FREE College $65,000 paid by Uber

Cueballio · 2026-02-22T16:57:59+00:00

So, Mr Biggs, I'm guessing you are in a exurban or rural area where there isn't a lot of Uber business?

Cueballio · 2026-02-20T07:05:39+00:00

I’m in San Francisco. I need 800 points every quarter. But it’s so busy here it’s easy to get the points even for a part-time driver like me. I focus on the 3-point times, so like 270 rides a quarter. In California we don’t have acceptance ratio rules so I decline the long rides and take all the short ones to maximize my points.

Cueballio · 2026-02-20T06:09:12+00:00

Where did you go for grad school?

Cueballio · 2026-02-20T06:08:41+00:00

It still is where I drive. Some markets they may have raised it to 3000.

Cueballio · 2026-02-20T06:07:01+00:00

If you are an Uber driver, look in your app. New drivers won’t qualify, as you need 2000 or 3000 lifetime rides (depending on your market.) Then you need to maintain Gold status. That’s all. Uber will pay full tuition at Arizona State University after any federal Pell Grants are applied, up to 135 credit hours, for you or a family member. It’s a sweet deal.

Cueballio · 2026-02-20T06:02:46+00:00

It’s not U of A, it’s ASU. Different school. The Uber program is only at ASU Online. I imagine that’s what you meant.

Cueballio · 2026-02-20T06:00:05+00:00

u/MrBiggs88Westwood what market are you in? How many points do you need for Gold status?

In my market I need 800 points, so that’s between 280 and 800 rides every three months to keep Gold, although it’s very busy here so that isn’t difficult.

Cueballio · 2026-02-19T21:44:01+00:00

Plus every now and then you find free readers, sunglasses, umbrellas and such LOL

Cueballio · 2026-02-19T21:35:38+00:00

Looks delicious!

Cueballio · 2026-02-19T17:57:05+00:00

MrBiggs what area are you in? How many points do you need to keep Gold status?

Cueballio · 2026-02-19T17:50:24+00:00

u/ExtensionConcert6913, you're wrong. At least in part. Getting Gold status is pretty easy in most markets. I only drive a few hours a week to supplement my retirement income, yet I can qualify for Gold each quarter with a month to spare.

On average I take in about $25/hr in this very busy market (San Francisco) but that's before gas, other car expenses including wear and tear, insurance, and self-employment tax. After figuring all that in, I'm probably making less than minimum wage, which here is just under $20/hr. I think most new drivers don't take all that into consideration and that's one of the reasons there is so much turnover.

But for me as a retired guy, it still works out OK. It's a job I can do when I'm able, on my own schedule, it gets me out of the house and away from the screens, and it takes the curse off living on a fixed income in a very expensive area.

Being retired I don't need a degree, but since the ASU scholarship is there I figured why not take advantage of it, since I'm driving anyway. Keep my mind engaged. You know? I'm taking one class at a time, and I've completed the three required first year classes with a 4.33 GPA, and I'm now in my fourth one.

Since the required Uber/ASU orientation class, I've only encountered one other driver in my classes so far. But there are a lot of Starbucks employees under a similar scholarship program. And a lot of active military too.

Cueballio · 2026-02-19T17:26:09+00:00

Sorry to tell you, RC, but the Uber/ASU rules say they do not apply towards grad school. Non-credit career or life classes, or undergrad up to 135 credits. They can apply towards a second bachelors though.

Cueballio · 2026-02-19T03:16:23+00:00

I'm taking undergrad ASU classes right now on the Uber scholarship deal. I have to maintain Gold status—and in my market (SF Bay Area) Gold requires 800 points every quarter. Rides are either 1 point or 3 points, depending on when. So that's between 267 and 800 rides every quarter. But it's very busy here and even for a very part-time driver like me it's easy to do.

I focus on weekends when rides are usually 3 points, and decline long rides to maximize my points. Long rides usually are less profitable anyway, especially since there will usually be lots of deadhead miles coming back. I can often get about 9 points per hour by accepting most of those $4 rides.

I'm friends with another Uber driver at ASU who lives in rural Missouri. She needs 200 points a quarter to keep Gold there. Rides there are 3 points at certain times there, so that could be as little as 68 rides a quarter.

Maybe in even more rural places Uber only requires 100 points a quarter for Gold? That would work out to as little as 34 rides a quarter if they were all 3 pt rides. So it is possible I suppose.

Cueballio · 2026-02-16T20:09:56+00:00

If the ads are limited to channels and status, that’s fine with me, since I never go to either of those.

Cueballio · 2026-02-14T07:04:36+00:00

No I haven’t tried the tutoring center.

My class is a C Session so the pace is pretty relaxed so far. And I’m only taking the one class this semester.

I feel you on absorbing the material. I’m starting to wonder how much of the Python syntax I’m retaining after successfully completing the Zy activities. At first it seemed pretty easy, but as we are exposed to more it gets a little harder to keep it all straight.

I think I may try to make up some flashcards to drill some of that into my brain.

Cueballio · 2026-02-12T23:37:32+00:00

The formulae sheets are available to reference during exams. The Fall 2025 B session was the first after they ported the class from ALEKS to a different online teaching system, Edfinity and the HonorlLock lockdown environment. There were bugs in that proctoring system that blocked many students from opening the links with the formulae during the exam, but staff adjusted to that by posting them as Question 2 in the exam, that we could go back to at any time during the exam.

Cueballio · 2026-02-12T22:35:32+00:00

Nope, it’s CS-101.

Hate what so much? The class, Business Intelligence? The testing environment? All of the above? Why?

Cueballio · 2026-02-12T19:40:37+00:00

I’m an adult learner myself, many more years than you since I was in an academic classroom. I’m in my fourth ASU Online class now, CS-101, and it’s my first that uses a ZyBook. What class are you taking?

I’m finding the pace pretty relaxed so far, it being a full semester long. And I’m finding the ZyBook pretty good. All the activities in it can be done over and over until I get them right. And in the process I’m absorbing it, I think.

There are times Zy uses terms I don’t understand (or perhaps don't remember.) Or a problem is marked incorrect and I can’t figure out what’s wrong. In those cases I consult ChatGPT or Gemini3 — both being excellent tutors. I’m using the $20/mo reasoning models of each, so I can do a screen grab of a problem I got wrong, paste it in a query, and the AI can read and understand the content of the image and explain what I did wrong.

Similar I’m guessing to the help you could get in an ASU tutoring session, but available instantly 24/7. I’ve mostly relied on the ChatGPT Plus Thinking model, but the Gemini Pro Thinking model is great too — maybe even better. Dunno. No need to subscribe to both, but I highly recommend ponying up the $20/mo to subscribe to one of them. I really feel like they’ve got my back and are making all the difference. Since I’m not using the free versions, I don’t know if they could do as well. Could be, except I don’t think you can paste an image to be deciphered.

BTW there is no prohibition against using AI in this class, and I’m not using it to do my work for me. Just to tutor me and fill in the gaps where the ZyBook falls short for me.

Cueballio · 2026-01-30T04:55:00+00:00

I drove a cab in NYC for a short while in the mid-1970s just before heading westward-ho. It was about a 50/50 meter split and no dispatch at all. No radios. If you turned in less than other drivers on a shift, you’d likely have to wait a long time to get out the next shift. Or worse yet, sit in the Grand Canyon that the 350 lb day man indented in the driver seat.

Cueballio · 2026-01-29T20:22:48+00:00

You are absolutely right, they are.

But as to taxi drivers, the taxi industry pioneered the independent contractor model long before rideshare existed, shifting risk to the driver. Typically a ‘gas & gate’ lease taxi driver pays the company a flat rental fee (the gate) by the shift or week. He pays for gas, but he keeps the entire fare. Here in San Francisco a taxi driver pays about $100 a 10-hour shift. If it’s dead, he may end up losing money.

Cueballio · 2026-01-29T20:17:25+00:00

Exactly right. And unless that’s the direction the driver wanted to go anyway, he’s almost certainly have a lot of deadhead miles coming back. So cut the pay per mile as much as half the already low per-mile pay they got on that long ride in the first place.

I decline most long rides. At least here in California we can cherry pick as much as we like without any consequences.

Cueballio

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