Ejaculating, popping pills for extra cash ““ in times of
financial strain, some students will do just about anything to make
ends meet.
In need of money, Bruins and students at other universities
sometimes resort to quirky jobs and drastic measures.
“I always need spending cash. I have enough to live off
of, but not comfortably,” said Jimmy Yip, a fourth-year
biochemistry student and research study participant.
With recent student fee increases and the rising cost of living
near campus, no money-making alternatives can be tossed out,
whether they are different, dangerous or unconventional.
Carly Shea, a fifth-year music and religious studies student at
California State University, Northridge, was a phone operator for
the Miss Cleo psychic hotline.
“I thought it might be kind of fun, but I met a lot of
shady people,” Shea said.
In regard to this “shadiness,” Miss Cleo is,
incidentally, under investigation for billing fraud.
But Shea still liked the Woodland Hills-based calling
center’s flexible hours.
“It paid OK, and I did get to talk to people all over the
country, even though they mostly wanted to speak with Miss
Cleo,” Shea said.
After three months though, Shea quit being a psychic; she said
the callers were often desperate and the work was
“ridiculous.”
“Sometimes I would give tarot card readings, but I
didn’t even have tarot cards in my hand,” Shea
said.
When asked what they’d be willing to do for fast cash,
other students cited doing surveys or being a subject for
scientific research.
“I wouldn’t endorse anything illegal, but if
you’re OK in yourself with doing something, then it’s
probably fine,” said Jen Badger, a second-year English
student.
Some male students said they sought to cure their financial woes
from within, by donating sperm.
“They pay $75 per visit and you can go every other day, so
I make anywhere from $75 to $300 a week,” said a UCLA student
who has been confidentially donating to a local sperm bank for over
a year.
“I have another job but 100 percent of my schooling fees
are paid with loans. Being a donor lets me pay off my loans
quicker,” he said.
Though ethical questions are bound to arise with this
money-making method, this student believes that donating sperm is
as beneficial for the receiving couples as it is for him.
“It’s just a service I’m providing for men who
want their wives to be pregnant, but can’t do it
themselves,” the student donor said.
But men aren’t the only ones who can pay their bills with
their reproductive organs.
Badger looked into becoming an egg donor last year when a
specific advertisement offered some $80,000 in financial
compensation.
By becoming an egg donor, the problems associated with finding
an immediate job and receiving financial aid could also be reduced,
Badger said. The particular egg-donating venture didn’t work
out for Badger, however.
Other students, meanwhile, are able to take advantage of various
medical studies. Judging by the number of advertisements in the
Daily Bruin’s classified section alone, this alternative is
popular in the medical realm of UCLA and greater Los Angeles.
A research project within the UCLA Brain Mapping Center
investigates the neural mechanisms underlying people’s
ability to adapt to long-term upside-down vision.
Subjects who meet the criteria and complete the two-week
“Adaptation to Visual Inversion” experiment are paid
$1,000.
Another medical option available that several UCLA students
pursue is a randomized, two-week study comparing small bowel injury
for the department of medicine’s gastroenterology section at
the Veterans’ Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare
System.
The study is double-blind, meaning that neither the experimenter
nor the patient know which prescribed combination of pills the
patient is taking, explained Linda Tran, a fourth-year biochemistry
student and subject.
“That way, no mental biases can occur, and you won’t
mentally think you’re feeling sick,” Tran said.
However, the study requires more than just willing participants
““ human subjects must keep a medical diary during the study
and avoid alcohol.
Patients must also remind themselves to take the correct dosage
of drugs and placebos ““ three pills in the morning and two at
night.
Doctors are testing an already-commercial drug to see how it
affects subjects’ gastrointestinal tracts, Yip said.
Patients first take a capsule with a camera that videotapes
their gastrointestinal tracts. After taking the drugs for two
weeks, they take the capsule again.
“They analyze the different data, and we get a CD of our
stomachs,” said Noel Sint, a fourth-year biochemistry student
and participant.
The VA research study is designed to help medical professionals
learn more about arthritis relief. Participants are compensated
$200 after four visits.
The study has been assessed to have a medium to high risk. It
may have side effects, but there is only a small possibility that
patients may develop a stomach or small intestinal ulcer. As is the
case with medical studies, the potential risks and discomforts are
disclosed ahead of time.
Human subjects sign a consent form and may withdraw themselves
from the project at any time, if they feel uncomfortable.
But so far, the students have reported no side effects.
“The doctors do the first screenings to make sure
we’re physically OK, and the dosages we take are very
low,” Tran said.
The students don’t feel uncomfortable or dehumanized
either.
“They don’t treat us like research subjects or
anything. They treat us like patients, more like friends
even,” Yip said.
These kind of friendships could make it easier for Bruins to
continue making quick cash.
“I’d do something like this again probably,”
Sint said.
“It just depends, case by case, and if I need the
money,” Sint concluded.