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This post is all about how to make money in college.
Hey guys, today I wanna talk to you all about 21 easy ways to make money in college. I know how rough it is going through college and being broke all the time. I have been through the nights of dry ramen noodles, water bottles, leftovers from friends, and stuff from the dorm vending machine. It is so expensive out there!
Plus, it’s hard to get a job (especially now). And even harder to hold down a job while managing a busy college workload. I know all about this struggle having gone through 4 years of being poor. Ugh not fun. Not having money to pay for your basic expenses can get real tiring real fast.
That’s why today I wanna go through 21 ways that you can literally make money in college. These are things anyone can do and they don’t take long to set up. If I can do it, so can you. I hope you find all these helpful and more!
This post shows you easy ways to make money in college.
BEST WAYS TO MAKE MONEY IN COLLEGE
1. Sell your clothes online
Seriously, this is one of the easiest ways to make money online. Think about it: We all have clothes lying around. Whether it’s stuff we don’t like anymore, things that no longer fit us, or stuff we meant to return but missed the return date. I’m sure we can all relate.
Thanks to sites like Poshmark, you don’t just have to throw that away and let it go to waste. You can sell them to people who will actually appreciate them, make money, and free up your closet all at the same time. It’s a win win.
You may even start browsing there and realize you wanna buy stuff from other people’s closets on there as well. (Certainly happened with me.) And once you get money back from selling your clothes, you’ll have money to buy new clothes you actually wanna wear.
Here are some fav sites that let you do this easy and free:
- Poshmark
- eBay
- Etsy (This is more for arts & crafts, but they still do clothes on here as well. I like that everything’s usually pretty affordable and easy to shop.)
2. Sell your pictures as stock photos
This may not seem like an obvious suggestion, but guys, there is serious money to be made here. If you’re like me, you probably take tons of pictures throughout the day. Whether it’s selfies, portraits, landscapes, a pic of your food. We def get use out of camera.
You may not have realized this but you can upload these as stock images online. People use stock photos for all sorts of things. Designing websites, project illustration, etc. They’re constantly looking for images like the ones you take of the beach or outdoors to use in their themes. It may not be something you do all the time, but this is certainly a great side hustle.
Here are some of the best sites to sell your photos:
3. Ask questions on Quora
So this one might seem a little crazy but trust me it’s real. If you don’t know what Quora is, basically it’s like a question answer site. Kinda like Yahoo answers. People go on there and ask questions and then other people respond to them with answers. If you use the site enough, eventually Quora will invite you into their partner program.
As a partner, you’ll be able to just ask questions and then make money from it, depending on how popular your question is. Isn’t that crazy? Getting paid to ask questions. (Omg can that be me in class). They do this because they need new people to come to their site. More people on their site means more money for them. So in order to incentivize people to ask good questions, they will pay loyal users a piece of the cut.
I won’t lie, you have to ask a ton of questions to make anything significant. But there are people out there who have made 1,000-5,000 dollars a month just from asking questions on here. You might be that next person!
4. Write an article on Medium
I don’t know if you’ve heard of Medium, but if you do any sort of writing (maybe essays), this may be a good option for you. Medium is a site for people to write their own articles and host them for other people to read. It’s kinda like a public blog or opinion page.
If your article happens to get a lot of engagement, you have the chance to earn real money from the ad revenue it generates. The key to this is writing interesting stuff that other people wanna read. This may not be for everyone because it does involve a bunch of writing. But people have been known to make as much as 30,000 a month from this.
5. Do online surveys
This is definitely one of the easiest ones on the list. I’m not gonna lie, this does not pay a lot of money but if you do it consistently, you can def make a few extra bucks.
We’ve all done these surveys from time to time anyway. These are the kind that companies ask you after you tried to buy something online. Basically they just want feedback to make their products better. So they’re actually willing to pay to have you take them
This doesn’t even take long either. You can literally do this while eating your breakfast or riding the bus on your way to class.
Here are the best sites to get paid for online surveys:
6. Transcribe audio/video on Rev
I don’t know about you but I watch a lot of videos in my spare time. A lot of that is just for fun or relaxing and when I don’t have anything else to do. But did you know you can actually get payed for watching videos and then transcribing them? Yes, I’m not kidding.
Sites like Rev give you a list of videos and then it’s your job to listen closely and compile a script word for word of what they’re saying. Then after you submit, they will pay you based on accuracy. It’s such a win win. You get to help make videos more accessible for people who can’t hear and make a sweet paycheck on the side.
(You might be wondering why they even pay people to do this. Well it’s because it’s time consuming work that no one else wants to do lol but also because computers aren’t good enough yet to transcribe the words automatically.)
Here’s a few other sites that let you transcribe and make money:
7. Make your own cute crafts to sell on Etsy
Do you love making any sort of creative crafts? If so, this could be a great option for you to just express that side and make some good money on the side. Etsy is great because they allow you to make handmade items and sell them to people who love them. There’s a huge community there of people who will appreciate it.
I haven’t personally done this, but growing up I always had an interest for making lots of cute arts and crafts. It’s amazing to know I could indulge that again and be making money to pay for more. Also you don’t have to be some kind of expert or Leonard Da Vinci at making crafts. As long as you put your heart into it, there will be someone looking to buy your craft.
Here are some other similar sites besides Etsy for doing this:
8. Do tasks for people on TaskRabbit or Craigslist
Remember as kids when we would do a bunch of chores and then get an allowance each time you did a task? It was so great to know you could just vacuum the floor and then get paid for it. Well, there’s actually sites that let you continue this now that you’re older too.
I know you’ve probably heard of Craigslist. They’re known for (sometimes) sketchy small job listings that people can take up for extra cash on the side. If you don’t wanna risk it on Craigslist (trust me, I don’t blame you lol), there’s safer sites like TaskRabbit where people will assign tasks, and you can kinda just do them and make a nice .
The tasks will be things like sorting through papers, proofreading documents, cleaning up junk. Pretty much easy stuff anyone can do but the requester is just too lazy or busy to do on their own. This could be great if you’re strapped for cash, are good at doing tasks, and don’t mind doing other people’s grunt work.
9. Start a blog
Haha you might’ve expected I’d put this considering you’re reading this on a blog. But come on, how could you not? Writing a blog is one of the best things you can do FOR FREE to make some decent side income. No, it’s not for everyone. But if you love writing and have some advice to share, this could be great way to express yourself and pay off that student loan debt at the same time.
A lot of people think running is blog is hard. And yes, it does require a lot of work. But you know that saying that goes “If you love what you’re doing, you won’t work a day in your life”? That kind of applies to blogging as well. Especially if you’d be giving this advice to your friends in person anyway or maybe a ranting out an essay in a youtube comment.
I think you should at least try it and give it a chance. If you need help getting started, don’t worry, I have a whole post dedicated to explaining everything for you. (You can do it, trust me.)
10. Sell your textbooks
Honestly, I didn’t even know this was a thing until the end of my freshman year. I was about to throw textbooks in the trash room when this guy stopped me and asked me if I’d sell them. I was just gonna throw them away but because I sold them to that guy instead, I made a cool $150.
Guys there is a market out there for your textbooks. Whether you wanna sell them online, to creepy guys in your dorm trash room, or to your university bookstore (usually this is the best place to start).
People will definitely take them and you can make some extra money. Much better than simply throwing it away at the end of the semester and leaving with nothing.
11. Apply for a part-time gig on Appen or Lionbridge
Do you have some serious spare time in your day? Do you not wanna work at your campus bookstore or dining hall? Well, you may want to consider applying for a part time online job. Appen is a basically an online company that literally employs people online to do tasks like search engine optimization, screenings and other technical tasks. You don’t have to know much up front. They will train you just like any other normal job but it is a real job. You will be given hours etc.
The great thing about it though is that your hours are flexible. Basically you can get them in whenever it’s convenient for you or whenever you have spare time. But if you slack off too much, you may not be approved for future assignments, so still take it seriously.
I’m not exactly sure it’s reputable enough to put on your resume but I mean hey, it’s easy money once you get trained on what you’re supposed to. And as busy and packed as college schedules are, this may be the perfect side job to fit your life. (I dont necessarily recommend this for everyone because personally I found the tasks a bit challenging. But it might be perfectly fine for you)
12. Offer your graphic design talents on Upwork or Flexjobs
If any of you have a knack for making cool sketches or digital art, you certainly wanna check out Upwork and Flexjobs. These are market places for people who need illustrations for their websites or designs for book covers etc. People come there seeking people with artistic talent to design their graphics, and artists come to sell their services.
Of course, it goes without saying that you should probably be decent at art. No one wants to buy crap. But then again, art is subjective. I’m sure someone out there thinks your kindergarten handprint is a masterpiece. Just be professional and listen to what it is your clients want. Show off your portfolio to let them know you’re the real deal etc.
No, this probably won’t pay off all your bills, but there’s definitely money to be made here. Maybe you can pay off the costs of your textbooks or something. Some people have made as much as shdshdih from doing this.
13. Teach foreign-language students English online
Have you ever played ‘school’ as a kid? With a fake classroom and everything? Well, this could be your chance to enact that in real life. Lol no, but seriously, there are tons of foreign kids all over the world who need to learn English and sites like SUDgu allow you to become their informal teacher. As long as you’re a native english speaker and have a computer, you can pretty much do this.
It’s not even that hard. Imagine you’re on FaceTime a few times a week with some cute little student in another country, just helping them learn new words and having practice conversations with them to help them practice their English skills with a real person.
They’re not even just looking for English majors who spend all their time learning complex grammar and memorizing the dictionary. If you grew up speaking English and can a write a decent college essay, you’re qualified to help foreign students learn English as well.
Here are some of the best sites for doing this:
14. Self-publish an ebook on the Kindle store
Ever thought about writing a book? Lots of people have but never actually get started for fears of getting published. Well, if you self publish you don’t have to worry about that. You can write whatever genre interests you. Romance, fantasy, self-help. People make money writing all of these.
I’m not gonna lie and pretend like this is easy money. Writing a book takes some work and dedication. But for those of you (like me) who love writing and would do it for free regardless. You might consider drafting novel you would love to read yourself and connecting with readers out there. Even people who don’t become world famous authors can still do decent on the Kindle store and generate nice passive income in the 5 figures for themselves.
Trust me, there’s no shortage of people out there looking for interesting new stuff to read. The key to being successful on here is effective marketing and quality content. Focus on that and you’ll probably be destined for success.
15. Sell custom t-shirt designs with Teespring
If you ever loved making tie-die shirts as a kid, this could certainly be a good option for you. Certainly for those of us who had dreams of running our own clothing line. Basically, Teespring allows you to design your own custom tee shirt designs and then sell them to people with your own online store.
Btw It might surprise you but there are people who have turned this into full-on businesses. With their t-shirt designs regularly pulling in 10-30k a month. So it’s certainly possible.
Obviously you should probably have some fashion/design sense if you hope to be successful in this. But I feel like it’s very niche (just like fashion in general) and you can probably find someone willing to buy your stuff. Try not to be too repetitive and put out t-shirts that you yourself would actually like to wear.
16. Tutor other students in college (on campus or online)
Do you have a subject you’re really good at? Maybe not straight As but you have a decent GPA and that particular class you excel at. If so, you may wanna consider getting into a tutor program and helping other students do well in it as well.
Also this doesn’t even have to take up too much of your time. Maybe you just meet with one person every few days or a couple people once a week. It can be very flexible and you can set it up to work with your schedule. Think about it, just explain concepts to people like you would your little brother or sister. Break it down so it’s easy to understand. You probably do this out loud to yourself when you’re studying anyway. (Or maybe that’s just me).
Anyway this could be a great to help your fellow students succeed and make some nice money to go out on the weekends as well. Win win for everyone! (No, you won’t become a millionaire from this. But a few extra bucks to spend on the weekend, sounds nice to me.)
17. Start a dropshipping business on Shopify
I don’t know if you’ve come across this idea. People sometimes bring it up when listing ideas for side hustles. But basically you can sell non-branded items as your own in an online store. That’s called drop-shipping.
How this works is wholesale suppliers will keep supplies of random projects for people to buy. You then buy these and sell them like retail with your own marketing. Obviously if two people are selling the same product, that could get a little challenging. That’s why marketing is really the key to this.
Also it’s super convenient. Because the wholesalers are the ones managing the product, you don’t have to deal with shipments, etc. All you really have to do is manage the branding.
Here are some good options for getting started with this:
- Shopify (This is the one people know the most. I’ve actually done my own with them. They make it super easy to follow and they handle all the technical stuff.)
18. Make a youtube channel
So I know you’ve heard of this and have probably thought about doing this before. I mean, who hasn’t? Making youtube videos is so common and mainstream now. We all know the stories of every day people just starting a channel and then the next year they have a million subs and it’s their full-time career.
Pretty much anyone can become a YouTuber. You really just need to be creative, have a decent camera, and you’re ready to go. You can even pay someone else to do the editing if you’re lazy like that. Obviously this isn’t gonna be for everyone. Maybe you don’t wanna put yourself out there or don’t think you have anything to say. And that’s fine. But plenty of people do but are just scared to take that leap of faith. How does that saying go? If you don’t at least try, you’ve already lost.
19. Start a podcast
Say you don’t wanna make videos but still wanna talk to an audience. Podcasting could be a great option for you. No seriously, there are tons of people these days getting into podcasts these days (both listening and starting them). I personally love podcasts. It’s basically like listening to an intelligent conversation with great people and learning something at the end of it. It’s also so convenient, you can listen to them anywhere and still feel like you’re productive. Riding the train, going for a walk, cleaning the dishes. It’s def something everyone should get into even if you’re just gonna listen.
But starting your own podcast is also something people should consider. Lots of us love talking, giving out our own advice, and just having genuine conversations with people..Why not record that and make money every time someone else enjoys it as well. It doesn’t have to be some scripted nonsense either. You can make a podcast about pretty much anything and put your own spin on it.
The only thing is make sure you have a decent mic cause no one wants to listen to 30 minutes of static and mumbling.
20. Play video games streaming on Twitch
I’m sure you’ve played video games before. Maybe by yourself or maybe with friends. Whether that’s playstation, Xbox, Wii, or just apps on your phone. Imagine getting paid to have other people watching you while you play those games. Sounds crazy right? Well thats exactly what Twitch allows you to do. You just need a small audience and you could be making sweet easy money while you relax on your playstation.
Twitch is a streaming service, kinda like youtube but specifically for live streams. They haven’t been around that long but chances are, if you know anyone into gaming, you’ve heard of it. It’s honestly great just watching other people play video games on there too. Tons of funny people on there and even politicians like AOC have gone on.
Like I said you don’t have to have a ton of people watching you to get started. You can obviously grow an organic audience. But try to make your streams interesting. Don’t just ignore the people making comments while you’re playing games It’s supposed to be interactive. Believe it or not, people have made huge sums of money from doing this regularly. The top streamers, not even famous celebrities, make an estimated 20K a MONTH from doing this. Talk about easy money. If they can do it, why can’t you?
21. Become a part-time Uber driver
If you’ve ever ridden in an Uber, you know how easy their job is. It’s basically like the modern day taxi but everyday drivers. What makes it so great is that anyone can do it. All you really need is a driver’s license, clean driving record, and the time in your day to drive around a few people to a few places.
And Uber can pay pretty well. I know people who have made full time incomes on this, in addition to their normal day jobs. I’m talking $40 an hour. Lyft is another option if you don’t wanna do Uber. Bottom line, ridesharing is def the future of small time gigs.
If you’re one of those people who complain when you you get stuck in traffic, this may not be for you. But I mean hey, money is money. Imagine your mom asks you to drive her the store and pays your for it. That’s basically what Uber is, but for other people. At the end of day, driving is a pretty easy way to make money.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I find ways to make money in college?
Honestly just look around. But def read this post first. Here we talk about all the easy ways to make money in college that you can start doing today. Most of them are online but others are stuff you can find on campus.
Stuff like selling your textbooks or selling your class notes are def things you can do to make money in college even without a laptop. And come on, you’re taking notes in class anyway. Why not make easy money for it just selling it to your fellow students?
Of course there’s lots of other ways to make money in college you can find too. Look on sites like google, and look at all the posts I have on making money, where I show you exactly all the ways to make money there are.
What types of ways to make money in college are there?
So I kinda covered this one earlier, but there’s all different types of easy ways to make money in college. And it just depends on how much you wanna make, how much effort you wanna put it, and what works best for you.
If you’re someone who likes to lounge and chill all the time (or nap between classes), you’ll probably like flexible online jobs for college students that you can do only when you want to. This will let you work from home and stress about anything.
But if you like going out and really contributing to something, you might wanna actually try out on-campus jobs through your school like tutoring other students or working in the campus book store. It doesn’t have to be a full time job. Theres lots of little small gigs here and there. Especially online!
How much money can you make online in college?
Again this depends on what you’re doing and how long you’ve been doing it. If you go with some of the ways to make money online in college I talked about, you can really make a full time salary income. Things like blogging have no income cap.
Btw, if you wanna learn how to create a blog that makes money in college, you should def check out my post on how to start a blog. I walk you through all the steps I took to make mine. Having a blog will give you so much freedom to always have income and never have to answer to a boss.
What are the steps to make money in college for beginners?
Not to be repetitive but seriously read through this post. Those are the best easy ways to make money in college for a reason. Most of them are things anyone can do and you can set most of them up in less than a hour.
I’m talking things like starting a blog, selling your clothes online, designing your own custom t-shirts. They aren’t super hard so there’s not much prep you have to do. Whatever you do, you have to stick with it and not give up.
Yes, a lot of them are flexible and you can kinda do them whenever you have time. But when you ARE actually working them, you need to put in your best effort. These aren’t lazy ways to make money in college, they’re EASY ways to make money in college.
How can a full time student make money?
Honestly, if you read this post, you’ll see that making money as a full time student is not that hard. There are lots of different ways to make money online in college that you can easily do between classes etc.
And trust me, I know the struggle of staying on top of projects and due dates. But the ways to make money I listed here in this post are flexible so you only have to do them whenever you have free time. Which is so perfect if you’re in college and don’t know when the professor’s gonna throw in the next exam.
But like I said, there’s lots of different ways for full time students to make money. You can make money online, at home, or wherever. You can get on-campus jobs or off-campus jobs. It’s really up to you. And also depends on how much money you wanna make.
How do I make an extra $1000 a month?
You can make an extra thousand dollars a month super easy if you follow these tips. And yep, making an extra thousand dollars a month in college would be so helpful lol!
Imagine not having to order ramen for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. (Can’t relate lol)
But no seriously making an extra thousand dollars a month is def something you can do if you try out the ideas in this post. Giving people rides on Uber, renting out your room on AirBnb, etc. Those are all easy ways that you can make an extra $1000 dollars a month in college.