Being a college student often involves many commitments between managing college and social life balance. While maintaining the balance, the idea of earning can be a bit challenging. What if I tell you there are easy ways to make money as a college student without much effort?
You can easily earn extra bucks to meet your college expenses without sacrificing your academic progress and leisure time. In this guide, we will explore different flexible, easy and innovative strategies that will empower you to get a valuable financial experience.
15 Ways To Earn Money as a College Student
Here are some innovative and easy ways to help you earn money to meet your college expenses without sacrificing your social life.
1) House or Pet Sitting
One of the easiest side hustles a college student can take to make money is house or pet sitting. It is a great job due to the flexibility of working hours.
You can work in your spare time and provide services to feed pets, take them for a walk and complete other pet-related tasks. While house sitting may involve grocery shopping, cleaning the house and other different chores to keep things safe in the house.
2) Rent Out Your Vehicle
Several online apps and platforms can help you turn your vehicle into a short-term rental opportunity and help you find suitable clients. It is one of the best and most flexible options as you may not need to do anything and can earn a good passive income according to your schedule.
3) Stream Video Games Online
Streaming video games online is a popular income source as people like to watch people playing games for entertainment. Some game streamers earn a good income through this, and even they quit their full-time job as they make enough money from streaming online video games.
4) Sell Stock Photography
Do you love to capture beautiful sights and are interested in photography? Then turn your passion into a great source of income to meet your college expenses. You can put your valuable photos for sale and make money.
You can also sell your stock photos to a company for a one-time price or associate with a website where you can upload these photos to get a percentage of every sale. You will profit on each sale when someone buys your stock photos.

5) Social Media Influencer
You can also become a social media influencer, as this innovative idea gives you multiple and easy ways to make money as a college student. Various social media platforms provide different options to monetize their posts, and in return, they pay you a reasonable amount according to the engagements.
If you have a good fan following on your social media account, it is a great thing to make money. Some sponsors also pay influencers to promote their brand products, which is lucrative.
6) Online Surveys
Several apps like Survey Junkie provide a way to make money by completing online surveys. It is a great way to make money as you can add some extra bucks by giving your opinion about services and products.The best part is that these surveys need a few minutes to complete, so you can do them easily without disturbing your tough study schedule.
7) Create an App
If you know programming, you can create an app or program like a simple game, habit tracker, or anything that you may consider to attract people. You can make it a paid app and turn it into a steady source of income. Another great idea is to add this app to in-app purchases to earn more money.
8) Sell your Used Items
Several websites and social media platforms help you to sell your items online. You can sell anything you may not need anymore, such as books, gadgets, and clothes. Moreover, you can also sell your handmade items at a good price if you love crafting.
9) Sell Your Textbooks or Notes
So you can consider selling your old textbooks and notes to newcomers. Most campus bookstores also help students to sell their old books—this way, you can earn money from your college notes and textbooks.
10) Complete Micro Gigs
Various online apps help people to make money by completing micro gigs. You can also take advantage of this opportunity and make money by doing small tasks like completing the survey, identifying a picture, or choosing related tasks according to your ease. The best thing is that these tasks take a few seconds to complete, so you may not need to worry about managing your time, and they take your little energy.
11) Participate in Sleep Studies
You can also become a part of a sleep study if any organization conducts sleep research in your area. It is also possible that sleep study opportunities are available at your campus, depending on your institute. Mostly these sleep studies pay their volunteers.
12) Make Money on Freelance Gigs
You can make money on freelance gigs as a student. You can use your skills like coding, writing, styling, designing and more to make money during college. These freelancing gigs not only help you to make money but also help you to get experience with people. You can find freelancing gigs on college job boards, LinkedIn, Fiverr, and Upwork and create your network.
13) Participate in Market Research Studies
Different companies conduct market research to know the user’s reviews of their products and services. You can also join these online surveys or focus groups, as it is an easy way to make money as a college student. However, ensuring the company’s legitimacy is important before participating in any activity and providing your information.
14) Take Advantage of Rebate Apps
There is nothing more exciting than getting cashback on your shopping. So looking at the deals before you consider shopping online is good. You can take advantage of rebate apps as these apps help you to get some cash back on your expenditures.
15) Apply for Scholarships
As a college student, nothing is more smart than applying for scholarships. Although it may not give cash directly into your hands, it helps you to pay for your college costs, leading to more money in your pocket.
A 20 year old college student can make money doing easy gigs like completing micro-tasks, doing online surveys, freelancing, selling used items, and applying for paid scholarships.
Besides creating a budget and noting expenses, broke college students can make money easily. Micro tasks and applying for skill-based jobs can earn money a broke student can spend to meet the expenses.
Whether you want to meet daily expenses or save something for your future. We hope this guide on easy ways to make money as a college student helps you to meet your expenses. So get ready to embrace your financial independence while enjoying your academic journey!
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