Applying to Jack’s, streaming chapel services, and signing up for every student ambassador opportunity available – life as a university student is tough. And, especially at Cambridge, where being strapped for cash feels like an alien concept, it can be difficult to escape the quiet pressure to keep pace with your peers. Navigating the university’s ban on part-time jobs amid all this is an added challenge; the idea of running into your tutor while manning the Fitzbillies counter striking a fear in any working student.

Although some colleges do try to be understanding – offering opportunities for part-time work within the University – these positions are quickly filled by second or third years whose experience puts them miles ahead of freshers. Not to mention holiday fundraising roles – aimed at soliciting donations from alumni – which everyone and their mother seems to apply for, meaning smaller colleges can’t guarantee the same opportunities as powerhouses like Trinity and St Johns.

“Tutoring is far less glamorous than one might expect”

So, what can a first year do to make some cash while maintaining her sanity amid the hectic Cambridge terms? I personally have found success in private tutoring. On the whole, tutoring by Cambridge students is associated with the sale of pipe dreams and exorbitant ‘how to get into Cambridge’ guides. In fact, word on the street is that one well-known undergraduate has even launched an elite tutoring venture charging upwards of a whopping £60 per hour, justified by a “bespoke, psychology-driven matching process”. Exploiting Year 8 students, however, is not on my 2026 bucket list.

In the competitive world of private tutoring, a single word can make you stand out: ‘Cambridge’. This specific genre of name-dropping getting you places only nepotism normally can. For many parents across the UK, the university a tutor attends serves as a qualification in itself and justifies the bank-breaking hourly wages they’re volunteering to get charged. However, in reality, tutoring is far less glamorous than one might expect – I’ve got the scars to prove it, having forced myself through hours of preparation and familiarised myself with entirely new (and deadly dull) specifications and exam requirements.

“The most common pitfall […] is biting off more than one can chew”

Across the last few months, I’ve managed to gather a network of UK and overseas students who I offer individual lessons to. My tutoring journey didn’t get off to such a smooth start though, my first ‘shift’ being with two younger schoolmates, in a café, just two short (fear-inducing) months before their AS-level exams. Their teacher had missed critical areas of the syllabus and so they came to me with a lot of questions. While this was a massive undertaking, I somehow felt confident enough in my knowledge to take them on, having been taught by some exceptional teachers myself in my time at school. Now, months later, I offer individual lessons to students ranging from Year 8 to Year 13.

So, while teaching can be demanding, I see it as one of the best side-hustles for students. Between lectures, essay deadlines, and the mad rush of Sidgwick Site, heading out to a café or restaurant for a shift is often impossible. Tutoring, on the other hand, can be done right from your bedroom desk (thus setting you up for an immediate post-tutoring session lock-in, if needed). Parents and students know you’re a full-time university student, so they tend to be far more flexible than most employers.

“Tutoring offers something other part-time jobs cannot: control”

The private tutoring code can be a little difficult to crack, though, and a lot of students get tied up with tutoring platforms (failing to realise that their commissions can account for up to 50% of your total earnings). On top of this, payments often go through the company before ending up in the student’s bank account, meaning actual payments can get significantly delayed. The tutor experience is also highly dependent on the clients you take on, some parents appreciating the limited time windows a student has to offer more than others. The most common pitfall, however, is biting off more than one can chew (a Cambridge student classic) – signing up for more classes than you can possibly manage, the concept of work-life balance becoming a far flung dream. This is a trap I personally fell into when I first began tutoring overseas students, dragging myself out of bed at four in the morning to teach someone from across the globe – this, obviously, led to serious exhaustion and more missed 9ams than I’m willing to admit.

Practice, however, does make perfect, and across the last few months I’ve worked out a steady rhythm; scheduling classes for weekends and days with relatively few lectures has allowed me to achieve that elusive ‘work-life balance’. Planning the week ahead has become imperative, as I block out time to meet tutoring and university commitments. With exam season rolling around, though, whether this rhythm will survive the assault of requests for extra tutoring remains to be seen.

On the whole, tutoring offers something other part-time jobs cannot: control. You are in charge of when, where and how long a session is. Against the backdrop of a university that runs on deadlines, timetables and schedules, that control is no small grace.