Best on Campus Job: Be a Student Note Taker for Money

When I was a college student, I was always short on cash. Many of the real opportunities to make money that involve your chosen major don't happen until your junior or senior year. Until then, most of us are stuck with having a hard time finding a job.

An excellent option is to be a note taker for the Disability office at your local college. The main qualifications are you have to show up regularly and have either neat handwriting or a laptop to type and print out notes. Here is how it works:

Students with various disabilities ranging between temporary orthopedic issues that prevent them from writing (such as breaking their arm) or student who are hard of hearing students and have difficulty attempting to listen and write at the same time, students with visual impairments who can't see the board or a host of other conditions often need someone to take notes for them for all of their classes. The disability resource office will pay another student a flat rate per hour to take notes and provide them to the student. You do not have to take care of the student or assist them in any other manner. You may have to sit with the student if they need to indicate something does or does not need notes, but often you do not. Now think of the perks of this job:

1. No heavy manual labor or long night hours or weekends. You only work on school days.

2. The schedule adapts to your semesters' availability each semester, you can take on as much work as you wish or take a semester off or just pick certain days you will take notes.

3. You may be able to schedule the note taking job with classes you already have - which means you get paid to take notes in a class you are already supposed to be taking notes in anyways.

4. You may be able to schedule being a note taker for a class you want to take, or a class that you do not understand well and would wish to have some extra exposure to before you take the class, or it's a way to size up a professor before you take a class with him/her. This gave me an opportunity to sit in on classes that seemed interesting but had nothing to do with my major.

5. You are performing an important service for someone who needs it. Those who are disabled and need a note taker are often, but not always, just disabled enough to have to work really hard to accomplish a basic task, but not disabled enough to qualify for any significant state aid, which means they will need to work that much harder to pay their own way - sometimes a very expensive feat that requires enormous effort.

6. If you pay attention in the class and keep a copy of the notes, you can often be prepared enough to take a placement exam or a CLEP exam, which is sort of like taking the final exam for a class and if you pass, you get college credit without having taken or paid for the class. Visit CLEP for more information on subjects and if your college accepts CLEP credit. If you take enough CLEP exams, you can skip over some real dull course requirements and maybe graduate faster.

7. You can schedule another job for night or weekends if you still have time for your own studies and note taking for someone else.

8. You can schedule multiple classes that you take notes for if your schedule can handle it.

9. If you are a quality note taker and reliable, you will likely have as much work as you can handle.

10. This is great for your resume - it shows that you are detail oriented, conscious, work well with people, perhaps have computer skills and are reliable. This job will really make your resume stand out from the crowd of students who were waitstaff at the local TGIFridays.

Some things that is very important if you are a note taker:

1. The student is reliant on you to be there to take notes each and every class - you cannot blow off their classes or be late or leave early because then you miss class content. If you are sick, you must contact the student and the disability office so they can arrange for a backup note taker. If there is no ability to get a note taker substitute, perhaps you will need to make arrangements to attend the same lecture by that professor later that day or week.

2. Your notes must be presented in a neat fashion - either very neat handwriting or typed. Having a laptop is a great way to type notes neatly and keep a copy in case you need a backup.

3. If a class is very specialized or advanced - it helps if you are also that major or have an understanding of the subject so that you take appropriate notes. If it is a more generic subject or introductory, then it is acceptable if you do not know anything about it.

4. Payment generally comes from the school, so paychecks should be reliable and timely.

5. While you will not need to provide care for the student with disabilities, you will interface with them and need to be able to provide notes that are clear to them. This may be different than the notes you make for yourself. Secondly, if certain disabilities make you very comfortable, not because you are a mean person, but because you are afraid you might say or do the wrong thing, then you need to be prepared and perhaps ask about the disability of the person you will be helping in advance. However, many who need note taking likely have a hidden disability that you encounter everyday such as they are hard of hearing or have an attention disorder.

Visit your colleges disability resource office before the semester starts and drop off a resume if you have one, and if not, you can offer a sample of your own notes or how you would present notes in your job as a note taker. If it is mid-semester, apply for the next semester or as a note taker substitute for the current semester.