Any broke college student can relate to the never-ending grind of looking for truly any way to save money. Whether it be cheap housing, meal-plan hacks, two-to-three side jobs on top of academics, and literally whatever it takes, making it all work can seem impossible at times.

But what if there was a way you could check all those boxes?

Being a resident assistant (read: an RA) can come with a lot of benefits that most students have no idea about. The most obvious one is free housing, but they also get the third-level meal plan for free.

Just with those expenses, students who become an RA would save $11,570 per semester. For in-state students, that cuts costs of attendance by 33%, and for out-of-state students, that’s a 20% saving.

On top of that, RAs get a $500 stipend. They get paid for living in the dorms and making sure freshmen don’t do anything extremely dumb. Dealing with drunk freshmen and having to actively monitor the kiddos some nights doesn’t sound ideal, but hey, there are plenty of worse jobs to have.

There is, however, one major issue with being an RA: the stigma surrounding the job. When someone thinks of an RA, a common image that comes to mind is a camp counselor — someone who’s supposed to watch over your every move and yell at you for being too loud. Often, people don’t want the image of being a ~narc~, and some definitely don’t want the responsibility that comes with it.

Being an RA is not a cakewalk job by any means. It’s much more difficult than people give it credit for. However, RAs can take a lot of valuable skills and knowledge out of the experience. Senior Cassandra Essis has been an RA for more than two years now, and she says her experiences can help her aspiring teaching career after graduation.

“Wanting to be a teacher, I’m going to have to deal with other teachers and children throughout my entire life,” she said. “Dealing with a floor of 30 college students is a different experience, but it helps me learn responsibility, which in turn can help me when I am in the classroom.”

The skills people learn while being an RA are very useful in whatever field they go into. These are life lessons like relationship building, patience, and responsibility that can help with everyday life. These are on top of the tangible rewards they get for dealing with moody freshmen all year long.

“Being an RA holds you to a higher standard,” Essis added. “You make better choices knowing that you’re potentially being looked up to and seen as a resource.”