His face illuminated by the glow of a computer screen, John Bedtelyon places a $30 bet and casually waits for his hand.

Bedtelyon is calm. The physics junior doesn't sweat the amount; he's learned enough about the game to predict the outcome.

The cards are dealt. Bedtelyon takes the hand and rakes in a cool $50.

Playing poker both online and in tournaments since his freshman year, Bedtelyon uses the money he wins to pay for tuition and books.

"It pays for school," he said. "All I do is play poker. I don't play craps or anything like that."

Time and skill have helped Bedtelyon learn how to turn a profit from the game. Even though poker can be considered a risky venture, for him it is a game of skill.

"I wouldn't call it gambling," he said, adding that he and the people he gambles with can make about to $100 an hour. "You can get lucky and win one poker tournament and make $5,000. It depends on how much time I put into it."

The transition from a working body to a poker player happened during the summer when Bedtelyon found that playing card games earned him more money than keeping a day job.

"This summer I worked for a tent company and assembled tents," he said. "The day after I quit my job, I made more money in a poker tournament than I made in four weeks at the tent company."

With a slim job market, students like Bedtelyon have found ways to earn money by holding unconventional jobs. Now, students are finding their talents and hobbies can keep them from flipping burgers and bagging groceries - jobs that might not be out there for them anyway.

"Youth unemployment rates have been higher since 2001," said Jim Rhein, labor market analyst for the Michigan Department of Labor & Economic Growth. "When there has been an economic downturn, there has been more competition for jobs that would normally go to college students.

"With a very difficult labor market, people have to scramble."

In a more conventional business venture, marketing junior Leanne Holland designs Web pages for small businesses from her dorm room.

For her, Holland said, going to work means sitting down at her computer and opening an e-mail.

"Usually, a senior graphic designer comes up with the look of the look and feel of the Web site," she said. "After they approve the design, our senior designer puts it into HTML and sends us the content.

"From there I look at each individual page and organize it and lay it out so it looks good."

A two-year employee of Five Sparrows, a Web site design and marketing company, Holland said she earns about $3,000 a year working in her free time.

"I use the money mainly for tuition and books," she said. "Basically, things I need for school."

Although working from a dorm room may sound ideal, Holland said it does present some challenges. Not having a place to work sometimes makes it hard to confer with co-workers, she said.

"I do have occasional problems where I will need to conference the office," Holland said, adding that despite the lack of face-to-face communication, e-mail and instant messaging capabilities help her to stay in contact with her office.

The rising cost of tuition and an influx of bills leave students with a need for fast cash, said Todd Romer, director of business development for youngmoney.com.

Youngmoney.com works to address the needs and questions of college students. They tackle the issues of saving, earning, investing and spending money.

"This generation has more money-related issues going on in their lives than any generation before them," Romer said. "Most have tuition bills unlike any generation in the past."

Students like Holland come to college and use skills they have developed, like graphic design, to make money, Romer said.

"They take skills they have honed in high school to college," he said. "Some do Web development services and Web creation."

In addition to a paycheck, Holland is gaining experience to prepare her for a job in marketing after college.

"It ties in wonderfully with what I want to do," she said. "I really want to get into the small-business market when I graduate. There is a great need for a big company presence on a small budget."

For some students, a little weekend spending money is all they need. Instead of working from a dorm room or going on an internship, some students take part in paid surveys and studies administered by the department of psychology to drum up some quick capital.

Alyssa Friede, a graduate student and test administrator, said students have the opportunity to earn $10-$40 an hour.

"The subjects would come in and they would read a consent paper; it is part of the ethical guidelines for being a study participant," she said. "Then they would take the survey. Afterwards, you tell the participants the full details of the study. Then they would get paid by cash or fill out a form to get a check in the mail."

As long as college students need money, they'll find a way to get it, Romer said.

"What we are finding is that college students are working a lot more today in school," he said. "They are finding work somehow."