REAL Ways to Make Extra Money in College

Side Hustles for College Students

            Looking for real ways to make extra money in college can be tricky. We have all searched for ways to make a little extra dough and been bombarded with the “easy money,” “get a quick $500,” and “all you have to do is give your opinion” slogans for some questionable sites with big promises. Some of them may be real, but the return is rarely what they advertise, and the amount of time required is certainly not “quick.”

            One of the most common results for side hustles for college students is some kind of survey platform, where you are promised you can earn up to several hundred dollars per month and all you have to do is fill out surveys. Many of these sites, while legitimate, leave out some important details of how it works. Often, they’ll tell you that you can make up to $5 per survey, which sounds great, if every survey takes 5-15 minutes.

The reality is that most of the surveys pay less than a dollar, or just over, and likely take about 15-30 minutes, or longer. Not to mention, many of the surveys are targeted for a specific audience, so if you don’t meet their preferences in the first few questions, you’ll be kicked out of the survey and not paid. So, while you may make a little money, unless you have endless hours in the day to sink into these surveys, turning a profit of a couple hundred bucks every month is not going to happen. Instead, it’ll be a lot of time, frustration, rejection, and staring at a screen for very little profit, if any.

It’s a lot of irritation for so little reward. And, unfortunately, surveys aren’t the only “easy cash” promises that don’t really live up to their word. It can be hard to know what kinds of side hustles for college students are real and what kinds really are too good to be true.

Luckily, we’re here to help. There are real ways to make extra money in college that don’t require you to burn out, give up all your time, or face constant rejection from a survey platform. You can make a little extra dough as a side hustle or even use some of these opportunities as your main source of income while going to college. Whatever you’re looking for, we have some options that may be ideal for you. Here are five real ways to make extra money in college…

Real Ways to Make Extra Money in College

Fiverr and Upwork

            The beauty of the internet is convenience, accessibility, and connection, whether you’re connecting with friends/family, searching for research articles and answers to your questions, or when you’re searching for work. And so, the first real way to make extra money in college is through is brought to us by the internet. Fiverr and Upwork are two great examples of contract or “odd job” sites that allow you to take on clients, tasks, jobs, or contract work for an assortment of activities and get paid for them at a rate you choose.

            Some examples of the kind of work you can offer on these sites include graphic design, virtual assistant, video creation and editing, audio editing, copywriting, copy editing, marketing, creating posts and captions for social media accounts, tutoring, and so much more. The beauty of these kinds of sites is that you can offer jobs that play to your strengths for people who looking for it. You aren’t tied to working for one company or person, and you can set your own rate.

            Now, you do need to be practical if you want to make money. You don’t want to set a rate for a task that no one is willing to pay. I’ll take that one step further and say that until you build up a little bit of a portfolio and do a couple jobs for experience, I would set a rate lower than what most are asking for the same kind of tasks. Do some research on the sites into the category of work or tasks that you want to offer and see what the normal rates look like, what the pay structure looks like (hourly or by task), and what specifics people are offering to stand out.

            The great thing about these sites is that you are completely in charge of yourself. You decide what jobs you take on, what you get paid, when you work, and what you do. But the other side of that “freedom and independence” coin is that you have to be disciplined, figure out all the logistics and ins-and-outs of the field, and deliver what you promise. It’s all on you.

            If you can handle that kind of responsibility and keep yourself accountable and on top of tasks, client communication, and whatever else your work involves, then these sites are great real ways to make extra money in college!

Tutoring

            Tutoring is another one of the best sides hustles for college students. There are a lot of options for how you can tutor in college and get paid for it. You could become a tutor with the college that you are attending, however there is a lot of on-campus competition for that, which means you need to be pretty advanced in a subject to be eligible to get paid for tutoring your peers.

            Or, like we learned in the last section, you could do tutoring on your own schedule, as your own boss, and offer tutoring services on sites like Fiverr and Upwork. The beauty about offering it that way is that you don’t have a limited audience, so you could offer tutoring for any age and subject and you don’t really need to be all that advanced in it. Just about anyone can tutor elementary math or English. There’s a lot more freedom and a bigger potential audience offering tutoring that way.

            Plus, if you offer tutoring online, you can set your own schedule and rate, making it convenient to fit into your class and study schedule. You’ll want to do research, again, to determine what the competition is charging and offering so that you’ll know what you can do to set yourself apart.

            Another option for tutoring is to join established tutoring websites, like Varsity Tutors, which can make the process easier for you, but there will be onboarding procedures, trainings, and other things that you need to provide to work for them. They may also require you to be advanced in certain areas, or they may only have openings for certain areas, and if you don’t fit the bill… sorry.

            But, even if you use those sites, you can typically still set your own schedule, to make sure that it works with your classes and other commitments. However, you’ll likely be unable to set your own pay rate—usually tutoring sites have a recommended or standard fee per hour. It depends on the site. All things considered, this is one of the most convenient, relatively easy, and works-for-you ways to make extra money in college, and it can be done from your dorm room. As far as side hustles for college students go, tutoring is pretty ideal and well paid.

Door Dash/Uber Eats/Insta Cart

            Another popular side hustle is food delivery, such as Door Dash, Uber Eats, and Instacart. The catch, right away, is that you need to have a car or some reliable form of transportation. Not always, if you live in a small town, have a bike or reliable public transportation, you may be able to deliver food without a car. But in most cases, it’s best to have your own vehicle.

            The nice thing about these “jobs” is that you can decide each day when and if you want to do them. There is no set schedule, it’s completely dependent on if you have time and want to work that day.

            However, there is a drawback to this line of work, in that most of your income is dependent on tips. You don’t get paid much per hour, so it comes down to how many orders you fill and how well they tip. Some days may be really good, and some days… not so much. Area is also an important consideration for these services. Typically, more populated, wealthier areas will have better tips and bigger orders.

            Certain times of the day will also be better than others, dinner time being the best. So, you’ll probably have to do some trial and error to figure out where and when you should be accepting orders to make the most money out of it.

            Instacart is a little different, because instead of fast food or meals, you’re typically picking up groceries. You’ll also be the one shopping. There will be a list in your app, you have to get the right item (brand, size, details, and all), scan it, and ask about replacements if they aren’t available. It can take a little longer, because of that, and it’s hard to do multiple orders.

            Now, there are some other restrictions, as these services require their drivers to be 18-21+ (depending on the state and service), have proof of insurance, a valid driver’s license, and submit to a background check (which will likely involve your social security number). You’ll have to go through each site to determine if you meet the requirements.

            Overall, if you do it right, Doordash, Uber Eats, and Instacart are great potential ways to make extra money in college.

Reselling Clothes for Profit

            This one may be unexpected, but there’s quite a market for used clothes and other items that you can find in your closet or the nearest thrift store. You’d be surprised how much you can make if you’re really good at finding the right things at thrift store. If you do it right, you could potentially make a killing while getting your degree. We’re talking a couple hundred bucks to over a thousand.

            Now, it’s not a guarantee, and it takes some experimenting and training your eye to get it right. There’s also a couple different methods you can try, and depending on your situation, free time, and resources, some things may work better for you than others.

            The first method you can try is dropping things off at a consignment store or a thrift store like Plato’s Closet, where they may pay you a flat rate for the items or a percentage of what it might sell for. Now, these options will not take everything you give them, so it’s up to their discretion what they take and what they pay you, so it may not be the most profitable option.

            Another option is reselling clothes for profit online, like on Facebook Marketplace, Poshmark, Ebay, and more. Here is where you can potentially make a lot of money, if you can figure out the process. Essentially though, it works like this: you go through your clothes, shoes, and athletic gear, go to thrift stores, find items that are unique, popular, or valuable that you think someone else would buy, buy them, clean them up, and list them online.

            Yes, you’ll likely have to spend a little money to make money, but thrift stores are often treasure troves of items that have immense value, but are sold for less. After all, for many of the items that you least expect, there was a reason that someone spent money on it before. Now, you may be wondering how you can know which things are valuable, and which things are just used and discarded for a reason. Not to worry, there’s an app for that!

            Well, there’s sort of an app for that. Download the google app with the google lens. Use this to scan the tags of clothing, shoes, or gear that you’re looking at in stores. This will allow you to see the product and what it’s selling for, or what it’s value is from the original company. Download the Ebay app and create a profile (you’ll need this for selling too) to see if the item is being sold on Ebay and how much it’s actually selling. If there’s a lot of listings, but not a lot of sold items, it could be an indication that it’s perhaps not worth investing in.

            Another helpful app to have for reselling clothes for profit is called SellRaze, which allows you to create one listing for a product and post it to multiple sales platforms. However, you do need to check the listing on each platform that it is sold to, as sometimes the data can be transferred incorrectly.

            Now, many of the platforms that you may use will involve shipping, so you may need to invest in a thermal printer and poly bags, to print shipping labels and package your items professionally. Going through many of these platforms will mean that payment is made through them, so be sure to set up those accounts properly.

An exception is Facebook Marketplace, which is great for both local and shipping purchases, but you’ll want to set up Venmo and Cashapp to make these purchases easier. Cash is also fine, but being able to accept virtual payments opens up more customers.

For Facebook Marketplace, you’ll also want to establish some boundaries, such as setting up a common meetup location that is public, nearby you but not where you live, and easy to find. Additionally, if you ship items, you’ll want to come up with some procedures for payment, like 50% of the cost upfront, and the rest after the product arrives. This just ensures that you actually get paid for the product, instead of sending it and never hearing from the customer again.

It may take some time to figure out what sells well and what works for you. Start out with maybe $50, go to some thrift store, scan some tags, and see what you find. Shoes, sweaters, fur coats, and athletic gear are all great places to look. But, don’t be afraid to look at some unexpected items too, like scarves and handbags. When you’re reselling clothes for profit remember that there is a market for just about everything, so don’t be afraid to branch out in your search.

            Follow some influencers, do your research, and be patient with yourself. To really succeed with this, you’ll have to put time into it. But, even if you don’t have a ton of time to give, you may still be able to turn a profit. It’s a great option among the real ways to make extra money in college.

Starting a Small Business

Sounds outlandish, I know. We all know that starting a small business takes a lot of work if you want it to succeed. We’ve all heard the stories of sacrifice, unrealistic hours, and years of spending in order to make money later on—time and money you likely don’t have in college. And that’s true—starting a business takes a lot of work, and usually a good amount of time.

But not always a lot of money.

There are a couple key business concepts that determine how well you do with any business, and the one I want to highlight is “know your audience.” Depending on the audience you intend to cater to, and the product or service you intend to sell, you may not actually have to spend much to start making money.

When I was in college, there were two students I knew who started their own businesses and were making money with little overhead and still had enough time for classes and homework.

One of them ran a dessert business, making Belgium waffles with different toppings, ice cream, and flavors. She was able to sell her food on campus for events (had to clear it with the school, of course), and book tables at local events as well. Aside from potential rental fees, buying ingredients, and purchasing the waffle makers, there weren’t many large costs associated with her business.

The other student ran a business selling handmade bracelets, anklets, and scrunchies. She marketed on Instagram, allowed orders through instant messaging (at first), and made all her products by hand to keep costs down. She continued her business for a couple years.

Both students knew their audience, catered to college students among others, and kept things affordable.

I’m not sure if either of them are still running their businesses, but during college, I know that they were making some money from the ventures and gained valuable experience.

Now, I wouldn’t say it was easy—it wasn’t. It took time, sacrifice, and a little money. It’s hard work, and it takes dedication and discipline to balance your time well, but it can be done.

Not only does it have the potential to make you money, but it looks great on a resume to say that you started a business while in school and actually turned a profit. I suggest you track your numbers well, keep records of progress, low points, high points, and cash flow, even if you close the business. Having the proof of your efforts and experience can be a huge plus in a job interview. Starting your own business is one of the most intense ways to make extra money in college, but the benefits go way beyond just money.

The Right Ways to Make Extra Money in College

            There are a lot of options for making money in college, whether working at the school, a part-time job nearby, a paid internship, or one of the side hustles for college students that we talked about here. The beauty of these options is that they aren’t exclusive… but they can be. They can be side hustles or your main source of income while you’re pushing toward your degree.

            Whatever you choose to do, if you’re looking to make a little extra dough during your college career, I strongly recommend these real ways to make extra money in college. You never know, you may find yourself with quite the money-making opportunity…

As always, for more information on Christian college or universities, or to be entered to win one of our scholarship drawings, visit us at The Christian Connector.