Steve Tippins Ph.D.Helping doctoral students get their dissertation accepted, succeed in their careers, & change the world | Academic Career Advisor | Dissertation Chair & Founder, Beyond PhD Coaching | 35 + years of experience.

The Side Income Strategies PhD Students Are Using

27 Jul 2026 · 1 min

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In this brief excerpt, the speaker shares three practical side‑income tactics he used while in graduate school. First, he took on a professor’s exam‑grading and grade‑book duties for a modest hourly commitment, receiving a regular check that helped cover living expenses. Second, he accepted a summer grant‑writing gig that promised substantial pay, but later realized the workload would extend his time in school, so he asked a fellow graduate student to take over the assignment, allowing both to earn money. The speaker emphasizes that many such opportunities exist for students who stay alert to them and ends with an invitation to join a free dissertation‑help community.

Chapters

When I was in graduate school, there was a professor who was full professor and not putting in a lot of time, and he just wanted someone to grade his exams and do his grade book and all this other stuff. And he had a lot of money. And he said to me, hey, would you do that? And for me, it was great. I could come in an hour or two a week and do all of his stuff. And each month I got a check that allowed me to eat and do some other things. So there's lots of different opportunities out there if you're just aware. I will also say I was offered I got offered one summer a grant opportunity to write something, and it was going to pay a bunch of money for me at that time. And I thought, "This is wonderful. I'll do it." And I got offered another one. And I thought, "Maybe I can do this because I'll make a lot of money this summer." And then I eventually realized, you know, "Yeah, and I'll be here another year." So I actually turned to the person I was sharing my office with and said, "I can't do this. Do you have time this summer to do it?" And he did, and it allowed him to eat. Join our free dissertation help community.