Earn Money to Help Fund Your Degree with Clinical Trials

Are your student funds depleting? Most students are familiar with that feeling of impending doom associated with their finances. Not all, but the vast majority need a bit of extra cash to get them through each academic year.  Many students also choose to travel after University but without sufficient funds that can become very difficult. Clinical Trials could be your solution to these financial woes and they aren’t as scary as you might think.

Every drug must undergo research and testing before it can be placed on the market, so clinical trials are vital. There are many pharmaceutical companies out there that are always looking for volunteers to participate, and because they are critical to the development of medication, these companies are willing to pay you.

Pharmaceutical companies can pay from $100 up to $6000 per trial for up to four trials a year, plus a contribution to your travel expenses. With that amount of money you can pay off a substantial amount of debt, especially if your degree is a longer course that puts further strain on those purse strings. You could even have some left over for travel plans after you graduate or to spend on alcohol for those late University nights.

If you’re worried about side effects during the clinical trial, don’t be! All trials are reviewed and approved by a Research Ethics Committee and carried out by fully trained health care professionals.  You are closely monitored throughout the study and medical staff are always on hand to help, in the unlikely event you experience unexpected side effects. If you do wish to leave during the study, you may do so; you are not under contract to stay. However, some pharmaceutical companies will only pay you for completing the trial fully.

Interested? To take part in a clinical trial you must first make it through a screening process. When you register the clinical trials company will likely send you an information pack to fill out about yourself and then ask you to come in for a medical check. Don’t worry; your medical data is treated with the utmost care and remains confidential. The aim is to find out if you are healthy and suitable enough to participate, which at your young age you likely will be. Once accepted you will be able to choose from a selection of clinical trials, you are not allocated to one. Some clinical trials may run during the day for a few hours while others may require you to stay overnight.

If you choose to do a longer clinical trial involving staying for a length of time in the clinic, this could be a good opportunity for you to take a break from your social life at University and catch up on some work away from distractions. You might think this would be a lonely experience, but there is plenty of opportunity to meet other volunteers and make new friends in the process. Most clinics will provide forms of entertainment as well.

So it’s not all doom and gloom for students. Clinical trials could be a useful solution for you to banish those financial worries and enable you more freedom to buy what you want and need.

Contributed by Megan Cherry, who is currently writing about ways to earn money, like volunteering for clinical trials with big companies like GSK