While Drake is singing about having money to blow amidst the country’s worst economic crisis during my lifetime, I need a job, and after the Star’s recent report about the lack of student jobs available on campus, it looks like my options are limited.

“Don’t limit your options to just student jobs,” you say? I haven’t. In fact, I’ve been looking for a job at just about everywhere as far back as June when summer school started. I even attempted to apply at stores like Pier 1 Imports, though I know nothing about mocha-scented armrest covers.

While you may get lucky, the simple fact is that hardly anyone is hiring. So how can college students, who have a reputation of being poor in a normal economy, find a way to pay for their various expenses?

One solution, or one job to be more specific, may not be the answer; it may be multiple. To start off, try saving. One way is to not buy and drink excessive amounts of alcohol four nights a week, try three, or even two. “Two-day weekend! You’re crazy!” Well if I am, so are the rest of the people working 40 hours a week.

Not everyone drops a lot of their money on booze, though. There are your gamers, fancy eaters and shopaholics too. No matter the area you tend to spend in excess, cut back a little bit. Take Chuck Kreml for example. He just transferred here as an accounting major, and one thing his advisor told him was not to get a job.

So, Kreml, being the future accountant he is, is going to be able to survive through the semester without a job because he saved money from his previous position at Kohl’s.

Saving can’t solve all your financial troubles of course, because how can you save money if you’re not generating any in the first place?

The way to do this without a steady job is a combination of creativity and flexibility. No, I’m not talking about stripping, unless you’re comfortable enough to do that. I mean come on, you can make anywhere from zero to hundreds of dollars a night. Anyway, get creative by thinking of ways you can personally employ yourself.

“I sold books, CDs and DVDs back to different stores,” said Ryan Hyser, a graduate biology education student. “I sold furniture and things like that on Craigslist.”

Hyser is a prime example of someone who was really hit hard by unemployment and hasn’t stopped to get back on his feet. In fact, he already had his B.S. in molecular biology and plant physiology from Purdue University before he was ever unemployed. He told me about a number of projects and research he had done to give him a great resume, including giving a presentation at Yale University.

Not too long after college, though, Hyser found himself out of work and was forced to file for unemployment. He said how depressing it was to graduate from a good college and then fall into that position.

“It all works out in the end, though, and that’s what got me through it all,” Hyser said.

Not all of you are in such a tight situation, and maybe just need some extra cash for groceries or school supplies. Sell some of your clothes to a shopaholic or sell your “Call of Duty” games that you never play any more to a gamer. Maybe you think you have an excess of plasma in your system, head to Bio Life Plasma Service, 1455 County Farm Road, and hook yourself up to the leech machine and start making that paper.

In terms of flexibility, try to take on jobs that may not fall in line with your typical schedule. Curtis Valasek, a double major in French and anthropology suggested trying temp agencies.

“You don’t always get the best hours, but I know people without jobs too,” Valasek said.

He also suggested taking risks.

“Not in the gambling sense, but if there is like an essay contest or something like that I’ll enter it,” Valasek said. “You don’t always win, but might as well try.”

Maybe even be flexible or adapt to your new amount of free time. It may serve as a chance to work on independent projects that build your resume for landing a job that not only pays, but that you love as well.

Media studies majors, make short films.

Journalists, start a blog.

Computer science majors, create a program that makes a computer’s functions more personalized for an individual the more they use it.

Physics majors, build the flux capacitor. I have faith in you.

Whether it’s selling what you have in excess, or using your free time to do something creative, play to your strengths, no matter what position you’re in.

You could sit and whine about the conditions of everything around you, or you can be an American and create work instead of waiting for someone else.

P.S. Drake, I heard you’re coming to DeKalb and I’m a great at scaring off girls if you’re hiring a bodyguard.

Hit me up.