To increase your stats you either upgrade your dorm mates or hire new ones through the "Dorm" tab while in the home screen. To make money i'd suggest doing jobs until you complete "Plank Power" which would give you 20 billion to spend. This 20 billion you could use to participate in open vollies, increase your stats, or hire tutors to increase plunder. After completing the 20 billion job you could start looking for worthwhile farms and keep hitting them 3-4 times in succession.