Blogging Away Debt

An Interesting Way to Earn Some Extra Money – Become a Lab Rat

I caught this article on Yahoo about college students participating in studies to get some cash:

“Yochim, a self-described “lab rat,” says she has made more than $3,000 by participating in more than 30 medical studies at Boston’s world-class research hospitals.” [via Yahoo.com]

That’s some serious cash. They don’t say how many hours total the woman interviewed spent participating in these studies, but from the ones that I have seen they pay fairly well for your time.

I did a bit of research and found that for healthy individuals who want to participate in drug research, they can make a decent amount of money. It’s also possible to participate in other non drug studies that still pay well, but not as much as the drug research studies.

I have been tempted to participate in medical research before for the University of Michigan. They were looking for adults who smoke and their parents who smoke/used to smoke. All they needed was some blood from everyone and a few questions answered and I believe everyone involved received $100/each. We never pursued it any further than discussing it.

When I’m bored, sometimes I check their research page to see if there is anything I would be interested in doing. I don’t think I could ever do something that involved taking new medications or having them cut me open. But they can draw blood or ask questions. I’m fine with that.

Targeting Students With Easy Credit Isn’t Just a U.S. Thing

by Tricia

Usually I hear all about debt in the United States and not many other countries. Doug sent me a link that I found very interesting:

No income? Students can still get a credit line for clubs

In Singapore, some of the major nightclubs are starting to offer students (age 21 and up) easy credit. These in-house credit cards have a limit of $2,000 and are meant to draw in the crowds.

Unfortunately, you have to get the print paper to read the whole story. But there’s enough there to realize that it’s not only U.S. young adults getting lured into the credit life (like with how in most colleges you can find some group handing out items like a candy bar in return for a completed credit card application).

If there are any international readers out there that know of articles about debt in their country, I would love to hear about them and share them on here. Feel free to link to them in the comments or you can send me an email.