If you are a college student, and the money always seems to run out every week or every month, then you might need a side hustle.
The internet is a resource that students use every other time, whether submitting assignments or just browsing for entertainment or information.
The good news is that students might learn how to make money While Studying at College.
It requires that a student balance school and work if he has a job such as bartending or delivery. Online jobs are more flexible for a student than jobs where you have to be physically present.
The internet can be a massive resource for making some extra cash. If you are a student or you know a student, here are some ways some college students can make money online.
7 Ways to Make Money Online As A College Student
College students should be cautious when they are browsing the internet looking for solutions to how to earn money while studying in college.
There are many pyramid scheme and scam websites; the web is full of fraudsters and scammers, and due diligence is required of students. Here are some seven tried and tested ways of making money online.
- Freelance Writing
Freelance writing is one of the most legitimate ways of actively making money online if you have a talent for writing and research. Freelance writing is an effective way of making online because if you don’t write, you don’t get paid.
There are websites such as iWriter, Copify, and Uvocorp where students can register accounts to make some hard-earned cash.
These websites demand the highest levels of quality, originality, and flow of ideas. The clients are people operating sites or could be too busy to write the content for themselves.
Here is a link for trusted freelance writing websites you can create a profile with and register to earn money:
- Vlogging
Vlogging is popular with college students. A good example is BigDawsTv, whose founder started recording prank videos while in college; now, he has over 5 million subscribers!
Vlogging on YouTube is a passive means of earning money online. The first step is to create a YouTube channel.
Secondly, monetise it with a linked Google AdSense account which will keep track of the number of views. The third and most crucial step is to create good, creative video and audio content by YouTube’s policy and terms of service.
You might need to invest in a good camera, but it is not a must; several successful vloggers started recording even with smartphones!
If you have over a thousand subscribers and at least four thousand in watch hours for the last 12 calendar months, you qualify to be a YouTube partner, which means you earn per view.
Here is a YouTube video with tips on how to be a successful blogger
- Audio Transcription
With a good set of headphones, you can get started on listening to audio and typing the words down. It is as easy as that! There are legitimate websites which enables you to set up an account and start earning by transcribing.
- Stock Photography
If you like taking pictures, say of sunsets, or you happen to capture someone in a lifetime event, you can sell them to stock photography sites such as Getty Images and Stocksy.
However, on these websites, it may be hard to make a continuous money stream unless you have a steady supply of pictures.
A website like Stocksy is popular with college photographers because it has a reasonable payment plan and long-term income making solutions.
List of websites where you can sell your pictures
- Get paid to test websites
There are some websites which pay to review and test websites as an assignment. The most popular ones are User Testing and Enroll, which pay via PayPal.
To create a profile with these website testing sites, you need to be well versed in tech and the internet. You need to understand what cookies are, layout and formatting options.
If you have a history in IT, web design or graphic web design, this might be an easy way to make money online.
There are many sites which claim to pay but do not, so you need to verify that these sites are secure (a padlock on the top-left corner beside the URL is a start).
- Being a Virtual Assistant
Maybe you are a good planner, and you do not know where to turn your organisational skills into good money.
Some websites link you to professionals and experts who want help with project management, generating slides and other tasks for teams and otherwise.
As a virtual assistant, you can in various positions depending on your skills, for example, assisting in website development and maintenance, data entry and research and customer service, to name a few.
- Social media management
Being a social media manager might be an opportunity for you to help out a small business in your locality, maybe around where you stay or around campus.
Big companies use social media for marketing their products and services to get more customers. Identify a gap in marketing in a local successful business venture say a dry-cleaner you go to or a dinner you take breakfast.
You will need to sell your idea very well to the proprietor of the business. It will be better if you already work at the place or you have worked there before.
If you can offer to set an Instagram page to promote the business, the owner will surely appreciate your inventiveness, especially if they are old school and not that tech-savvy.
Social media management can be one of those ways you make money online and also improve business acumen. Below is a link to tools you can use to enhance social media presence once you get started.
In Summary
Students can make money online using various platforms on the internet. Usually, there is a registration process which varies from easy to tedious, but it is all worth it for some money on the side. Students must be careful not to be scammed though as there are many hoax sites.