College 101
Make Bank at College: Be a Resident Assistant
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The smell of burnt popcorn is everywhere and someone is blasting the opening theme of The Daily Show. It's 3:00AM and you roll out of bed ready to lay down the law. Why? You're not just some average curmudgeon, no. You're the Resident Assistant (RA) in this two-horse town. Er, dorm.
RAs are a hybrid of student, counselor, and rule enforcer. If you choose to be one of these fine folks, you'll end up spending a lot of time in your dorm, keeping one eye open. In fact, the primary job of an RA is to be available. At many schools, RAs have dedicated on-call times, during which they must respond to requests from students. Locked out of your dorm? Call your RA. Have someone vomiting in your room? Call your RA. And so on.
All of this home turf availability can put a damper on your social life, for sure. But you'll also get to foster a sense of community among your residents. D'aww.
The exact responsibilities of an RA vary from college to college, but almost all RA positions come with great social responsibility. You'll usually have to complete conflict resolution training as well and make sure you're up on what social services are offered by your institution. Yes, foosball competitions can solve many problems between students, but it's nice to have other options when tear-streaked freshmen show up at your door.
Being an RA is more than just checking on the resident who has been locked in their room for a week, though. It's a legit campus job with legit perks. The nature of these perks also varies from college to college. At Missouri State, for example, an RA earns a sweet $2,000 per year in stipends and $275 bookstore credit on top of free room and board (source). Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania offers a tuition credit of $4,420 yearly as well as a stipend of $2,530 per year (source).
If you're interested in becoming an RA, you'll have to check out the specifics of what compensation your college offers. Be advised that it is a time-consuming job. You should also be aware of whether it conflicts with your other interests; it's pretty hard to be a college football star when you have to do rounds all week.
Overall, being an RA can be a cool gig, so long as you're down with late hours and long chats. That extra wad of cash in your pocket will give you plenty of reason to smile...and nod.