College days.

Something I hope to feature regularly on this blog are "College days" - things I've found that make life easier, harder, or, well, infinitely more amusing for those deeply in debt due to the astronomically expensive venture known as "higher education."

One of the things that I've found the hardest about dealing with college is the dreaded "financial aid" - the fact that the word "aid" is in that phrase at all seems to be absolutely ludicrous. There are various scholarship sites, of course - namely Scholarships.com, FastWEB, and Scholarship Experts. There's the ever-so-lovely FAFSA application, of course... but how exactly does this help you?

Unless you meet a lot of requirements and have the writing skills of a fanatical freelancer, you're unlikely to win a scholarship - though the runners-up prizes are nothing to sneeze at either. However, what will actually help you earn a little money towards college?

That depends on how much time you have on your hands, and what you're capable of. For instance, Amazon or MBS Books will buy your old textbooks. You'll likely get a better rate from MBS, but as it's through your college of choice, there's a chance you won't be able to use it. They do let you print out a shipping label, though, so that's handy.

Your next options might involve working on campus - which isn't as ghastly as it might sound. You can work towards your tuition or book fees, sometimes, and really, it's better than studying, isn't it?

Another interesting tidbit: Make money blogging. It's actually a pretty good way of making a little extra cash - and while we all know you won't actually spend that money on schoolbooks, it'll at least help you out a bit.

For Pay-Per-Click ads, you can try Google's Adsense, or Yahoo's Publisher Network. I don't have any experience with YPN, but Adsense is remarkably easy to use if you use Blogger - all you need to do is answer a few questions in your Template (click on "Add New Element") and it's all set, but for a simple confirmation email.

For Pay-Per-Post, you can try Blogsvertise, Blogitive, or Pay-Per-Post. I have no experience with the last two, but Blogsvertise is an excellent resource. It's so easy to sign up and pending approval, you can get started in days. Of course, a blog that's been around for a bit is preferred but they could put you on probationary status otherwise. See my above post for why Blogsvertise is perfect for college students!

In closing, I know that it probably won't help you to pay for your groceries right NOW - but at least it's a little hope on the horizon that you might be able to afford, you know, having a life... eventually.