Exchanging skills for tuition

Do you have a skill that your university might need? If you do, consider offering that skill in exchange for tuition remission. One traditional way for paying for graduate school is to teach courses for the university. This is a virtually non-existent possibility at the undergraduate level. However, there are other possibilities.

I know a person who is a computer programmer in his day job. Like some programmers of a certain age, he has the ability, but got into it before the degree became an absolute requirement. Now that he would like to advance in the field, he has discovered that he needs the degree. However, the school he chose is small and outsources some of its computer needs for short projects. He approached their IT department and was, after some discussion, able to work out a deal where he does some programming for them that equates to a number of free courses. While he is not sure the programming jobs will get him all the way through his degree, it will drastically cut his costs at this private university.

I mentioned that I have done the same. In addition to writing about cheap college degrees, I am also the author of four books on distance learning (see one here). I have been able to barter my online learning knowledge into developing courses for a brand-new program being brought online. I will also be doing some teaching for them. While I do not know if it will end up paying for an entire degree, like my friend above, it will substantially reduce the costs.

Homework: Make a list of skills that you have to trade. Think outside the box.