It is quite normal for college-bound students to be broke within just a few months after starting classes. The high amount of expenses entailed in food, tuition, and leisure activities are bound to make your economic state horrible by the end of your career if you do not find the right opportunities in time to make money.
Students often find themselves strapped for money between paying for tuition, books, dorm, food, and other things. But don’t worry, as we have come up with some of the most practical and easy methods to make money as a college student without the need of bunking your classes.
Start working
Every student can always earn a little bit of extra money by working. You can find plenty of jobs that are tailored precisely for college-bound students and adolescents during their summer breaks, school schedules, etc.
Get an Internship
The best way to utilize your summer break is to get an internship. Luckily, almost every internship is paid for these days. An internship will help you learn skills, add up to your career experience, and up your chances to earn better in the future.
Work for Your Professor
Several professors hire one or two students every semester to help them with their tasks like grading papers, preparing presentations, planning class curriculums, and performing research.
Gardening
Gardening tends to be a fantastic part-time form of work that any college-bound student can easily take up to make some money. You can even help people mow the lawn, cut down trees or clear farmlands weekly, or do one-time gardening ventures.
Sell Your Stuff Online
Even though you must be thinking you own no such things that are worth selling, you will be surprised to see the different kinds of stuff you can sell online and make money; take a look at these websites:
Craigslist
Craigslist is the ideal go-to place to sell stuff that you do not use anymore and are too big to sell online.
Etsy
Anything cute and creative or handcrafted items like birthday cards, stationery, candles, or household crafts and décor can be sold on Etsy. You can make such items during your free time and sell them for a fair amount of money.
eBay
Be it laptops, old CDs or computer games, tapes, or anything that you no longer use, you can sell it on eBay and earn some extra money while you are in college.
Rent Your Stuff
The best way to make money, especially for a college-bound student, is to lease some of your stuff. Those who think they do might not own many things to put on rent will be astonished.
Rent Your Clothes
Simply rent clothes and apparel items like your prom dress or heels (which you do not wear very often) to those willing to buy good quality items at reasonably affordable prices. Several websites are available to help you rent your clothes and footwear to others.
Rent a Room in Your House
If you own a house, you can easily rent out one of your rooms to other college-bound students and make money out of rent.
Rent Things You Don’t Use
Likewise, you can rent basically any of your stuff online (which you are not using) on various platforms and make money out of it. Whether it is your car, a bike, a hair straightener, or outdoor gear, it can be anything you usually use but not very frequently.
Do Tasks for Money
Other ways of making money include doing some handy tasks that are not really classified as work nor business opportunities online. Nonetheless, these tasks are usually aimed towards college students and millennials who are on the lookout to make extra money out of odd-jobs.
Drive for Lyft or Uber
If you own a car, then spare a few hours out of your schedule and register yourself as a driver for Uber or Lyft. These are excellent services that can help you cash some extra money.
How to Invest as a College Student
Investments can be advantageous for college-bound students because they can learn the art of investing from a very young age. Even with the smallest amount of cash, college students can start building their own investment portfolios. The majority of college students pay for their tuition via their parents’ assistance, loans, or scholarship money.
Moreover, they will never get a chance to live without paying house rents, utility bills, and miscellaneous expenses. Besides, they do not have to face the risk of losing a substantial sum of money, and at the very least, will only have to deal with a few inevitable losses.
Indeed it can be difficult for college students to have extra cash at hand to enjoy the pleasures of life, let alone think about investment. Fortunately, with a wide array of low-cost or almost free options available at present, it hardly takes much money for students to start investing. Here are a few investment options available for college students:
- Low-Risk Certificates of Deposit
- Roth IRA
- Traditional IRA
- Mutual Funds
- Brokerage Account
- Stocks and Bonds
- Health Savings Account
➔ READ MORE: How to get grants for college students.
How to Make Money Online
There are many easy and exciting ways to make money online as a college student, and they go way beyond working as waiters/waitresses or delivering pizzas. A little bit of creativity and the internet are all you need to earn extra money without skipping classes or going to the office.
Freelance Writing
If you love writing or are especially good at it, a freelance writing job is the best, easiest, and most flexible way to make money online as a college student. It is relatively easy to get started. You can instantly sign up on websites like Fiverr, Freelancer, or Upwork and take up writing gigs and tasks.
Blogging
Blogging is a pretty good side business that most college-bound students can do at their own pace from basically anywhere. It is not as easy and quick to make money with blogging. Still, once you build an audience and generate valuable content for your readers, you know you are on the right track.
Graphic Designer
Artists or designers who are interested in graphic designing can work on freelance jobs like creating design websites or advertisements online for several companies and websites.
Proofreader
If you have a vigilant eye for detecting punctuation and grammatical mistakes and wrong sentence structures, then proofreading is the ideal job for you. As a college-bound student, you can do it online and make money by checking for grammar and spelling mistakes.
Virtual Assistant
Many firms and individuals outsource their assistant-type jobs and hire students to take care of their office tasks. This includes tasks like responding to emails, organization management, and writing and research. This way, you can earn a few hundred bucks every month.
Social Media Manager
The majority of youngsters are addicted to social media. Wouldn’t it be fantastic if you get paid for giving your time to it? Many businesses can hire and pay college-bound students to manage their social media platforms.
Resume Writer
Another excellent way for students to make money online is to offer resume writing services and create killer resumes via jobs on Fiverr or Upwork or ask around your social circle. You can efficiently work on your skills by taking free or paid workshops and consider resume writing as a side business.