12 Ways How To Make Money as a College Student

When it comes to money, college students usually do not have that much. It makes sense though – student loans are rather large. Also, most of the time is spent studying. The other time is used for partying in the dorm room. No judging though, these are the best times after all!

Having some extra money in college as a student would not hurt. Having a part-time job may be too time-consuming, but that is not the only way to get paid. With that in mind, these are the other ways to make money in college.

Sell your notes

Listening and taking notes are the key elements of learning. While in college, you attend lectures that usually pack a lot of information in them. The trusty old notebook and a pen are your greatest friends that help you not to forget what was being told. Or it could be your laptop - whatever works best for you!

Usually, after certain courses are finished, you are left with stacks of papers (or documents on your PC), and old textbooks that may seem pretty useless. However, what is no longer needed for you can become a lucky pot of gold for the others. Instead of throwing it all out, you can earn some extra cash by selling your notes.

In a sense, this works both ways. You, as the seller, earn money for your hard work at lectures. The buyer gets a better understanding of the course itself and can also spend more time listening, instead of writing. Also, knowing that new students will keep on coming, it would be a genius idea to make multiple copies of your notes. This way you would be able to sell the same material to more people. And more people means more ways to make money.

This certainly makes it an easy way to make money in college. You get paid for selling what is useless to you, creating a win-win scenario. So, keep holding those notes – they could be your ticket to that extra grocery shopping session!

Sell your crafts

Not all college students spend their free time partying and playing video games. Others prefer a quiet time enjoying their hobbies, such as crafting beautiful things. If you are one of those creative people, you should know that you can turn your creativity into extra cash.

Sites like Etsy or the Facebook marketplace make this task very easy. With a wide range of categories, you are sure to find your own favorite craft there. All you have to do is relax and enjoy your hobby. After the crafting is done, simply list your items on the marketplace of your choice. A few hours spent making those bracelets or boiling that soap could net you some great extra income.

However, since there are so many creative people out there, it may not be that easy to make the sale itself. Having a social media presence or spreading the word throughout campus should guarantee you an advantage over others. Who knows, maybe with enough success you may get noticed by business owners, landing you a great job.

With enough luck and dedication, something you do for fun can become one of the ways to make money in college.

Freelance

Freelancing is another great way to make money in college. Here you would employ your talents without long-term commitments. It could be considered a lighter version of having a full-time job. Also, business owners tend to hire college students for these gigs.

The needs for freelancing are pretty much endless. If you enjoy photography – you will surely find a freelancing gig for some events. If you ever wanted to start a blog or had written one - you are already one foot in freelance writing. This is useful not only as a side hustle but also as a way to gain experience in the field. Besides that, freelancing may give a taste of what it would feel like to work in such position full-time.

It does not have to be something huge though. With sites like Fiverr, any student can list all of their abilities and check what happens. This could range from graphic design to virtual assistant or tutoring services. If you have quite a few skills or can offer something unique, you are sure to find people who would be interested.

Having fun while working? Check. Picking freely on what to do for a job? Check. Improving your writing skills or other neat things? Check. Getting extra money out of it? Check. All that is left is to open your laptop and start looking for those sweet ways to make money!

Sell your old clothes

Everyone is guilty of buying clothes and then forgetting about them. A while ago you threw a t-shirt to the back of your closet after spending money on it. Now it just sits there, gathering

dust. During the spring cleaning, you rediscover it, along with outgrown jeans and a very out-of-fashion dress. You may have the urge to simply throw it all out, but that would be a big mistake!

As with before mentioned notes, clothing items that you no longer use can be a treasure for other people. Instead of throwing them out, you can make extra money by selling them online. With calls for sustainability and shifting fashion trends, it is very easy to find potential buyers of your forgotten clothes.

There is a variety of websites that work as marketplaces for such things. Also, there are online forums and exchanges where you could turn your clothes into money, making it a nice side hustle. Since these items are useless to you, it will not be hard to say goodbye to them. All in all, you would be clearing out the bloated closet and earning money on the side. Sell your old clothes - it is a complete win-win scenario to improve your personal finance goals!

Passive income applications

What if we told you that you can make money doing absolutely nothing? Sounds too good to be true? Surprisingly, that is completely possible with passive income applications online.

One of these applications is Honeygain. The premise of it is rather simple: you share your unused internet bandwidth with us and make some extra money for it. All it takes is creating an account, installing the Honeygain application, and keeping it running on your device.

Since Honeygain is available on nearly every platform, you should be able to start using it right off the bat. Here you would earn 3 credits for every 10 MB of traffic shared. 1000 credits are equal to $1. That's an easy way to make money! The credits keep flowing to your account while you are sitting at a lecture, revising your notes, or having a walk around campus – the application does everything for you.

Making use of Honeygain's referral system could be a great way to earn money faster. The referral system grants you an equivalent of 10% of your referrals' daily earnings. Going around college campuses or sharing your referral link on social media, and 'hiring' prospective students is a way to success. They would get a $5 sign-up bonus as a push to make money.

If you are afraid for the safety of it, there is no need for that. Honeygain does not ask for any permissions, nor does the application collect any personal data. It does not have access to what is inside your device. Moreover, the bandwidth you share is encrypted, making everything extra safe.

With no effort or time required, passive income applications are an amazing way to make money in college. You do nothing and yet extra cash keeps on coming – perfection!

Online surveys

One of the ways you can make extra money is by using survey sites. There, as the name suggests, you take surveys and make money in return. Since everything takes place online, you would not need to leave your dorm room in order to earn.

Online survey sites usually provide easy surveys to fill. This means that this job is rather easy and not too time-consuming. It is kind of similar to data entry jobs, but way more fun. The price ranges for surveys vary from service to service, and longer surveys pay more. Some sites like that are willing to pay $0.50 - $1 per survey. They are usually used for market research and audience checking.

As this is an online gig, you can make some extra money anywhere. In case you are having a boring lecture, just take a survey! Turn your boredom into extra income - making money was never this easy.

House sitting

House sitting is one of the more comfortable ways to make some extra money. In this job, you would be looking after a house while the owners of it are away. The exact tasks vary from client to client. Some may ask you to do chores and keep the place clean. The others may simply ask you to be at the house and make sure nothing bad happens. Either way, you would become a resident there for a bit.

Clients for this job tend to hire college students since professional housekeepers are way too expensive. The payment you receive also varies - some clients pay on an hourly rate (per hour) or go for bulk payment. Needless to say, the longer your stay - the more you get paid. This is a pretty cool job as it is highly likely that you would be house sitting some rather majestic homes!

If you are an animal lover - that is even better. Your house sitting job could be paired with pet sitting. In case the house owner has any pets, you would be taking care of them, too. And if it is a dog, you would have to do dog-walking duties. In some cases, the owners are willing to pay extra for that. With that in mind, this could make you a lot of money and help you with the student loan.

Overall, it is a well-paid and easy job to do. It should give you extra income that would be bigger than minimum wage based on an hourly rate, making it a great option to make extra money in college.

Become a residence advisor

Another way how to make extra money in college would be to become a residence advisor. This is a campus job perfect for those who are very social. In this position, you would be a shoulder to lean on for your fellow prospective students.

To earn some extra money here, you would need to ensure good conditions for the students at your college. This means a few things. For example, you would need to be there to hear out the issues that fellow students are facing. Sometimes just being a good listener is all that is needed. On the other hand, you would also be responsible for keeping the maintenance of the dorm. It may sound tough, but it is one of the easiest campus jobs that you can take.

Compared to research assistant or teaching assistant jobs, this one is piece of cake!

Being a college residence advisor is a great way to find new friends too. Since you would be informing fellow students about what is happening in the community of your campus, and acting as a campus tour guide, you are bound to find some like-minded people. Socializing, having fun, and earning extra money – seem like some dreams do become reality!

Deliver food

If you own a car, a fun way to earn extra money could be delivering food. The overall landscape of catering businesses had changed dramatically since the pandemic and eating out habits had died in favor of simply ordering food and eating it at home. This is great news for you as you can get paid to be in this side gig.

Food deliveries are easy to do and often pay good money. Numerous apps are available for this purpose, offering different pay rates. If the payouts are low on one service, you can opt-in to use a different one, maximizing your earnings overall. And do not forget about the tips – a lot of services let you keep all of them to yourself!

Besides that, you set your own schedule for this gig. If your lectures happen during the evening, you can deliver food during the daytime (and vice versa). Though if you are incredibly busy, using even the little spare time that you find could be profitable. A few bucks for a drive-around time can be relaxing and financially rewarding.

Become a tutor

If you have already thrown out your old notebooks, you can resort to becoming a private tutor for your fellow students. This way, you would provide extra help for those seeking great academic results and earn extra money.

Sites like Tutorhunt are a great place to get started since they provide listings of people looking for tutors. They are all organized by categories, so you should be able to find your field of expertise relatively easily. Tutors usually get paid by the hour. This makes difficult subjects more profitable since they usually take more time to explain fully, and could lead to some good money!

Tutoring is a great way to earn, and it helps both you and the student you will be tutoring. You could renew your knowledge on a certain subject and earn cash! Besides, you would have a flexible schedule that would depend on your (and your students’) needs, which means that you can work when it is most convenient.

Work at a campus bookstore

Learning at a university is a long-lasting affair. Most learning comes from books, and although many students opt-in to use an ebook, there is still a large demand for paper books. Some prefer to learn this way while, for others, there simply isn’t an electronic version available.

That is where the campus bookstore comes to the rescue, and you can get a part-time job there. Provided that you have accommodation on the campus itself, it would be a short commute to your temporary workplace, and you can ask for flexible hours too.

This is a great opportunity as far as part-time jobs go since you would be meeting other students, having fun chit-chats, and, most importantly, making some money! At times when there are not a lot of clients around, you can spend your spare time reading all the books around the store. Where else could you get paid for doing all that?

Work at local restaurants

Yet another great way to earn is working part-time at local restaurants. They're bound to be many restaurants nearby to your campus (or to your living place) where you can get started. Just walk around for a bit, and surely you will find a job opening and start to earn cash.

This is a popular solution for students all over the world, as servers and such usually get flexible work hours and good conditions. Besides that, you will not only get paid for your usual work, but understanding customers may help you make some money via generous tips.

In case one restaurant does not work out for one reason or another, there is no need to stop looking. As noted, there are usually numerous restaurants and coffee shops all around the place, and it is very unlikely that the single restaurant you worked in is the last place you can get paid to work at.