Students seeking extra cash turn to donating plasma
Saving lives and rising gas prices offer motivations to donate
Nick DeMoss
Issue date: 1/12/09 Section: News
For UA students looking for some extra cash during the holiday season, the answer may come from within.
Donating plasma is a popular way for college students across the nation to make extra money, and with a BioLife Plasma Services center in Fayetteville, UA students often take advantage of the opportunity.
Plasma donors who donate the maximum amount can make $240 a month, which is put onto a debit card at the donation center. The money then can be withdrawn from local banks, according to a press release from Baxter International Inc., the company that owns BioLife.
Donating plasma can be such a lucrative pastime that some job search engines even list "plasma donor" as a part-time employment opportunity.
Donors can give plasma up to two times a week, with only a one-day gap between donations required. For the first donation in a week, the donor receives $20, and the second donation earns $40.
Junior kinesiology major Tim Davis said he usually donates six times a month and earns a total of $180.
"The reason I started donating was to help fill my gas tank," Davis said, referring to earlier in the year when gas was more than $3 a gallon.
Davis said he has recently not been donating as frequently, but with the current state of the economy and the high rate of inflation, he would start again soon.
But Davis said for him it's about more than just making money. Knowing that his plasma goes to help save lives motivates Davis to take time from his day to give his plasma.
Plasma can be used for a variety of medical purposes, including therapies for hemophiliacs, trauma victims needing blood, burn patients and patients suffering from shock, according to a BioLife press release.
Davis compared the process of giving plasma, known as "plasmapherisis," to the feeling of giving blood and said that after several donations he was used to the experience.
The actual extraction of plasma may be as easy as giving blood, but the entire process of becoming an eligible donor can take several hours, said Will Hogan, sophomore political science and European studies major.
Donating plasma is a popular way for college students across the nation to make extra money, and with a BioLife Plasma Services center in Fayetteville, UA students often take advantage of the opportunity.
Plasma donors who donate the maximum amount can make $240 a month, which is put onto a debit card at the donation center. The money then can be withdrawn from local banks, according to a press release from Baxter International Inc., the company that owns BioLife.
Donating plasma can be such a lucrative pastime that some job search engines even list "plasma donor" as a part-time employment opportunity.
Donors can give plasma up to two times a week, with only a one-day gap between donations required. For the first donation in a week, the donor receives $20, and the second donation earns $40.
Junior kinesiology major Tim Davis said he usually donates six times a month and earns a total of $180.
"The reason I started donating was to help fill my gas tank," Davis said, referring to earlier in the year when gas was more than $3 a gallon.
Davis said he has recently not been donating as frequently, but with the current state of the economy and the high rate of inflation, he would start again soon.
But Davis said for him it's about more than just making money. Knowing that his plasma goes to help save lives motivates Davis to take time from his day to give his plasma.
Plasma can be used for a variety of medical purposes, including therapies for hemophiliacs, trauma victims needing blood, burn patients and patients suffering from shock, according to a BioLife press release.
Davis compared the process of giving plasma, known as "plasmapherisis," to the feeling of giving blood and said that after several donations he was used to the experience.
The actual extraction of plasma may be as easy as giving blood, but the entire process of becoming an eligible donor can take several hours, said Will Hogan, sophomore political science and European studies major.
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