has a nice ring to it doesn’t it?). Instead of being called “Professor of Commerce”, let’s go for “XX Financial Group Professor of Commerce”! Oh wait, what’s that, it’s already being done? … Drats!

Do you know any more ways to make money at UBC? Comment below! Be sure to check out part one of this two-part series.