Going to school full-time means not a whole lot of time for work. But maybe you could squeeze a side hustle or two into your hectic schedule so you can actually make some money and live your life.
There are literally so many side hustles you can do in this tech age, it’s insane.
So, what kind of side hustle is a college student equipped to do?
Let’s see.
Side Hustles Any College Student Can Do
1. Blogging
Blogging is one of my favorite ways to make money. You can write what you want and get paid to promote products you’d recommend anyway (and get paid for it). That is if you monetize your blog.
But just know that it takes time to build up blog content and grow a following. Unless, of course, you have the cash to hire people to help you write the content and you can somehow go viral and get immediate traffic. But that’s not likely to happen.
If you already have a blog, this option could take less time for you.
Related: 7 Ways to Create Great Blog Posts People Actually Want to Read
2. Sell Your Old Essays
Selling your old essays for cash is a pretty easy way to make some extra money. So save all of your papers from now throughout your college career and make money by selling them online after you turn them in and get your grade back.
Start here: Cash4Essays.net, StudySaurus, SellMyEssays.com, Paperstoc.com, and GradeSaver.com.
3. Sell Your Essay-Writing Services
Don’t have any old essays to sell yet? Don’t worry. You can always write essays for other students and make money that way.
Yeah, it’s unethical, but it’s also a really big market. You can just let people around campus know that you write papers for money and let the world get around. Or you can go straight to the source and find a site that’ll hire you to write academic essays.
And there are a few.
Start here: WriteMyEssay.com, SuperbPaper, GradeMiners, 99Papers, Essay Box, Essay Factory, Essay Company, Pro Essay Writing, A-Writer, Essay Writers World, Essays Master, Essay Expert.
4. Become a Mover
Can you lift heavy items without an issue? Put your strength to good use and become a mover.
It requires no previous experience and you don’t need any training, obviously.
It’s an easy side gig that pays decent money. You can apply to become a mover through a moving company or you can advertise your own small business through Craigslist or a similar site for your local area.
5. Sell Your Old Textbooks (And/Or Flip Textbooks on the Side)
Selling your old textbooks at the end of every semester to make a little extra cash.
While this isn’t exactly a side gig, you could turn it into one by flipping textbooks, much like you’d flip any other kind of product.
Buy low, sell high. Rinse and repeat.
Start here: Sell Back Your Book, BookScouter, Book Finder, Campus Books, Valore Books
6. Become a House Sitter
Being a house sitter is probably one of the easiest jobs in the world. Oftentimes, you won’t get paid to do it unless you’re asked to do additional tasks, but there are definitely paid house-sitting jobs.
There are several sites you could try for a house-sitting job. But, beware, there are fees to keep your profile active and listed on the site.
Start here: TrustedHouseSitters, MindMyHouse, HouseCarers, Luxury House Sitting, Nomador
Related: 10 Sites That’ll Pay You to House Sit
7. Become a Dog Walker or Pet Sitter
Love animals? Become a dog walker or pet sitter with apps like Rover.
Sign up and start accepting dog walking and pet sitting jobs in your area. Build up your reputation and you could have a steady stream of clients and income.
Start here: Rover, TrustedHouseSitters, FitBark, FetchPetCare, Purrfect Pet Sitting
8. Work as a Lifeguard
Does your town have a local YMCA or pool? Become a lifeguard when the pool is open and earn some extra cash.
All you need to do is get certified, which doesn’t take long.
Apply for a job at your local pool or community center.
9. Wrap Your Car in a Giant Advertisement
Ever seen those cars wrapped in an advertisement from top to bottom, front to back?
The people driving those cars are getting paid. Wanna be one of them?
All you have to do is drive around like you normally would and get paid for it.
Start here: Wrapify, Carvertise, Nickelytics, Stickerride, FreeCarMedia, CarWraps, CarBucks, ReferralCars
10. Sext or Chat for Money
Most of us sext for free so why not get paid to do it? It might sound kind of sleezy, but you’ll never have to talk to or see the person ever again in life, so why not make a few extra bucks?
Sexting has become a popular way to make money online so you can actually make some decent money without taking off your clothes.
In most of the phone sex operator jobs you can work completely from your dorm or from home.
Start here: FlirtBucks, MyGirlFund, ChatRecruit, Text121Chat, Lip Service, Phrendly, ChatOperatorJobs, TextKings, Arousr, Phonestars
11. Become an Amazon Seller
Another way to bring in some extra cash is to become an Amazon Seller. Dropshipping on Amazon, rather than buying physical products and shipping them out yourself is a much better (and easier) route to go.
My sister is actually in the process of becoming an Amazon Seller. She told me she saw a woman on Tik Tok that sells one simple product and made $30,000 doing it.
Imagine making $30k from one product. Even if it’s for the year, that’s pretty good for a side gig.
Start here: Become an Amazon Seller
12. Become a Personal Grocery Shopper
Wanna be a personal grocery shopper? Well, probably not, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make some decent money while you’re still in school.
This job requires literally no skill and anyone can do it. As long as you don’t have a record (like DUIs or violent crimes), you should have no problem getting accepted as a personal shopper for Instacart.
Start here: Become an Instacart Shopper
13. Become a Fast Food Delivery Driver
Would you rather skip the heavy, easy-to-rip Shop Rite bags and just deliver one bag (and maybe a drink)?
Then, fast food delivery might be just the side gig for you.
Start here: Become a DoorDasher, Become a Grub Hub Delivery Driver, Become a Post Mates Delivery Driver, Become an Uber Eats Delivery Driver
14. Complete Random Jobs on Zaarly
Zaarly lets you complete random jobs, like giving guitar lessons, walking a dog, or being a personal assistant for a day.
Check out the site to see what other random gigs you can complete in your city for money.
Start here: Sign up for Zaarly
15. Find a Bug Bounty Program to Participate In
A bug bounty hunter can be a lucrative side gig for college students. But you have to have a pretty good grasp of programming knowledge to do this job.
Companies like Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Adobe will pay thousands of dollars to identify defects in their products.
This is because if there’s a flaw that could open them up to potential lawsuits, that’s something they want to avoid.
You can actually make anywhere from a couple hundred to a couple of million dollars doing this kind of work.
If you can uncover severe vulnerabilities in a company’s operating system, you can make millions.
Start here: Top Bug Bounty Programs
16. Sell on Etsy
Selling crafts on Etsy is one way to go. Sign up for a Sell on Etsy account and start creating your listings.
Make sure that you ship out orders promptly and with care.
You can also choose to sell digital downloads on Etsy instead (so you don’t have to ship anything).
You can sell resumes, cover letter templates, whatever you want really. Just choose a niche and stick to it.
Start here: Sell on Etsy
17. Drive for Lyft or Uber
Need an easy way to rack up some cash while connecting with people in your city? Driving for Uber or Lyft could be a good way to make that happen.
Simply sign up and authorize a background check.
Once you’re approved, you can set up your profile, add your vehicle description, and start driving people from point A to B.
Start here: Drive for Uber, Drive for Lyft
18. Write for Guest Blogs
If you’re creative and good with words, you could make money writing guest posts for different blog sites. For example, if you want to write about finance topics, you could submit your work to The Penny Hoarder.
Or, if you wanted to write a top 10 list, you could submit it to Listverse.
If you want to try your hand at this part-time, start looking up guest blogs you might want to write for.
Start here: Freedom With Writing
19. Write for Magazines
Magazines tend to pay a little more than blogs, but they’re also harder to get your work accepted into. They also have stricter standards than most blogs and magazine editors a little more nit-picky with the content, so you may have to do a revision or two.
Write a list of magazines you’d be interested in writing for and start studying them. Pay attention to what kind of content they accept, how long it is, what tone the writer uses, etc.
Start here: Submittable
20. Become an Online Tutor
Are you an expert on a certain subject matter? For example, are you a math whiz or can you name every element in the periodic table of elements?
If so, you could be an online tutor. Well, you can be one even if you’re not an expert, but that definitely won’t hurt your chances.
If you think you could do well at tutoring, apply to become an online tutor at a company that hires online tutors.
You could also tutor your own peers by advertising that you’re a tutor on campus.
Start here: Brainfuse, Prep Now Tutoring, TutorMe, Skooli, VIPKid, Tutor.com, StudyPool
21. Edit College Admissions Essays
Would you rather edit college admissions essays than write term papers?
I used to edit college papers for a site called EditRevise (not sure if that’s still the name though) for about two years. It was a pretty simple process, but it gets boring after a while if you’re not really an academic type.
I’d only recommend doing this if you don’t mind reading “academic” content that might be a little stuffier than entertainment-style content.
You’ll have to be the judge for yourself, though. If you have a way with words, you might be good at this.
Start here: The Editing Shop, Extra Essay, Essay Solution, Scribendi
22. Become a Mystery Shopper
Mystery shopping entails shopping in a store as if you were a regular customer and taking notes on your experience. You may have to answer specific questions, like, “Were you asked if you needed help within 5 minutes of entering the store?” They might request that you ask for a manager, ask how long it took, etc. Each job is different and pays differently as well.
Wanna become a mystery shopper?
Start here: BestMark, IntelliShop, Market Force, Service Evaluation Concepts, Secret Shopper, Signature Worldwide, Sinclair Customer Metrics
23. Cater Events
Catering events is a great way to get some work experience and make some money while in school. You could find work for an event catering company or you could do gigs for individual events.
If you have limited experience, you might be hired to refill water glasses, clean up after events, and clean up during cocktail hour.
If you have some work experience, you might be hired to serve people sitting at the head table or pass out appetizers.
If you live in a university town like me, catering season will be busy, busy, busy with events.
Wanna cater events in your spare time?
Related: Forget Airbnb! Open an Event Space Business
24. Sell Your Photos
Are you good at taking pictures? Paying attention to the way the light bounces off certain objects? Okay, I’m not a photographer and I have no idea what they look for, but if you are (and you do), you can make some decent passive income with this side hustle.
Take photos and sell them on stock photography sites, such as
Another option? Go to ClickASnap.com and upload your photos. When users view your photos, you make money from each view. Once your payment reaches $15, you can withdraw it via PayPal.
1,000 views = $250
200,000 views = $5,000
Start here: ClickASnap, Alamy, iStock Photo, Shutterstock, Dreamstime, BigStock, CanStockPhoto, Fotolia/Adobe Stock, Getty Images, Stocksy, Photocase
25. Babysit
Love kids and don’t mind reading a bedtime story? Become a babysitter for your local neighborhood moms.
If you babysat in high school, you’re already more qualified than most. Even if you only babysat your siblings, that’s still experience you can bring to the table when applying for babysitting jobs.
Start here: SitterCity, BabySits, Care, UrbanSitter, Au Pair in America, Helpr, eNannySource, SeekingSitters, Bambino Sitters
26. Leverage the Power of Social Media
Social media presents so many opportunities to make money. You can become a brand ambassador (or influencer) and make money promoting other people’s products (if you have a decent following).
I can’t say a clear number for sure because it varies from company to company.
You could also get paid to write social media posts for different companies. Advertising your services as a social media writer or social media manager can help you get clients directly from social media.
Start here: Sponsored Tweets, Social Media Platforms That Pay Creators
Related: How to Create a Social Media Agency from Scratch
27. Become an Office or House Cleaner
Office cleaners clean office buildings after hours. It’s a simple job that doesn’t require any real skills. It won’t be easy work, though.
Office cleaners usually clean at a rapid pace to ensure they get to clean everything they need to clean.
When I worked as an office cleaner for one day, I found it to be much more than I could handle. But that’s just me. I’m not able to do strenuous labor for six hours straight (or however long the shifts were).
Wanna clean office buildings or homes part-time? Typical cleaning duties include sweeping, mopping, wiping down surfaces, vacuuming, washing windows, etc.
Start here: Handy, Thumbtack, Allbetter, MaidsApp, Tidy, Housekeeper.com, Airtasker, Craigslist, Molly Maid, HomeGuide, Task Rabbit
28. Become a Translator
Know a second language? Use it to make yourself a few extra bucks. Translators are in high demand, so check Indeed for translation jobs. You can also check sites like Zip Recruiter and even Craigslist.
Start here: Gengo, Unbabel, Translate.com, Universal Translation Services, Stepes, ProZ, Lingosaur, Lengoo, Tomedes, TransPerfect, RWS, Aberdeen Broadcast Services, Acclaro, GlobaLink Translations, Linguistic Systems, Speechpad, Mars Translation, Voxtab
29. Become an Audiobook Narrator
Do you have a great speaking voice? Become an audiobook narrator and make some extra cash between studying and classes.
You can become an audiobook narrator by signing up with ACX.
You’ll need a few pieces of equipment before you start, but it isn’t too expensive. It’s best to check out the website to learn exactly what kind of equipment you need. Then, you can price the equipment at Best Buy or another electronics store in your area.
Start here: Apply at ACX, Voice Bunny, Voices.com, Voice123.com, Fiverr, UpWork
30. Do Graphic Design Part-Time
Do you have an eye for design? You could do graphic design in your spare time.
Instead of getting a part-time job, you could design things for companies or even for your school, like logos or websites.
Start here: Fiverr, PeoplePerHour, UpWork, and Craigslist
Have you tried any of these gigs? What was your experience? Let me know in the comments.
