Taking Care of Business

Part time internships and for-credit gigs can burn holes in your pockets faster than if your tailor were the Greek God Prometheus and he was mending your pants with a spindle made of fire. So if you don't want to spend a summer working and end up in a worse financial state than you started it, you need to be creative, or at the very least a little proactive.

The first place to start is probably at your school. For us, grants seemed to exist in the abstract -- like "there's no way this is real." But apparently if you fill out a moderately detailed application, there's a chance you could cover the summer with hardly any strings attached. Most grants are given out by the university's office of career services, but if you have some wacky idea like tracking your favorite British author's pilgrimage through Scotland, you can probably apply through a specific department. "Oh, you want to trace the steps of Samuel Johnson? Don't even worry about following through with it! Here's two thousand dollars!"

Although that scenario actually happened with one of our buddies, not every grant's going to be as reliable and guaranteed as the rebounder Horace.

If grants don't work out, and you can't find a way to buy some internet phonecard and start an online poker account, you're going to have to get a job. Most for-credit internships tend to be part time, either three days a week, or half the day, but if you subscribe to Intern Memo and you have a joie de vivre, you're not going to want to spend the rest of your time WORKING. So for us, the answer is pretty clear: tutoring.

Tutoring is a great job because not only do you get to hang out with younger people, something that's always awesome and rewarding, the monetary return on your hours surrendered is basically unparalleled. As a college student, you can easily sign up for an established company in your internship city, or if you're entrepreneurs like us, just go on craigslist and post an ad. All you have to do is say you're a capable college student and charge more than you think is reasonable, and you're in business. Babysitting, though less intellectual, fulfills the young person/high per hour rate quotient as well.

The point is be creative, and don't be deterred. Unpaid internships at legitimate companies can open doors full of money down the line.

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