How To Make Money as a PhD Student - 8 Great Ways to Get Started

Though nearly all PhD programs provide a stipend for students, for the majority of schools, the amount is below the living wage. If you have added costs such as student loan payments, this can quickly become a financial burden. To adequately support themselves, many PhD students must find work opportunities outside of their studies.  

Since PhD programs are focused on developing academic expertise, it’s natural that the most strategic job choices will draw from their deep knowledge of their field. However, it can be difficult to identify how exactly PhD students can find academically-relevant employment, especially jobs that won’t interfere with their studies. In this blog, we’ll discuss 10 great employment opportunities that PhD students can pursue that provide flexibility and draw from their academic strengths. 

1. Mentor high school students

One great way to earn additional income while increasing your marketable skills in academia is by mentoring students through research programs. Since your primary responsibilities in academia will be both teaching and independent research, strengthening your teaching abilities and experience while developing new research topics is a great way to prepare for your future career. 

Through Lumiere Education’s Research Scholar Program, you can work 1-1 with motivated high school students to help them develop and execute a specialized research project that they can submit for publication or competitions. There’s opportunities available across disciplines from STEM to humanities, making this a great option for PhD students in any academic field. 

You can email contact@lumiere.education if you’re interested in applying as a research mentor. 

2. Contribute as a Teaching Assistant (TA)

Another way to enhance your teaching experience is through serving as a TA for undergraduate courses. You’d typically serve as either the primary instructor for an introductory level course, or support a full professor in a more specialized course. Though often required of PhD students, you’ll often have the opportunity to pick up extra course sections to increase your pay. You should check with your individual department for TA job openings and application procedures. 

3. Offer academic writing and editing services as a freelancer

Any PhD student will be incredibly skilled at professional and academic writing, making them great candidates for freelance writing positions. Freelance gigs can range from writing and/or editing resumes, blog posts, academic citations, business case studies, job descriptions, and more. If your degree requires foreign language skills, or if you’re otherwise fluent in languages besides English, there is also demand for freelance translators. If you’re knowledgeable about computer science, writing code for websites, online services, or app development projects is another option. To find positions, you can create profiles on platforms like Upwork or Fiverr, or contact academic editing services.

4. Offer private academic tutoring

If you want to hone your teaching abilities outside of a formally-structured course, working as a private tutor is another strong job opportunity. You’ll have the freedom to select the exact subject areas you cover and set your own rates for clients — many parents will pay large sums for expert-level support for their children. You can consider asking professors or colleagues if they have children or know of other families who could benefit from your academic support, or make use of third-party services like Wyzant to advertise your services.

5. Offer grant writing services

To draw from your knowledge of the administrative side of academia, grant writer positions could be a good option for PhD students looking for extra employment. Grant writing positions entail researching grants for which the organization or research project would be eligible, then writing a proposal arguing for why the organization would be the ideal beneficiary of the funding. You’ll need strong skills in persuasive writing, and ability to draw clear connections between the mission and goals of the organization and the work each individual grant aims to support. 

6. Help with online course development

Working to develop online coursework leverages your teaching skills and subject-specific knowledge, while contributing to a fast-growing field. As online courses has gained popularity during and after the pandemic, increasing numbers of students are using online learning platforms to supplement their studies. One great benefit of online courses versus traditional classroom teaching is that online courses often cover more specialized topics, perfect for those honing in on a specific academic subject. Companies such as Udemy, Coursera, and edX are some popular and well-respected options to look into.   

7. Apply to be a research assistant

One of the best job options for PhD students — and often the best resume entry to help land a job after completing your PhD — is serving as a research assistant (RA) to professors at your institution. Beyond boosting your research credentials, RAs are often listed as a co-author on published papers — publications are key to success in academia! Usually openings will be available on university job posting sites, though you can also directly inquire about opportunities with professors in your department. If your PhD advisor has availability for RAs, this is the ideal match, as the work will likely be highly relevant to your dissertation topic.

8. Contribute as a college counselor

As a PhD student, you’ll be highly aware of university operations and have experience with both undergraduate and graduate program applications. As the demand for independent college admissions consulting grows, many families would be strongly interested in receiving the guidance of someone with the background and knowledge of a PhD student. Your work might include assisting students with choosing a list of schools, crafting a resume, and writing and editing application essays. One option to get started in this field is to pursue independent work — you’ll be responsible for finding clients, but have full autonomy in your work and ability to set your own rates. Or, you can apply to college consulting companies, where you’ll be guaranteed clients but will work within their institutional structure.

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Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard College graduate. He founded Lumiere as a Ph.D. student at Harvard Business School. Lumiere is a selective research program where students work 1-1 with a research mentor to develop an independent research paper.