Grad student summer gig?

Are you at a relatively large university and/or one with a large population of international students? If so, they need some editing for the dissertations they're trying to finish this summer. Contact department secretaries in business, any computer-related fields, and the hard sciences and ask them to pass your name to advisers working with those students. Or contact advisers directly. Trust me...they're tired of editing their students' work (or are just refusing to do it) but know it needs to be done for the students to pass. I made many hundreds of dollars in the summer doing editing for subjects I knew basically nothing about. Make it clear you're not a professional editor, but most of them just need to get things sounding more like a native English speaker, so you'd do fine with that. If there's a writing center on campus, let them know you're looking for editing work, too. They often keep lists of possible editors on file for students who need them. But really, I wouldn't worry too much about people finding out. I wasn't supposed to have another job in grad school, but I worked as an office worker for a while (about 10 hrs. per week during the school year, even, for a few months; up to full time one pre-dissertation summer). I also did elder care (companion care rather than medical--a family hired me to keep their relative comfortable and distracted--I'd read the paper to her or go run errands or just be there doing reading to keep her company). People knew. My adviser didn't really approve, but she wasn't offering to pay my bills, either, and she never said anything about it to me directly.

http://www.leapforceathome.com/qrp/public/jobs is a legitimate work-from-home website evaluation job. You can work when you want (as long as there's work to do) but they pay you as an independent contractor so your taxes will be all wonky next year.

www.tutor.com will pay you as an independent contractor to tutor high school and college kids. You have to pass subject exams, however.

Not sure if they still do this but a few years ago Pearson offered positions for scorers for exams - no recommendations required, you just had to pass a test, I believe, to show that you could grade according to their rubric. I also picked up a few odd jobs via CL - translating, proofreading. All remote.

Night-shift at a parking garage -- lots of time to read or study in the little booth, not a lot of cars to check in and out. I worked as a (live-out) nanny in grad school, for pretty little kids. It was nice to rest my brain by playing physically with young children, and then when they napped or after they went to bed, I could study. My hours were pretty regular and the pay was pretty good, and then whenever I worked nights for them they paid me extra.

If you know any HTML, freelance web design -- academic departments as well as student groups on campus are always looking for someone to maintain their online presence. You can charge between $10 and $20 an hour. Babysitting and pet-sitting. Museum docenting. I've found that tutoring takes too much time and energy to justify the pay, but YMMV.

I have a grad student friend who's made a significant amount of money buying valuable things at resale shops like Goodwill, then reselling them on Ebay. You need to get/have a knowledge of your interest (she's done well with jewelry, handbags and shoes) and the market for it, but I've been impressed.

Where I am some academic departments pay their postgrad students to update their websites. It's good to have someone familiar with the department and the student experience doing this work. Usually it's just one person per department - but maybe it's worth asking. (I'm assuming that if it's for your own department they *would* notice, but wouldn't object).

3rding Tutor.com. I'm also a grad student and work about 8 hours a week in Physics and Essay Writing. I get paid $12/hour to explain vectors and comma splices to students whilst wearing pajamas. Memail me if you want a referral.