Thrifty students should take advantage of creative, money-making methods

A penny saved is a penny earned. Or so goes the saying, which holds especially true for penny-pinching students trying to make it at a school as expensive as USC.

However, as demonstrated by the recent success story of Auburn University Ph.D. student Jonathan Hood, making ends meet may just mean looking harder for those little secret money caches, many of which are still available in these trying economic times. Paying off tuition, cancelling debts from loans and buying supplies at the minimal cost—these are all possible if we are willing to think outside the box and scout for money-making methods.

Hood made headlines, thanks to his phenomenal success earning cash through mail-in rebates. As Hood told Yahoo’s Business Insider, companies return rebates as prepaid debit cards, and occasionally as checks or liquid cash. Hood managed to pay off tuition for a semester—$4,500—just with prepaid debit cards. Though not all rebates are fully refunded, Hood has, according to Insider, used only “free-after-rebate” offers that do provide the full refund. Shopping online, particularly hunting for offers on sites Fatwallet.com, Newegg.com and Frys.com, was integral to his success.

Other methods abound. Survey websites, such as Surveyspot and Valuedopinions, reward in gift cards, air miles, cash and points for prizes. Students can also be compensated for participation in research studies: at USC, for example, students can join the mailing list of the Los Angeles Behavioral Economics Laboratory, which regularly conducts paid experiments. Some sites pay for watching ads, like Jingit and Neobux. Collecting cans and bottles for recycling kills two birds with one stone; earning extra change and improving the environment.

There are also more expert money-making methods, such as buying and selling items on eBay or playing smart in the stock market. Though they demand months of patience and self-training, these methods can be worth the big haul in the end.

For the extra money and a possible semester paid off with mail-in rebates, the creative challenge of saving and making the big bucks sounds like a talent worth the time