Author's Posts

find-a-fulfilling-non-academic-side-hustle

In this last post in the Make Money in Grad School series, I outline a different kind of option for making money in grad school—doing something totally and completely unrelated to grad school. Something that enriches your life and makes you happy.

So far in the series we’ve covered several approaches for funding yourself through grad school:

1.) Scholarships, Fellowships, and Grants
2.) Research and Teaching Assistant Positions
3.) Applying Your Academic Skills to Tutoring and Freelancing

Each of these can be great for leveraging your existing abilities and past accomplishments, as well as building experience and investing in new skills. And there are many professional and financial benefits to using a combination of these approaches. Don’t let fear of failure or rejection prevent you from pursuing a great opportunity. Whether it’s going for a fellowship to fund your dream research project or applying for a teaching assistant position that will give you experience with a class you’d have a blast with, you have little to lose and a lot to gain by pursuing new opportunities.

Before I wrap up this series, there’s one more option for making money in grad school, and I think it’s important enough to warrant its own post.

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tutoring-and-freelancing-apply-your-skills-beyond-the-university

In the last part of the series Make Money in Grad School, I outlined the benefits of seeking work as a graduate research assistant or teaching assistant. In this post, I cover some alternative ways to put your skills to work in your local community and beyond.

Many grad students work on their university campuses as research and teaching assistants as a way to fund themselves through grad school. But these positions aren’t available—or attractive—to everyone. Some academic fields, particularly those where the research is not typically funded by large grants, might not have as many funding opportunities. For other grad students, the stipend from one of these positions might not be enough to cover all expenses. Finally, some grad students prefer to keep their work and studies separate, finding work that is unconnected to their advisor, program, and fellow students. Regardless of your reasons, alternative income streams can help mitigate the need for taking out interest-accruing loans. It’s hard work now, but your future self will thank you for the lighter loan payments later.

The good news is that there are numerous options. In this article, I focus on three possible income streams that overlap with your graduate skills, but get you beyond the university—tutoring, freelance writing and editing, and freelance coding and technical work. 

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make-money-in-graduate-school-working-as-a-research-or-teaching-assistsant

In this post, I outline my favorite alternative to taking out loans for graduate school–finding work as a research or teaching assistant. This post is part 3 of the Make Money in Graduate School Series about options for funding your way through grad school.

When I began grad school in 2010, I took out loans to pay for my first year. Soon, I learned about an incredibly powerful way to fund a graduate education–working as a research or teaching assistant. Especially if you are attending a large research university, this is arguably the best way to fund your way through grad school. You might be guaranteed a position as part of your initial offer from your university, or you might have to seek out opportunities from your advisor and other faculty in your department. Be persistent and get creative, because the benefits are fantastic, both professionally and financially.

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stop-making-these-excuses-and-start-applying-for-graduate-grants-scholarships-and-fellowships

In this post, I strip you of the BS excuses you’re using to avoid applying for grants, scholarships, and fellowships to help you pay for graduate school. Then I share some ideas and resources for where to identify funding that’s a good fit for you. This is part 2 of the series Make Money in Graduate School.

Last week, I wrote about embracing your options for making money during graduate school. I outlined broad categories of options, including finding funding from your institution, applying your academic skills outside of the university, and doing something totally unrelated to keep up connections to the non-academic world. Over the next few weeks, I’ll dig deeper into each of those options. First, let’s start with grants, scholarships, fellowships–the free money.

But before we talk about where you’ll find those funds, let’s address the excuses you may be using to justify why you don’t think you should apply for scholarship or grant funding.

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embrace-your-money-making-options-in-graduate-school

This is the first post in a series titled Make Money in Graduate School, where I explain the importance of realizing you have options for how to sustain yourself—financially and emotionally—in graduate school. This post introduces three pathways graduate students can take to making money by doing personally rewarding and meaningful work. In the following posts in the series I outline each of these in more detail.

The years you spend in graduate school can be among the most incredible and rewarding in your life. Being able to engage in a sustained period of intense learning and rapid growth is an incredible luxury that many people will never experience. Additionally, I made lifelong friends in graduate school who will forever enrich my life no matter where life takes me. I feel an incredible sense of gratitude for having had the privilege and opportunity to get a PhD.

The reality is that graduate school can also be brutally hard. The journey to a PhD offers up many rewards, but also innumerable challenges. For many, that journey brings about occasional feelings of helplessness and self-doubt. At any given time you might feel stuck in a cycle of being perpetually broke. Or feel trapped by your department or advisor’s expectations. On that long road, some people feel like they’ve lost track of themselves, that they have lost sight of their initial purpose for being there, or become unable to see the finish line. And that’s okay. There are twists and turns in every great journey. Stories without conflict are boring.

For those experiencing graduate school’s twists and turns, there’s good news. First off, you are not alone. Many—even most—people end up experiencing these things somewhere along the way. Secondly, there are things you can do to help yourself grapple with these feelings, and you might be able to make some money in the process. In this post, I outline some of the ways you can make money in graduate school and describe how some of these money-making ventures can help your professional and emotional life as much as your flailing financial accounts. The key is in understanding that you have options about how you use your time.

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using-found-money-with-acorns

In this post I’ll explain how you can get companies to contribute to your investment portfolio using a feature called Found Money on Acorns. It’s so easy. I promise. And it’s kind of cool too.

A few weeks ago I told you about one of my favorite (free) financial tools, Acorns. While Acorns isn’t where most of their investments make their home, I love the small passive investment boosts that I get from making everyday purchases. It’s great to know that I invest a few pennies in future me every time I get gas, groceries, or make other purchases. If you want to learn more about Acorns, check out my post Easy Investing With Acorns and if you decide to sign up, be sure to use my referral link to get an extra $5 in your starting balance. It gives me a few extra dollars too, which I appreciate since I don’t get paid for any the work I do here at Frugal PhD.

Today I want to tell you about a way you can earn more than just a few pennies at a time with Acorns.

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how-to-break-up-with-your-bank

If you’ve been reading along with the Break Up With Your Bank series, you’ve learned Why You Need To Break Up With Your Bank, and know about better options for checking and savings accounts. In this post I’ll walk you through the actual steps of breaking up with your bank and getting set up with one that treats you better.

Chances are, you’ll approach a breakup in your financial life a little differently than you do for your love life. The order of the steps for breaking up with a bank aren’t quite the same as they are for a human partner. In this case, it’s okay to start seeing a new institution before you let your old one know you’re through. In fact, that’s the best way to do it.

You’re ready. But how the heck do you go about closing your old accounts? I know it’s scary, but here, I’ll walk you through the steps for opening new bank accounts and closing your old ones. So let’s do this…

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get-a-better-savings-account

In the last post in the Break Up With Your Bank series, I discussed the benefits of opening a no fees, no frills checking account with an online bank or credit union. In this post, we’ll cover why you should open a high interest savings account too.

Are you still using the savings account you opened with you were a teenager, or during your first year in college? Many young people open accounts at popular banks like Wells Fargo or Bank of America, often because there’s a branch close to home or because it’s the bank their parents use. As a teen, I opened a US Bank account where my parents do their banking and then changed over to Wells Fargo when I moved to San Francisco after college. The savings accounts I had in those years had a few things in common: 1) Too little savings, and 2) A near zero interest rate.

Interest rates are pretty low across the board right now, ranging from 0.01% on the low end and reaching upwards of 1% if you’re able to get a great deal on a new account with an online bank or credit union*. The difference between 0.01% and 1.00% might seem pretty insignificant–especially if you’re a student or are working an entry-level position and don’t have much—or anything—in savings.

It might not seem worth the hassle it will take to close your existing account and do the research on opening a new account for a few dollars in interest this year. I get it. You’re busy and it feels like almost everything else is more important than opening a savings account when you aren’t really able to save right now anyway. I know you don’t want to take the time to do it. Do it anyway. I did, and here’s why it was a good decision…

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In this post I’ll walk you through the process for opening a high-yield, no fee checking account with great benefits like no ATM fees.

In my last post, Why You Need to Break Up With Your Bank, I described the abysmal interest rates and exploitative fees you might be tethered to with your current checking and savings accounts. By now you might be convinced that the accounts you opened when you started college, or perhaps even before that, aren’t doing you any favors. And you’re ready to make a change. But what comes next?

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why-you-need-to-break-up-with-your-bank

This post explains how your big bank may be taking advantage of you through abysmal interest rates and exploitative fees and why you need to consider a breakup.

You guys, it’s time to have one of those oft dreaded breakup talks. No, not with your boyfriend, girlfriend, partner, or spouse. Well, maybe, but I can’t help you there. This break up talk is about you and your bank. If you’re banking with one of the biggest, most popular banks in America, you might be in an exploitative, almost abusive, relationship without even realizing it. This post will will talk you through some of the pitfalls of banking with large banks like Wells Fargo and Bank of America, and will help you identify whether you should explore alternative options.

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