How to Earn Money as a Student – Best 10 Ways

Are you looking for ways on how to earn money as a student? Then this post will definitely help you out. Student life is an amazing time of life but expenses can be really high. The good news is, today there are various ways of earning money while studying. In this post, we’ll discuss how to earn money as a student.

Student life is one of the crucial times of our lives. Many professionals have claimed that their college or university days were some of the best times of their lives. And it is true because you are given a lot of free time to gather precious experience and mingle with your fellow students.

Although you have a lot of free time, things could get a lot easier if you have some extra cash. As a student, you must make sacrifices and stretch every penny to get by. That is why having some extra earnings might help you out a lot. Luckily there are various ways of earning that extra cash and we will discuss all of them.

However, before starting our list, I want to say that these methods are not meant to replace permanent jobs. Sure some of these methods are good and you can earn a few bucks and some of you might earn a lot. But your main priority should be on your studies and on your future career. These jobs should be considered side-hustles or temporary.

That said, let’s begin our article and learn how to earn money as a student. Let’s get started.

How can I Earn Money as a Student

As a student, your primary concern should be your studies and your career. These jobs are only meant to earn you some extra cash. It should not interfere with your studies. 

In this post, I’ve mentioned 10 ways through which you can earn money as a student. I’ve also mentioned the source (how to get the job), skill, and earning potential of each method.

1. Tuition

Tutoring is one of the best and easiest ways to make money as a student. You can tutor school students, sets of juniors, high school students, etc. Since you’ve already passed those grades, it will be easier for you to tutor other students. This is where your experience and what you’ve learned will help out the other students.

Of course, try to teach subjects that you are really good at or have mastered. This might also help you out with your own students. For example, if you’re majoring in Physics, then you could teach elementary or high-school Physics. By doing so, you’ll have a strong grasp of the subject.

You might be wondering how to find tuition. Well, depending on where you live your approach might be different. Some students, produce flyers with “Tuition Wanted” or “House Tutor” or anything relevant. You can also look for tuitions online or you could ask your seniors or someone who is tutoring.

You can take multiple tuitions but remember that it should not hamper your studies. Only take that amount of tuition that doesn’t put pressure on your personal life.

Source: Posting flyers, asking seniors, and websites like tuitionwanted.com

Skill: Low – Medium

Earning potential: Low-Medium

2. Freelance (Trending for how to earn money as a student)

Freelancing is a great way of making money and gathering professional experience. If you are good at IT skills such as graphics design, content writing, web development, programming, content creating, video editing, etc. you can freelance and earn money.

But there are certain things that you should know before you start to freelance. Today freelancing has become a lot more competitive. There are so many professionals who freelance full-time. Even if you are skilled in a certain category, it might take you a long time to just land your first gig. But once you do, new jobs just keep on coming. You just have to be patient and keep practicing your craft.

There are various tutorials online that you can check out and learn how to become a successful freelancer. If you regularly spend some amount of time freelancing, this could earn you a lot of money. When starting out, your earnings might be less, but eventually, they will be higher.

Source: Freelancing sites like freelancer.com, Fiverr, Upwork, etc.

Skill: Medium – High

Earning potential: Low-High

3. Microtask

Microtasking is similar to freelancing but these tasks are very small and easy to do. It won’t take much of your time. Tasks such as typing, copy-pasting, surveying, etc. are some examples of microtasks. Because of the simplicity of microtasking, it is perfect for students.

Microtasks have become very popular as big companies are using a method called “Crowdsourcing”. This method allows companies to get a large number of individuals to complete some tasks online instead of hiring someone. This helps the companies save a lot of money. The idea of microtask is to complete simple tasks and as you start to take more and more tasks, you can earn a good hourly wage.

Some examples of multitasks are as follows:

  • Data entry
  • Writing comments or short articles
  • Finding images based on keywords
  • Rating or reviewing on websites
  • Follow people on social media
  • Create email accounts and much more

To do these tasks you don’t need any special skills. You just need a computer with an internet connection and you’re good to go.

Source: Clickworker, Microworkers, JobBoy, Mini Jobz, Crowd Source, Rapid Workers, etc.

Skill: Low

Earning potential: Low-Medium

4. Sell Your Notes

Another amazing way you can earn money is by selling your notes. Yes, that’s right, you can now sell your notes online which will help other students. This method is especially helpful for students. As you pass each semester, it’s natural you’ll have notes on different topics. If you are a student who doesn’t mind sharing their notes with others, this is perfect for you.

There are various websites that give you a platform to sell your notes. All you have to do is upload your summaries and choose a price. Then when a student downloads it, you will get paid. It’s that simple!

However, many websites tend to take a percentage of your earnings. This is to cover the marketing cost. So before selling your notes, make sure how much the website will charge you. A good thing about this method is, you can earn money from the work which you already have done. But it’s not guaranteed that other students will download your notes. So the earning potential isn’t that high.

Source: Nexus Notes, thisonlineworld.com, docmerit.com, etc.

Skill: Low

Earning potential: Low

5. Transcription

If you are the kind of person who likes to multitask, then you might like this method. Transcription is the process of writing texts from audio or videos. You will be given an audio or video file, then all you have to do is listen to it and type it into a document. When you’re done, upload your work and get paid!

You don’t need any special training or experience to become a transcriptionist. There are some high-paying positions for medical or legal transcription which require certifications. But we are looking for jobs which you can do without any training or experience.

There are various platforms online where you can register and get transcription jobs. The audio files that you will be sent vary. The audio can be focus groups, market research, interviews, meetings, phone calls, zoom calls, classroom lectures, etc.

Source: Transcribeme.com, rev.com, gotranscript.com 

Skill: Low (Strong attention to detail)

Earning potential: Low-Medium (High for medical and legal transcribers)

How to Earn Money as a Student – Best 10 Ways

6. Content Creation

There are numerous ways of earning money from content creation. Internet is a big deal in this day and age. As the number of websites is growing, so does the number of contents. You become a “Content Creator” by creating content for various websites. But you already knew that. The question is, how can you earn money from your content?

Professional content creators earn huge sums of money from creating content. But as a student, you might not earn that much. But if you start now, and keep working hard and producing content regularly, soon you’ll see results.

Contents can be of many types, articles, blog posts, posts on social media, video content, and much more. As soon as you gather more audience and followers you can monetize your content. Here are some of the ways you can earn as a Content Creator:

  • Monetize through Ads
  • Affiliated marketing
  • Enter sponsorship deals
  • Become an influencer
  • Create and sell NFTs
  • Charge for premium content

In the beginning, you might not find any sponsorship deals or become an influencer. But don’t lose your patience. Focus on a niche, and keep creating content. Soon you’ll be on your way to earning some extra cash.

Source: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and other social media

Skill: Medium

Earning potential: Low-High

7. Photography (Popular choice on how to earn money as a student)

If you are a photographer and you love snapshots, then this is for you. There are ways to sell your photographs online and earn money. You don’t need expensive photography equipment (although it helps) to take these photos. If you can take good-quality photos on your phone, then that’s all you need.

There are several websites where you can sell your photos. But not all photos are accepted. Some of the websites review your photos, and if they approve, only then your photos will be shown in their marketplace. And if someone purchases that photo, you’ll receive a commission. 

There are certain requirements each website has in order to maintain its quality. For that, you might need to use photo editing software like photoshop, lightroom, etc. So before signing up, make sure your photos maintain quality.

Source: Adobe Stock, Etsy, Shutterstock, iStock Photo, Alamy, Getty Images, Dreamstime, etc.

Skill: Medium

Earning potential: Low-Medium

8. Sell Course Books

Another great way of earning some money is to sell your course books and then move on to the next year or semester. New students tend to buy used books since the new books cost a lot. So when you start your year or enter a new semester, try to keep your books intact for the new students. If your books get too damaged, it might lower their value or new students might not purchase them at all.

You should also advertise your books to the newer students so that they know you’re selling. So go around your University and advertise or go to Amazon Marketplace. If you do go to Amazon, it is important to inform you that Amazon takes a percentage as commission.

Source: New students, Amazon Marketplace

Skill: Low

Earning potential: Low

9. Watch Videos

There are ways of earning money by watching videos. This is a really easy way of earning money because we always watch videos every day in general. There are sites that pay you for watching certain videos that they want to get viral. So sit back, relax, and watch some videos while you earn!

The videos that you’ll be watching vary. Some of these videos are advertisements, music videos, tutorials, and much more.

You can also earn money while studying. Just put on the videos, mute it, and continue studying. Just let the video play and you keep studying. So this doesn’t interfere with your studies and you also earn money!

Source: Swagbucks, InboxDollars, MyPoints, etc.

Skill: Low

Earning potential: Low

10. Apply for Part-Time Jobs

Last on our list is applying for part-time jobs. This can be either offline or online. Depending on where you live, part-time jobs may work for you. Although this can be a little bit tiring you can earn some money from it. This also helps you get hands-on experience in real-world business.

If you don’t mind working in restaurants, shops, or other local businesses, then this could be a good experience. There are doctors and famous actors who used to work these jobs to earn money as a student. Many of them continued these jobs early in their career before they find a more stable, high-paying job.

There are many online part-time jobs as well. There are companies that offer part-time jobs for content writers, web developers, designers, data entry operators, etc. If you got the skill, and you can spare some extra hours, then you can give part-time jobs a try.

Source: Local businesses

Skill: Low-medium

Earning potential: Low

Conclusion

That brings our list to an end. Although there are several other ways and opportunities to earn money as students, we’ve just mentioned some of them. Remember, these methods are side hustles and not permanent jobs. As I’ve mentioned earlier, as a student your main concern is your studies and your career.

Although some of these jobs have high-paying capacities, it requires much time and effort. Time and effort that you can’t spare as a student. After you complete your studies or after you graduate, if you decide to take your profession to the next level, then you can do so. In fact, this might be advantageous. For example, if you love transcribing, you can get certified and do medical and legal transcriptions. Then you’ll have some added experience!

So what do you think about our list of earning money as a student? What method do you prefer? Let us know in the comments section below.

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