Most people would like to have just a little bit more money but, as jobs are still hard to come by, students are finding their own creative ways of earning.
Brooke Charlesworth, a journalism student, found that giving guitar tuition was the perfect solution. “I need a part-time job but I don’t want to be stuck here working for the holidays. I want flexibility and something I can do in my own time so giving guitar lessons are the perfect solution,” she says.
Opposed to the usual high price of guitar tuition, the 20-year-old charges only £7.50 for 45 minutes. Recently she has branched out, posting tuition videos on her Youtube channel “UKGuitarGirl”, allowing more people to learn to play.
“I came up with the idea of doing it online because I had people who weren’t turning up to lessons so I thought by taking it online it’s a bit of fun, I can get myself out there and people all over the world can learn.”
Currently Brooke, who has been playing guitar for eight years, has subscribers from Peru, Brazil, and China watching her videos and so is thinking about how to earn money from her videos. “I’m thinking of adding a Paypal, so if someone wants a song then they can pay me a bit and any song they want I can show it,” she says.
Another student, Tom Furniss, works as a member of the university’s Student Crew, taking on a variety of different jobs, such as open days, school visits, and generally helping out around the university.
“I applied for the job with my flatmate because his previous flatmate worked as a member of the Student Crew and was always talking about how good it was,” he says.
Similarly to Brooke, the second-year graphic design student enjoys the flexibility the job gives him.
“The flexibility is nice because I’ve got a heavy workload in the subject I do, so being able to pick and choose around that is nice. Plus the people you get to work with are one of the best bits too!”
Although Furniss uses his job to fund himself through university, he can also see long-term benefits. “It will maybe help me out in the future with teaching, because you get used to talking to people and I have improved on that. However, it’s mainly to help with funding my way through university,” he said.