How To Make Money as a Student
Easy Ways to make money from student
Being a student often involves an off-beat and busy schedule, which makes it difficult to commit to a traditional, scheduled part-time job. However, extra money during university is always welcome. You are probably wondering how to make money as a student. Here are 10 easy ways to make money that are more flexible to fit around your university schedule.
Online survey
Woman sitting on her laptop on a video call with a client
By far the easiest way to make some extra income. There are a whole host of online survey sites that reward users for giving their opinions and experiences. Sites like onepoll, YouGov, and Lifepoints offer cash prizes, and there are many others that offer gift cards and prizes. You can take as many or as few surveys as you wish and on your own time
Sites are 'provided'
A 'paid to' site offers cash rewards for doing a variety of tasks including taking surveys, watching videos or even playing games! Tasks can be done whenever and wherever you want as long as you have an internet connection, with many of these sites to choose from, Swagbucks and InboxPounds being two of the most popular.
Laptop on a wooden table showing an executive summary
Freelancing
Freelancing is a flexible way to use any skills you have to earn money. There are no contracted hours like part-time jobs, so you can work as much or as little as you can manage around your university life. Any skill can be turned into income freelancing, such as writing, music, graphic design and programming. Some examples of freelancing platforms include Fiverr, PeoplePerHour and Upwork. These make freelance work significantly easier than setting up your own site and marketing yourself.
Payment Inquiry
This option is great for students as it is a completely passive way of making money. After linking your account to the Service, or installing a browser plugin, you start earning money just for your general web browsing and clicking on links that interest you. You can do this by joining Microsoft Rewards or using the Qmee plugin.
Clickworker
Like freelancing, ClickWorker essentially crowdsources work for many people to complete a project for their clients. Some of the tasks include data processing, text generation, translation, and AI learning, but there are a variety of tasks, all online-based with different rewards for completion. With no commitment to hours per week, and new jobs being posted constantly, you can be completely flexible.
Tutoring
Tutoring may seem time-consuming, but being an online tutor allows you to set your own hours and availability. Almost anyone can become a tutor, and some sites like MyTutor specifically solicit university students. Most tutoring services require no qualifications other than a passion for your subject and the patience and enthusiasm needed to teach others. Also MyTutor, Tutorful and FirstTutors are two UK-based sites for tutors.
Tests and reviews are provided
Imagine posting a review for a product, app or website and getting paid for it. Sites like UserTesting and Slicethepie offer just that (they are wholly or partially US-based but pay via PayPal and have contributors worldwide). The 'paid to' sites mentioned earlier often include a paid review section.
Mystery shopping
A 'mystery shopper' is someone who reviews the quality of a business's customer service. This can be by physically visiting a store to make a purchase, using the company's website, or calling the company with a question. Your feedback is then used to help businesses improve their operations, particularly in terms of customer service. Some popular UK-based mystery shopper sites include Grassroots, Tarn and Retail Maxim.
Act as an extra
If you don't mind hanging around a film set for long periods of time, you can become an extra in the background of TV programs and movies. Anyone can do it, no acting experience is required. Using a casting agency is probably the easiest way to get extra work. Uni-versal Extras is a company specially designed for students who want to earn extra money – there is no registration fee if you are a full-time student. Casting Collective and Ray Knight Casting are two other companies based in and around London.
The driving gig
Being a delivery driver is a new but well-established option for apps like Deliveroo, Uber, and Amazon. If you have your own car and are willing to use it for work, this can be an easy way to earn more money. Unlike a contracted part-time job, you can schedule your hours and arrange work to fit around university.
Blogging
It takes more time and effort but people can and do make full time income from their blogs. If you're passionate about a topic, have a wealth of knowledge to share, or just love to write, blogging may be for you. There are several hosting sites, like WordPress, to set up a free blog and start writing right away. As traffic grows, money can be earned through tools like AdSense and sponsored posts. Another way to drive traffic and get your voice heard is to guest blog on already established sites or pitch articles posted on sites like Buzzfeed and Listverse.
…or keep it old school
In our highly connected world, it has become easier and easier to earn money from different sources besides our home. This has made it more feasible for university students to flexibly earn money around their studies. Of course, that doesn't mean more traditional methods of making money are off the table.
Part time job
A part-time job in a shop or restaurant can be negotiated to fit around your studies, especially if you live in a university town as they will be used to students. Opportunities can be found by searching online job boards such as specific businesses or StudentJobs in your area. There are also often local ads asking for things like babysitters and dog walkers on a part-time but long-term basis - these can be found online on sites like Gumtree and Facebook.
Work at your university
You don't have to move off campus to find a more 'traditional' job. Most universities will have student job shops where you can inquire about vacancies within the university for things like administration, residential assistant and librarian jobs. An added bonus is that your employers will be very aware of the classes and studies you need to take, so can be more flexible with hours and try to be more understanding overall.
good luck
There are many ways to create new sources of income and people come up with new ideas every day. This list has been compiled to show you easier, more convenient ways to earn extra money while you're at university that we hope will be helpful to our readers.
