Students make a quick buck
For ingenious college students, there are ways to earn money, by managing events, answering doubts, or even organising parties.
The past two years have been a swirl of corporate events, property exhibitions and awards shows for Sarika Pawaskar, 19.
As someone with a reasonable amount of spare time and a desire to make a spot of pocket money, she has participated in a range of events. From giving away awards, to standing behind counters to helping in registrations, Pawaskar has performed tasks petty and glamorous, in the process earning as much as up to Rs 3,000 per day.
“It’s great fun,” said Pawaskar “Thanks to the awards show events I’ve seen almost every film star. The exhibitions are also fun. It’s all good money.”
Incidentally, her day job is being a third year college student at Sydenham College in Churchgate.
For ingenious college students, burdened by the eternal curse of college life – when money is short and everything that money can buy is so much more – there are ways and means to generate a quick buck.
Signing up to work with event management companies is one way. Teaching school students is another. Every year several students from the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) sign up to help solve IIT aspirants’ doubts at coaching classes. The hourly wage could go up to Rs 1,000 per hour and students take up the assignments for as long as they like.
“I had this independence thing going on, and I didn’t want to take money from my parents to pay for my tuition fees at IIT,” said one student. “So I taught at a coaching class for a while. I also helped tutor a Class 9 student who used to come to me now and then.” IIT-B students, with their brand name identities and their credentials of having tackled the JEE are a good bet for coaching classes.
“They like to earn extra pocket money, and it’s good for our students because they can relate to the IIT students and look up to them as role models,” said Praveen Tyagi, who runs IIT-ian’s PACE, which employs IIT students on a part-time basis for doubt solving.
Spending a day as an extra on a film set or ad shoot has helped the cash flow for many impecunious youngsters. “It was fun, and Rs 1,500 for a day’s work was good,” said Sikandar Singh Soin, 19, who made up the background crowd during the filming of Three Idiots a few years ago when he was in junior college.
Selling passes to clubs and parties, to collegemates and youngsters is also a great revenue generator. For event management companies, students with their wide network of contacts and their facility with social media are a golden avenue. Harshit Dua, 18, a junior college student has for the past year or so been “pulling crowds” for weekly club nights and earns around 1,500 per week for his efforts.
“We manage to do our college work as well as this on the side,” said Dua, who with a group of friends also organises and holds parties.