Part-Time Jobs Near Baylor: Where Students Actually Work

If you're looking for part-time jobs near Baylor, the good news is there's no shortage — Indeed lists more than 2,400 part-time openings in Waco at any given time, and many of the best ones are within a 10-minute walk of campus. The trick is knowing which ones actually hire students reliably, which pay well enough to cover rent, and how to time your applications so you're not competing with 5,000 other students every August.

This guide breaks down the four real paths to part-time work as a Baylor student: on-campus jobs through Baylor Student Employment, federal work-study, off-campus jobs near Franklin Avenue and downtown Waco, and remote work. We'll get into pay ranges, application timing, and which employers actually want students.

On-Campus: The Easiest Path

For most Baylor students, on-campus jobs are the lowest-friction way to start working. They're capped at 20 hours per week, scheduled around your classes, and you're already there for class anyway. No commute, no parking permit, no Texas summer heat between you and your shift.

Baylor runs all on-campus hiring through the Student Employment office, which posts openings on a single online portal. The categories that hire most consistently:

• Moody Memorial and Jones Libraries — front desk, shelving, late-night staffing. Easy work, lots of downtime to study.
• McLane Student Life Center — fitness center attendants, climbing wall belay staff, intramural referees, lifeguards (pool certification required). Active jobs that pay similar to library work.
• Dining services — Penland, East Village, Memorial, retail locations. Reliable hours, free shift meals at most spots.
• IT helpdesk — student technology consultants, walk-in support. Pays a bit more if you have technical skills.
• Research assistants — paid positions tied to specific labs and faculty. Mostly upperclassmen and grad students; check department pages directly.
• Office assistants — administrative support across nearly every department. Good "study while you work" jobs.

Any student in good academic standing can work on campus. Priority goes to students who filed FAFSA and have Federal Work-Study (FWS) eligibility, but plenty of jobs are open to everyone through University Work-Study, which doesn't require FAFSA.

Application tip: Campus summer jobs fill quickly — apply by late April. For fall semester, the portal opens for applications in early August, but the strongest candidates apply the week before classes start.

Federal Work-Study (and the Lesser-Known University Version)

If you filed the FAFSA and qualified for Federal Work-Study, you have access to a broader pool of jobs and employers — including some off-campus nonprofits — and your earnings don't count against next year's financial aid calculation. That last point matters more than students realize: a student making $4,000/year on regular wages can see their next year's Pell Grant or institutional aid drop. FWS earnings don't.

If you didn't qualify for FWS or didn't file FAFSA, University Work-Study is the backup. Baylor funds these positions internally, the eligibility bar is much lower (any student in good standing), and the jobs themselves are essentially identical to FWS-funded ones — same pay, same departments. The application is on the same portal.

Both programs cap at 20 hours per week during the semester. Most students work 10–15.

Off-Campus: Walking-Distance Jobs Near Baylor

If you want more variety, more hours during breaks, or a real customer-service-resume-builder, off-campus is where it gets interesting. The cluster of student-friendly employers near Baylor sits along Franklin Avenue, S 8th Street, and downtown Waco — all within walking or short-drive distance of 19Eleven.

Coffee shops and cafés — These are the classic Baylor student jobs:

• Common Grounds (1123 S 8th St) — A Baylor institution since the 1990s. Hires baristas, kitchen staff, and event crew (concerts in the back yard). Listings on ZipRecruiter typically range $13–$33/hr including tips for senior staff. Walking distance from 19Eleven.
• Dichotomy Coffee & Spirits, Pinewood Coffee Bar, Heritage Creamery, Waco Cha — All hire students seasonally and offer tip-driven income.
• Fabled Bookshop & Café (215 S 4th St) — Hires student baristas and bookstore staff. Tends to be selective; values applicants who actually read.

Restaurants and food — Tip jobs scale with how busy the restaurant is. The downtown and Franklin corridors have the most volume:

• Shorty's Pizza Shack (300 S 6th St) — Late-night, student-heavy clientele.
• Schmaltz's Sandwich Shoppe — On-campus location plus the original Hewitt store. Day shifts, no late nights.
• Magnolia Table — Magnolia regularly posts host, prep cook, and barista openings (currently 8+ openings in Waco). Higher visibility on a resume because of the brand.
• Vitek's Gut Pak, Harvest on 25th, Milo All Day, Cricket's Grill — All hire students.

Retail and brand jobs — The Magnolia Market complex, Spice Village, and Common Grounds Pop-Up all hire student retail staff. Retail pay is steadier than tipped roles but typically tops out lower.

Tutoring — One of the highest-paying student jobs near Baylor, often $20–35/hr. The Baylor Tutoring Center hires upperclassmen with strong GPAs in specific subjects, and platforms like Wyzant connect tutors to local high school families. STEM tutors earn the most.

Remote Work That Actually Pays

Remote part-time work is becoming the default for upperclassmen who want flexibility around hard class schedules and travel. The realistic categories:

• Online tutoring — Same skill base as in-person tutoring but you can work from your apartment. Wyzant, Varsity Tutors, and Outschool are common starting points.
• Customer service / chat support — Asynchronous text-based roles via platforms like Working Solutions and Liveops. Pay is modest ($10–15/hr) but truly flexible.
• Freelance writing and digital marketing — If you have a portfolio, Upwork and Contra connect students with small businesses needing content, social posts, and basic web work.
• University grading and TA work — Many Baylor professors hire student graders for intro courses. Pay isn't huge but the time commitment is light.

Remote jobs work especially well if your apartment has reliable internet — which is one of the practical advantages of 19Eleven's $40/mo flat fee that includes high-speed internet alongside trash, pest, and facilities. No separate ISP contract, no bandwidth caps to worry about during a video tutoring session.

How Much Should You Expect to Make?

Real-world pay for a Baylor student working 10–15 hours per week:

• On-campus minimum-effort jobs (library, office assistant): $9–11/hr × 12 hrs = ~$450–550/month before taxes
• Active on-campus jobs (McLane SLC, IT, lifeguarding): $11–14/hr × 12 hrs = ~$550–700/month
• Off-campus tipped roles (Common Grounds, restaurants): $13–25/hr including tips × 15 hrs = ~$800–1,500/month
• Tutoring (in-person or online): $20–35/hr × 8 hrs = ~$650–1,100/month
• Remote freelance/marketing: Highly variable, $300–2,000+/month depending on portfolio

Most students working a single part-time job land somewhere between $500 and $1,200/month. That can cover a meaningful slice of rent — at 19Eleven, a 4-bedroom split four ways is $437.50–$450/person/month, which a moderate part-time job covers entirely. A 2-bedroom split two ways ($647.50–$765/person) is doable on most off-campus jobs.

For the full math on splitting rent, see our budget guide.

Why Apartment Location Matters More Than You'd Think

Here's the part that gets overlooked: the closer you live to your job, the more shifts you'll actually take. It sounds obvious, but the difference between walking 10 minutes to a Common Grounds shift versus driving 15 minutes (plus parking) is the difference between picking up a Tuesday-night three-hour shift or skipping it because it's not worth the hassle.

A few practical considerations:

• Walking distance to campus — On-campus jobs are non-negotiable for first-year and second-year students. 19Eleven sits about half a mile from Baylor (~10-minute walk), so you can take an 8 AM library shift, walk to a 9:30 class, and walk home for lunch.
• Walking distance to Franklin Ave restaurants and Common Grounds — A 10-minute walk to the Franklin corridor opens up the entire Waco student-jobs ecosystem without needing a car.
• No parking permit needed — A Baylor commuter parking permit runs $25–$75/month, plus gas. If you live close enough to walk, you save $300–900/year. That's another month of rent.
• Reliable internet for remote work — Self-explanatory, but worth saying. Cheap apartment Wi-Fi will cost you tutoring sessions and freelance deadlines.
• Quiet, study-friendly space — If you're working remotely between classes, you need a place that's not a chaotic dorm. 19Eleven's study rooms and coffee bar are useful for taking client calls or grading papers without roommate noise.

Our walking guide to S 8th Street covers what's actually walkable from this part of South Waco.

Application Timing: When to Apply

Most students miss out on the best part-time jobs near Baylor because they apply too late. The realistic timeline:

1. April–May: Apply for summer on-campus jobs and Magnolia/Common Grounds summer hiring. Best summer roles are gone by mid-May.
2. July: Submit FAFSA paperwork if you want Federal Work-Study for fall. Apply for fall on-campus positions in late July.
3. Early August: Off-campus restaurant and retail hiring picks up two weeks before classes start. Apply in person — managers respond better to walk-ins than online applications.
4. First two weeks of class: On-campus departments finalize their schedules. If you didn't get a job pre-semester, this is the second wave. Visit Student Employment in person.
5. Mid-semester (October, March): Smaller hiring waves as students drop jobs. Less competition.

Don't wait until you "need" the money — the best jobs are filled before the financial pressure hits.

Ready to Make This Easier on Yourself?

Living within walking distance of campus and the Franklin Avenue job cluster is the single biggest hack for working part-time as a Baylor student. You skip parking permits, you save gas, you can take shifts that don't make sense for commuter students, and you have actual study time between class and work.

Browse our floor plans to see what fits your budget, schedule a tour to see the apartment in person, or start your application if you're ready to lock in a place close enough to make working part-time a sustainable part of your Baylor experience.