College is expensive! That’s why you need to find ways to earn extra cash. It could be hard at first, but once you get used to it, it gets easier.
You might think that making money online isn’t an option for someone who just graduated high school.
And even though it might be impossible now, there are options that allow you to make money online on the side while you’re in college.
Money for college students are always tight and sometimes they have no choice than to work part-time jobs or go into debt.
But if you can manage your time well and use all of these tips, then you’ll be able to save some serious money without having to sacrifice anything else.
- Sell your old clothes & accessories: If you’ve got lots of old clothes lying around in your closet, consider selling them instead of throwing them away. You can sell them through eBay or Craigslist.
- Work as a tutor for extra cash: There are many people out there looking for help with their studies.
So if you know how to write, type, do math, etc., then this skill will come in handy when teaching others. Check websites like eLance or Odesk to start finding tutoring gigs.
Best ways for college students to earn money online and jobs
There are many jobs for college students available today. Some of which include writing articles, editing videos, proofreading documents, creating graphics, designing logos, doing research, answering customer service calls, taking surveys, reviewing products, and more.
If you want to learn about other opportunities for earning money online, check out our post on best ways to make money online.
Here are some list of best jobs for college students
- Freelance writer
Freelance writing are one of the most popular job among college students because it allows you to set your own hours and choose what projects you take up.
Freelancing also gives you flexibility since you don’t have to stick to any particular company.
To become a freelance writer, you should create content that interests readers and has enough value so that companies would pay you for it.
For example, if you love cooking, you may decide to share recipes on your blog. Or maybe you enjoy photography?
- Freelance designer
Designing is another great way to earn money from home. Designers usually charge per project depending on its complexity.
So if you have good design skills, you can easily turn those designs into business ideas.
To become a freelancer, you must have experience working with Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver, WordPress, HTML5/CSS3, Bootstrap, jQuery, JavaScript, PHP, Ruby on Rails, Python, Java, C++, Objective-C, Android.
This are also for creative people that has any business ventures.
- Freelance job
Freelancing are popular among college students because it offers flexible schedules and independence. It’s not uncommon for college students to get paid $10-$20 per hour.
However, keep in mind that freelancers need to market themselves and build relationships with clients before getting hired.
For instance, if you are interested in becoming a graphic designer, you could offer free services such as logo creation, website layout, social media banner ads, flyers, brochures, posters, presentations, infographics, etc.
- Graphic design
Graphic design jobs are always in demand especially during holidays and special events. Companies hire designers to create promotional materials and advertisements.
Graphic designers typically work 40 hours weekly but they might be required to work overtime.
- Online design
This is a best option for students who have artistic skills, creativity, and passion for art. You can use these talents by offering web page layouts, illustrations, icons, animations, video clips, music tracks, photos, etc.
You can find customers through sites like Fiverr, Upwork, Guru, PeoplePerHour, Elance, oDesk, Amazon Mechanical Turk, iWriter, 99designs, Behance, Creative Market, Etsy, ArtStation, Shutterstock, Pixabay, GraphicRiver, etc.
- Brochure design
Brochure designing are good for making extra money. This type of job are very easy to do and requires no specific skill or training.
All you need is an eye for detail and ability to write well.
The only downside is that there aren’t many employers looking for this kind of position. But if you’re willing to put time and effort into marketing yourself, then you’ll eventually land a few gigs.
- Customer service representatives
Plenty of people want to talk to someone when they call customer support lines. If you know how to answer questions about products and provide solutions to problems, then you can start earning some side income.
Most customer service reps receive commissions based on their performance. The more calls they handle, the higher their commission rate will be.
- Virtual assistant
If you have excellent organizational skills, you can help others manage their daily tasks. Business owners often outsource administrative duties so they can focus on running their companies.
As a virtual assistant, your role would include things like scheduling appointments, booking travel arrangements, creating spreadsheets, writing emails, proofreading documents, editing articles, managing online portfolios, taking pictures, recording videos, organizing files, sending invoices, etc.
- Customer service tasks
College Ave Student are always good in customer service task.
This type of job are usually available at retail stores, restaurants, hotels, gas stations, banks, insurance agencies, car dealerships, airlines, hospitals, government offices, post office, etc.
Some examples of customer service tasks: answering phones, greeting guests/customers, checking reservations, processing payments, providing directions, handling complaints, assisting elderly/disabled individuals, helping children, serving food/drinks, stocking shelves, cleaning rooms, delivering packages, etc.
- Making online websites
Making online websites are best choice for broke college student. This can help them earn money from home without having any experience.
It’s also one of the easiest ways to get started with freelance jobs.
There are plenty of website builders such as Wix, Weebly, Squarespace, WordPress, Joomla!, Drupal, Magento, etc.
These platforms allow users to create professional-looking websites within minutes.
To build a successful business, it takes hard work, persistence, dedication, and commitment.
- Making crafts on websites
Making crafts on websites are also best aid for college students. This are effective in making extra money.
This type of job are not difficult to learn but require patience and practice. You must first decide what craft you’d like to sell before starting.
Then design your own site using free templates provided by the platform. After that, upload images, add text, choose colors, set prices, and promote your product.
You may use social media sites to advertise your services. Or you could join forums where other crafters share tips and tricks.
- Creating brain games and premium games
Making premium games is a great way to make money while studying or working full time. It requires little effort and no prior knowledge.
The only thing you need is an idea for a game. Then you’ll need to find a developer who has created similar games. Once this step is complete, you’re ready to publish your game!
Brain Games
A brain game is a puzzle game designed to improve cognitive abilities.
Some popular types of brain games include Sudoku puzzles, crosswords, word searches, mazes, memory games, logic games, math games, trivia quizzes, and more.
Premium Games
A premium game is a video game that costs $60 or more. These games typically offer better graphics than free games, additional features, and improved gameplay mechanics.
Premium games tend to be longer and feature higher difficulty levels.
- Blogging business
Blogging now a day’s are very easy to start up. If you have some skills then you can easily do blogging. There are many people doing blogging so there will be lots of opportunity for you too.
- Working on coffee shops
Working on a coffee shop is a good option if you want to save money. But remember that you should always pay attention to customers’ needs.
If you don’t know how to serve coffee properly, you might end up losing clients because they won’t feel comfortable when drinking their drinks.
- Working on consignment shop
Working on this kind of store is really fun. The most important part of this job is finding items which are selling well.
After getting these things, you just need to put them out at the right place. And after that, you just wait until someone buys those products.
- Selling used books
Selling used books is another profitable activity. In fact, it’s considered as one of the oldest businesses.
But nowadays, we see many new bookstores opening every year. So, why not try this?
It doesn’t matter whether you live near a university campus or not. All you need is a computer with internet access and a printer.
And once you get started, you can earn anywhere from $50-$100 per month.
- Online tutoring jobs
Tutors usually charge between $15 -$30/hour depending on the subject being taught. Tutor jobs online are perfect for busy parents looking for ways to supplement income during summer break.
- Online jobs for social media platforms
Online job opportunities in Social Media Marketing are growing rapidly due to its popularity among companies seeking qualified employees.
Social media marketing involves creating content such as blogs, videos, articles, etc., about a company’s brand and posting links to these pages on various social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Reddit, Snapchat, etc.
This helps increase traffic to the website and ultimately leads to increased sales.
- Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is where you promote other peoples products by earning commission off each sale made through your affiliate link.
You may also choose to sell your own product using Amazon FBA. This means that instead of having to go into full production yourself, you simply list your item on Amazon and ship it directly to your customer. You keep all profits and none of the risk.
Amazon Associates Affiliate Program
There are two main options available:
Associate program – When an associate signs up for the program he receives a unique URL.
Then whenever anyone purchases something via that link, the seller pays the associate a percentage of the total purchase price.
Referral program – Similar to the first type but here the referral gets paid only when his referrals actually buy something.
The best way to find affiliates is to search for relevant keywords related to your niche.
- Teach anything online to kids
Teaching online to kids are very popular now days. There are so many people who want to learn English language.
- Get paid to watch videos online
Watching online videos and getting paid are becoming more common than ever before. People love watching movies and TV shows because they have nothing else to do.
If you’re good at typing then there are plenty of sites that will pay you to transcribe audio files. Just be careful if you don’t know much about transcription since some of the work might require legal expertise.
- Get paid to take surveys
Taking surveys and get paid are also popular today. Many students and actual people are doing this type of work.
- Get paid to play games online
This type of work has become really popular lately. If you enjoy playing video games then why not try making extra cash?
- Drive people around
Everyone hates to be late for an appointment or to reach their destination faster by cab or bus, but the truth is that if you could get people to show up on time, you would make a lot more money.
The same goes for getting them to the destination faster.
- Deliver food
Delivering food is great idea for making extra money. Well, it’s summer vacation for most people, and most people think about what they’re going to do for the summer.
Most people want to earn some money and they spend most of their time thinking about how they’ll earn some money.
On the other hand, it’s hard for some people to figure out how they’ll earn some money. But it’s not hard for most people to figure out how they can deliver food.
- Start an online store
Online selling are great for earning extra income. Online selling can be a great low-cost way to earn extra income.
Online selling is the practice of selling items over the internet. Online selling can be done in many ways such as selling services such as teaching, tutoring, and mentoring.
Online selling is a great way to earn extra income and start a small business. Online sellers can connect with vast number of potential customers in just a few mouse clicks.
The only thing you need is an internet connection, your laptop, and your product to promote.
- Create an online course
Since the advent of online courses, the number of people learning how to do something has increased exponentially. It’s easy for anyone, anywhere, to create a course and offer it to the world for a fee.
There are a number of ways to earn money online and some people want to earn money by creating online courses and selling lifetime access to their course.
- Monetize a YouTube channel
YouTube has become an essential part of the modern film-subscription service, allowing users to watch videos anywhere, anytime.
Since people are glued to their phones, YouTube has become an instant gateway to mobile streaming, and since YouTube gets people to watch videos, why not try to sell ads against them?
There are many ways to earn money on YouTube, but most of them are time consuming. You have to create, publish, and promote videos daily.
While most channels are monetized for free, most channels earn less than $1.00 per 1000 views.
- Donate plasma
Plasma donation is one of those things that sounds like a scam at first glance. However, there are legitimate organizations who pay donors for donating blood plasma.
If you don’t mind having needles stuck into your arm every two weeks, you might consider becoming a donor. Donating plasma isn’t difficult, and you will receive compensation for each unit donated.
A Wife, a mum and a Tutor! I am the Lead Editor at TheTutor.Link & also the Head Tutor there. I love teaching seeing young minds flourish. I also love blogging and sharing my experience on the world wide web.