Students make extra cash in unconventional ways

Benton Harbor sophomore Michelle Brooks found out she can earn some
extra cash by braiding hair, a craft she has worked on since ninth
grade.

“I actually started doing my own hair,” Brooks said. “I got tired of
asking others to do it. That’s how it started.”

With the tuition increase, the extra money helps Brooks cover
expenses
like going out to eat and buying clothes.

“I hustle for necessities,” Brooks said.

Brooks and other Central Michigan University students are finding
ways,
other than the conventional second job, to earn some extra cash.

Students can earn scholarships for being left-handed, the ability to
call ducks and having the last name Zolp, according to an article at
www.cnn.com.

Locally, the word is spreading that students can earn up to $50 a
week
donating plasma since BioLife Plasma Services opened about two years
ago.

“It’s similar to a blood donation,” said Erin Clark, assistant
manager
at BioLife Plasma Services.

Plasma, the liquid protein portion of blood, takes about an hour to
donate and the red blood cells are returned to the donor.

Within a seven-day period, a student can earn $20 for the first
visit
and then $30 for the second donation.

Clark said 50 percent of the center’s donors are CMU students and
she
is seeing many more donate this year.

“Not only do you save lives, you still get to walk out of here with
a
little cash,” she said.

Tecumseh junior Alissa Hall was told about plasma donations by her
roommate while she was looking for a second job last year.

“I used to give blood a lot and she told me it was a lot like that,”
Hall said.

Hall is going to start donating plasma again this year, especially
now
with the tuition increase.

“This year I got my first loan,” Hall said. “I’ve been paying for
school on my own.”

Aboo Allen, a Gambia graduate student, said he is a qualified tennis
coach and is starting private lessons for $10 an hour.

The money earned from the tennis lessons will go toward paying his
bills.

“I really need the extra cash, definitely,” Allen said.