39 Surefire Ways For College Students To Make Money Quickly

Last Updated on March 23, 2023

Bear in mind that some of the links in this post are affiliate links and if you go through them to make a purchase I will earn a little commission at no cost to you.

Let’s cut the fluff.

You’re here because you want to earn extra money in college. Right?

Good!

Considering that a lot of college students struggle to pay off their student loan debts after graduation, it’s better to start thinking of ways for college students to make money.

And it’s possible, even when you’re studying full time.

There are hundreds of ways to make money in college and also make money from home college student opportunities.

Here are 39 ways of how to make money in college.

1. Become a tutor and make cool cash

This is a quick way to rake in fast money for college students. You can teach several subjects on reputable platforms online. Sites like Tutor.com and TutorVista.com. Meaning you set your own hours to provide this service. Here are the sites you can use to make some money in college for this side hustle.

Chegg. It has hundreds of subjects you can pick from tutoring fellow students in college to tutoring high school students. They include subjects in engineering, math, science, humanities, and several other subjects. Chegg pays you every week.

VipKid. Teach English to millions of children in China. It is free to join but you have to pass their recruiting process. Check also this post 21 Websites to Make $100 a Day in 2022 for other methods to earn money.

Wyzant. A beautiful platform for college students to earn cash online. It also allows tutoring in person. You are not necessarily required to be a certified teacher to get started.

If none of the above methods is what you’re looking for, then you can at least teach someone your native language on Italki. This site has a database of over 5 million students and some of them could be your fellow students.

Offering tutoring services is a great way to make some extra money and also help others improve their grades.

To find students on college campuses who need tutoring, you can contact your school’s department or check the campus job board.

If the college has a tutoring center, you might want to check if they’re looking for tutors.

If your interest is in tutoring younger students, most public schools hire college students to provide tutoring services to their students.

2. Create a blog to make some money in college

You must have heard a lot about this.

True, creating a blog or website can earn you cash online. A lot of money actually, that may well liquidate your college student loan debt. But students looking for ways to make money in college should know that this is not necessarily an easy way to do so.

Making money from a website or blog demands a lot of work in the initial stages. Especially on creating content for your blog. But when your site gains traction and has some social media presence, the going gets easy. And you’ll earn a lot of money. Even when you are sleeping.

If it is your first time creating a website you can start with a free website. It will help you climb the ropes of website creation for free and your free website can become a dynamic launch pad for a professional blog.

You can use sites like WordPress, Weebly, and Wix platforms to get started with your free website. Once you get your feet wet, you can go for premium website creation which will give you more leverage if you have to make much money online. One way you can make money from your blog is through affiliate marketing.

3. Become a Virtual Assistant

It is possible to earn at least $20 per hour for college students looking for a way to make extra money as a virtual assistant. Many business owners and website owners may want to hire assistants to help them with simple tasks like sending emails, social media management, or data entry.

You’ll get started with your virtual assistant jobs with sites like Upwork and Fiverr.

Amazon Mechanical Turk. It’s a place where individuals and businesses can outsource processes and tasks that can be performed virtually. You can register on this site as a virtual assistant.

You’ll find many tasks on Mechanical Turk. Some of them are simple data entry tasks like filling spreadsheets, transforming scanned text to Microsoft Word, writing product descriptions, etc. The data entry side hustle is one of the easiest ways of making money online.

As a virtual assistant, you can do many a side hustle including that of customer service, and mint yourself some money online. And being a virtual assistant should not pose a challenge fitting it around your class schedule as it is something you can do from your dorm room.

4. Take online paid surveys to make extra cash

There are many survey sites available depending on your location. Some survey sites pay actual cash while with others you gain points. These points can be redeemed later for various things including cash and gift cards.

Notable among survey sites are:

Swagbucks: A renowned paid surveys site whose members have earned in excess of $400 million in rewards.

Inbox Dollars: Another popular site for paid surveys accredited with the Better Business Bureau. Inbox Dollars has dished out more than $56 million to its members since 2000.

So when you are not doing anything profitable on social media you can get started with this side hustle and make yourself a bit of money. For more paid survey websites like the ones above, check this post: Paid Surveys-25 Online Survey Sites Exclusive To USA Residents

5. Become a tester

Becoming a tester is one fun way to earn quick money online around your busy class schedule. You can test new apps, websites, games, etc., and get paid for doing that.

Here are websites that you can use.

Test.io: Earn up to $50 once you find a bug in an app on Test.io. If there are no bugs to point at, you can also get paid for rating apps. It also gives you a chance to be among the first to see brand new apps from top-notch companies.

User Testing: You could make extra money on the side by offering feedback on a website or app. All you do is visit a website. Carry out some tasks and record your user experience with the website as feedback to the owners of the site. This may last you 10 to 20 minutes. You could earn yourself up to $60 per test and User Testing will pay you via PayPal.

6. How to make money in college online with YouTube

Aside from social media platforms, YouTube is another great platform where you can earn extra cash. You’ll need to register a channel. I have covered how to register a channel extensively in this post How to Make Money on YouTube Even if You are a Newbie.

There are many things you can create videos about and several methods to monetize your channel.

Millions of people worldwide are visiting YouTube to learn something and for entertainment among other things.

As an example, you can create a channel that teaches something you are good at.

Assuming that you are good with Microsoft Excel or social media marketing, you can teach that as an online course on your channel. And you can earn some money by affiliate marketing links in the description area of your videos.

7. How to make cash watching videos

Major companies today are spending money in several ways to get feedback from the consumers of their products and services. One such way is paying you for watching videos about their products and services.

Obviously, you will not earn a lot of money with these methods of earning a side income. But the good thing is that they are not disrupting your life. You actually get paid for the things you do in your day to day life right in your dorm room. Here are two websites you can use.

Inbox Dollars pays you for several things. Watching videos, taking paid online surveys, and playing games. They also pay to read emails and you can earn gift cards and cash back when you shop online. To save money is a good way to make more money.

Swagbucks: Using this site is also one good way to make more money by watching videos. They also pay you for online surveys among other things.

There are several sites like the ones I have given you that you can use to earn extra money watching videos.

8. Name businesses and be paid for it

There are businesses and individuals who cannot come up with creative names for their new products, businesses, and websites. So they crowdsource creative names and pay for that.

Here are two websites where you can make quite a bit of money in this manner.

Naming force: They run contests to crowdsource names and pay the winning entries. Do not underestimate the money you can make here. On their leader board, namers are making as much as $500 within 2 months. Top all-time namers have earned as much as $15,800.00.

Squad Help: As a creative of Squad Help you can submit names for the contests. It even goes further, where the creative names you provide can be displayed and businesses in need of creative names can buy a name if they like it. A lot of website creators turn to Squad Help to find suitable names for their businesses. And they are paying amounts as much as $2,000 for a name.

9. Earn money from playing games

You can generate money online by playing games. As a college student, you can do this while relaxing in your dorm room and earn yourself some side income. Several sites exist where you can play games for cash. Here are two of them.

Wealth Words: If you like brain games you’ll love Wealth Words. This is an online crossword game. You are given a specific amount of time(1 hour) to complete the crossword game. Each game has a different prize amount on completion. There are free games to play and premium ones. The prize money for free games would mostly not exceed $30. The premium games have higher prize money. You’ll need to buy tokens to play the premium games. Each token costs $0.25.

Paid Game Player: Download and play over 600 games. These games can be played in your spare time. And the cool thing is you make some extra money for yourself.

10. Earn Money While in School as a Copywriter

You can earn yourself cool cash in exchange for your freelance writing skills for blog posts, websites, magazines, etc. If you have the skill to churn out such articles, then you can sign up and offer freelance writing services on sites like these two.

Upwork: When you offer freelance writing on sites like Upwork, you will not run short of jobs to bid for. It may interest you to know that this site gets more than 30 million visits per month. That is mammoth! And you might be able to find yourself a job within no time.

Fiverr: Another great platform to use as a freelance writer. Once signed up you can then set up your freelance writing gig and position yourself to offer your skills to the global market on Fiverr.

Freelance writing can be a lucrative side hustle that you can actually develop further after your college days.

11. Transcriptions-Easy Online Jobs for Students

A lot of people and businesses have dollars to pay for transcription services.

They give audio/video files and you transcribe the content to text for them. Once done, they pay you. And each one goes their way happy. That is one easy method of ways to make money in college.

If you are able to do this freelance work, make sure you list your profile on sites like Upwork.com and Fiverr.com. These two sites have been mentioned above and you can refer to them. You can do a lot of side hustle gigs on Fiverr from simple ones like data entry.

12. Graphic Design Freelance Work – How Can Students Earn Money?

If you’re skilled with graphic design work, one place to make cash online is Fiverr. Now, this may not be the last time you may be hearing of Fiverr in this article. Because Fiverr embraces a wide range of creativity. There are thousands of creative people offering a wide range of services and thousands seeking services from Fiverr.

In the area of graphic design, you can offer yourself to design logos, brochure design, packaging design, infographic design……. The list goes on.

Check out Fiverr here and see what others are offering as you think of offering your graphic design work skills.

13. Voice Over Artist

Again you can go to sites like Fiverr and offer your service as a voice-over artist. There are a good number of people offering voice over gigs on Fiverr.

If you think you have a good voice and a talented voice-over artist, this is a great opportunity to embrace. You can also register and start making the money others are already raking in.

14. Do Tasks as Fast Cash College Student Jobs

As a college student, you can perform tasks to earn some money for college. There are several methods you can achieve this. And some of them can bring a lot of fun.

Task Rabbit: Use this site to assist folks and senior citizens in the neighborhood who need help with things like mounting and installation. Some folks may require a hand in moving and packing their stuff. Others may need help in furniture assembly.

The sweet thing is you’ll be paid for all these tasks. So the opportunities for making money as a college student are many and you’ll need to pick what suits you. There are several sites like Task Rabbit that you can use and improve your personal finance situation.

15. Make Extra Money From Print on Demand Designs

There are several websites that can facilitate this way of earning extra income. You can design prints on Tees, mugs, tote bags, and much more. Provide creativity and print on demand companies will handle the rest for you. Here are two sites you can use.

Teespring: Once registered you can go into designing your T-shirts. Teespring will host your designs and then you can start promoting your design. One best way to promote T-shirts is through social media.

Really, using Teespring is a creative way to make money in college. For example, I sold 23 T-shirts and made a profit of $160.08 in two days with this simple design below.

Zazzle: Another great platform that can bring in free money for college. You upload your creative artistic work, photos, writing works, or graphic designs for display on Zazzle products. These products once sold through the platform earn you a royalty you set yourself.

16. Sell Your Class Notes

That’s true. This side hustle is one of the easiest ways you could earn good money.

You can sell your old class notes and level up money for school. Your task is to be a great note-taker so that your fellow students who need help with well-taken notes benefit from your class notes.

It is possible to sell your notes to your colleagues on social media. To enhance this, there is a website that can facilitate your effort to sell your notes.

Studysoup: It may seem like a weird way to make money in college. But you soon realize that not everyone can take good notes in class. And that’s the reason why other students are ready to buy well-taken notes. This is where Studysoup comes in.

17. How to Make Money in College by Walking Pets

Pet sitting or house sitting count as quick cash jobs for students. Folks on holiday would like someone to take care of their pet. Or maybe they will just want you to walk their pet. If you love pets, a dog walker job may be ideal for you. Let’s look at two platforms you can use.

Rover: You are required to submit your detailed profile including personal information before they can accept you as a pet sitter. This is obviously understandable because the security of their customers must be ascertained to some extent.

Care: Apart from caring for pets, care.com also provides for child care, senior care, and housekeeping. A site like this one can earn you good money if you have a passion for pets.

18. Get Paid to Exercise

Imagine that.

Isn’t this a fun way to earn money?

If you are still whining that ‘how can I get money for college,’ you better start exercising. It’s a great way to make some money. Because it’s actually a duo benefit way. You achieve a healthy living by exercising and you earn money for it.

Here are two platforms you can use.

Achievement: Your healthy activities are tracked and you are rewarded with points. You can convert the points to cash or donate them to a health-related charity.

SweatCoin: This application converts your walking and running steps or recommended exercise into currency units called SweatCoins. You can spend what you have gained on goods and services. It is time to get paid for walking.

19. Fast Money Jobs -Delivering Food for Restaurants and Groceries

You can deliver food for restaurants and groceries as one job among the best for quick cash. It is another great way to make money for most students. There are several sites you may want to get these opportunities.

Doordash: How to make extra cash at school with Doordash is a matter of balancing your time. Because with Doordash, you are the one to accept delivery orders. So this is something you can do in your spare time.

Uber Eats: If qualifying for financial aid for college is an issue, you can use these opportunities in food delivery to bridge your shortfall. Uber Eats is another platform you can use to deliver food on behalf of restaurants. Uber Eats pays you on a weekly basis.

PostMates: Signing up on Postmates is free. They charge you no fees leaving you with 100% of what you earn after completing a delivery. A free delivery bag will be sent to you after you register. You do not necessarily need a driver’s license as you can make deliveries with your bike.

20. Work-Study Jobs

The Federal Work-Study Program provides a platform on how to qualify for financial aid. Students with a financial need have a chance to get help with their expenses. It’s also a great way to get valuable work experience. Work-study provides part-time jobs for both undergraduate and graduate students.

You can apply for the Federal Work-Study Program using the Free Application for Federal Student Aid(FAFSA). Providing required adequate information gives you a good chance of how to get the most from FAFSA. You will need to indicate that you would like to be considered for Work-Study.

21. Part-Time Off-Campus Jobs

Finding part-time jobs could be one of the best ways to gain money during the summer. You may build valuable job experience using this method. These jobs can be done whilst in school or indeed over the summer.

Choices for a part-time away from campus job are many. However, there are some common ones that students enjoy like rendering retail services, customer service representatives, teaching assistants, and much more.

The wages will obviously differ from place to place. And that is one of the things you should consider when applying for part-time jobs.

22. Get Rid of Phones, CDs, DVDs, Tablets, ….

How to earn cash at school is simpler than you thought. Methods of how to make cool cash in college cannot surpass getting rid of things you no longer need. If you have a phone you no longer use or CDs, you can easily get rid of them for cash. This is a great way to make easy cash. If you are not using social media for such, here are some websites you can use.

Decluttr: This is one good site to offload your tech devices. By simply selecting the make, model as well as the condition of your device, Decluttr will offer you an instant price.

Gazelle: You can equally sell your old tech devices on this site. Unlike the old times, how to earn money at school has not been this easy with sites like this one.

23. How to Make Money in College Selling Textbooks

Selling textbooks will bring you student money for college. If you have books you used the previous semester and you don’t need them anymore, think of selling them. Here is a website to use.

Textbookrush.com. All you do is punch in the ISBN number from the back cover of your book. The site will then give you a quote that is valid for 7 days. If you are happy with the quote, they provide you with a prepaid shipping label to enable you to send the book to them.

After that, you’ll get paid. The cash may not be equivalent to finding college grant money. However, it may bridge the gap on how to pay for college needs that arise from time to time.

24. Sell Your Hair

Selling your own hair can be a great way for any student to get quick cash. Consider sites like these two.

Buyandsellhair.com: For those with especially long hair, selling your hair is probably one of the best ways to make money in college.

Hairsellon.com: This is another site where you can sell your hair. One student left a review on this site indicating that she had sold her hair for $4,000. Imagine that in your bank account.

25. Get Paid as a Social Media Manager

You could be one of the many college students that spend hours per week on several social media platforms. One way to make money from social media platforms is to pick on social media manager jobs.

If you check business cards that come your way, more than 90% of those business cards will have one or two social media platforms for that particular business entity.

Not all business owners will have the time or dexterity to handle their social media accounts. And that’s where you come in as a social media manager.

You can get started by approaching local businesses and help them build brand awareness by being their online voice.

26. Donate Your Blood Plasma And Get Rewarded

You can donate your blood plasma as a way to earn cash. The blood plasma is used to treat many people with ailments such as blood clotting disorders.

You’ll make roughly around $50 for the donation. Click here to find a licensed center for blood plasma donations.

27. Become a Campus Tour Guide to Generate Extra Spending Cash

Becoming a tour guide is one of the easiest on-campus jobs college students can do to make money.

As a campus tour guide, you’ll show prospective students and their parents around the school. You get to share your experiences while getting paid for it.

The process to become a campus tour guide is quite simple. Start by checking with your school’s admissions office. They are always in need of campus tour guides.

28. Review Websites & Apps For Cash

You could get paid to test websites and apps and give your feedback about them.

Companies will usually give out between $0-$15 per test completed.

There are several platforms that give college students the opportunity to get paid for giving their opinion about products or services.

One of the popular ones is User Testing. They pay you $60 per hour to provide feedback about websites.

Another website that is good for college students is TryMyUI. They pay between $0-$12 per test completed. That can be some good extra cash in your pocket.

29. Become a Teaching Assistant(TA)

If you’re good at a particular subject, you could become a teaching assistant for that class.

The duties of a teaching assistant include helping the professor grade papers and providing students with feedback.

You can check with your school’s department to see if there are any openings for teaching assistants.

Being a TA is a great way to make money while also getting a better understanding of the material. If you are trying to focus on a career in academia, being a TA is also a great way to gain experience.

To get a TA position, you either check on the campus job boards or approach the professor directly to inquire about any openings.

30 Sell Your Photos to Make Extra Spending Money

If you’re a photography enthusiast, selling your photos is a great way to make money.

There are many websites that allow you to sell your photos.

One of the popular ones is iStockPhoto. They have an application process, and once you’re approved, you can start uploading your photos.

Another website where college students can sell their photos is ShutterStock. They also have an application process and then you can start selling your photos.

31. Bookstore or Library On-campus jobs

Working at the bookstore or library is a great way to make money while also being able to study.

There are many different positions available such as cashiers, stockers, and circulation desk workers.

The hours are usually flexible, and you can work around your class schedule.

To apply for these on-campus jobs, you can either go to the human resources office or check the campus job board.

While other students may shun such jobs at the bookstore or library, working there can actually be quite beneficial.

You’ll have access to books and other resources that can help you with your studies while you make extra money on the side.

32. Be A Freelance Proofreader

If you’re a good proofreader, you could get paid to help people with their writing.

This may be a flexible way to make money and perfect for a busy college student. Proofreaders can make a decent hourly wage reading and correcting errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

There are many different ways to find clients as a freelance proofreader. You can start by checking job boards or contacting businesses directly.

There are also several websites where you can find proofreading work such as UpWork, Fiverr, and Proofread Anywhere.

33. Become a Research Assistant

If you’re looking for a more challenging way to make money, becoming a research assistant may be the perfect fit.

Research assistants work with professors on research projects.

They are responsible for tasks such as conducting literature reviews, data entry, and data analysis.

Working as a research assistant is a great way to get experience in your field of interest and also make some extra money.

To become a research assistant, you can check with your school’s department or contact professors directly.

34. Do Odd Jobs For People In Your Dorm or Apartment Complex

Doing odd jobs is a great way to make some quick cash. There are always people in need of someone to do odd jobs such as laundry, grocery shopping, or moving furniture.

You can start by asking people in your dorm or apartment complex if they need help with anything.

You can also put up flyers around your campus or post on online classifieds websites.

35. Sell Crafts on Etsy

If you’re crafty, you can make money by selling your crafts on Etsy.

You can start by creating an Etsy account and then setting up your shop.

Once your shop is set up, you can start listing your products.

To be successful on Etsy, it’s important to have good-quality photos and descriptions of your products.

It’s also important to be responsive to customer inquiries and orders.

Selling crafts on Etsy is one of the best ways to make money as a college student.

It’s a great way to use your creativity to make extra money and also flexible enough to work around your class schedule.

36. Participate In Focus Groups or Surveys

Companies are always looking for people to participate in focus groups and surveys.

They use this feedback to improve their products and services.

As a college student, you can sign up with companies that conduct focus groups and surveys.

You can then participate in these studies and earn money for your time.

To find focus groups and surveys, you can check online job boards or contact marketing research firms directly.

37. Create an App – One of The Best Ways For College Students to Make Money

If you have a great idea for an app, you could get paid to create it.

There are many companies that will pay you to develop an app for them.

To find these opportunities, you can check online platforms like fiverr and upwork.

Creating an app is a great way to make money as a college student.

It’s a perfect way to use your creativity and skills to generate extra income.

Plus, it’s also a great way to build your portfolio and make some connections in the industry.

38. Offer Translation Services

If you’re bilingual, you can make money by offering translation services.

There are many companies and organizations that need translators to help them communicate with their international audiences.

You can find these opportunities with just a little research online and you’ll be good to go.

Offering translation services is a great way to make money as a college student.

Being a translator can be a great way to make money. You can use your language skills to help people who need translations done.

Plus, It’s a great way to get experience and meet people in the industry.

39. How to Make Extra Money as a College Student Working Full Time

There are many ways to make extra money as a college student working full time.

You can start by looking for part-time jobs in your field of interest. You can also look for opportunities to freelance or work as an intern.

There are also many companies that offer flexible schedules and telecommuting options. You can use these tips to find the best way to make extra money as a college student working full time.

With some effort, you can easily find ways to make extra money that fit your schedule and lifestyle.

So out of the many ways of how college students can make extra money that have been shared, find one that suits you and redeem your situation. Obviously, with a little effort on your side, you’ll realize that any student has the potential to make some extra income or even start earning passive income on the side. Besides, the earlier you start using these ways to make money in college, the easier you may be able to liquidate your student loan.