99 Side Hustles for College Students to Start Today
Written by Khalid Farhan
Last Updated:
I love ramen noodles. But let’s face it – eating ramen every day in the college canteen can get pretty boring. You need some extra cash to spice things up with some more exciting meals. Why don’t you have a side hustle then?
If you are a college student, I’m sure you have some spare time. Why waste it on silly stuff when you can turn it into some good money? Being self-dependent, making more pocket money, gaining skills from an early age, or simply impressing your tinder match – whatever the reason is, an opportunity for side hustles for college students is no doubt something you should not miss in your lifetime.
Why Is College the Best Time for Side Hustles
Student loans suck – at least we all can agree on that. By having a side hustle for quick income, you can get rid of the loan pressure hanging over your head a lot quicker. You see, college students have more free time than people who have full-time jobs. To add up to that, people in college have lower family responsibilities or no responsibilities in many cases. So it’s easier for college students to be more flexible in their studies and work. If you are in college, you can choose when and where to work and even choose how many extra hours to devote to a side hustle.
A college is a great place for learning things that are used in professional life. Let’s say, you are learning marketing in college. You can use your marketing knowledge in a related side hustle to bag some extra cash. That being said, side hustles for college students are the best way to figure out what they’re really interested in, build practical knowledge and network, and get ready for something big after college. People can have side hustles at any stage of their life but college is considered the best side hustle time for all these reasons.
How Much Can You Earn by Having a Side Hustle
You can be a millionaire by a side hustle in college – please don’t have this kind of pipe dream! A side hustle for students is a way to have some extra pocket money or if it’s more profitable, it’s a way of self-dependency. A student can not work like a full-time job holder. Usually, it’s 5-20 hours of work for a student in a week depending on the side hustle. How much money can it bring depends mostly on the type of side hustle and the generalized payment rate for it. On average you can expect $500-$1000 a month from good side jobs for college students. If you got yourself a high pricing side hustle, it’s okay to expect $2000 per month. Expecting $20000 per month may be impossible, But congratulations if you can really make it possible.
99 Side Hustles for College Students to Start Today
Almost 75% of college students have a good side hustle for quick income. If you are fine with being broke in your college life or still not pissed off getting rejected by your parents for more pocket money, this might not be for you. But if you want things to change and be at the wheel of your financial life, Here are 99 side hustles for college students to start making your own money – both online & offline!
Online Side Hustles for College Students:
1. Online Tutoring
Online tutoring is in great demand. People look for good college students for their kids to help with their studies from anywhere in the world on platforms like Chegg, TutorMe, and Wyzant. If you have a good educational grade, tutoring can get you some extra cash in your pocket.
2. Start a Blog
A blog can be a fun thing to keep as a side hustle for students with good writing capabilities. You can create a blog in any niche you like to talk about and build an audience to monetize it. It can be a cool little side hustle for college students online by showing ads and earning money – takes a little time though!
3. Be a Freelance Writer
If you’re good at writing but someone with little patience, try freelance writing than starting a blog. You can just write for someone else. It’ll not be crazy money like blogging but then again, you don’t need to wait for it at least.
4. Translation Work
Translation can be one of the good side jobs for college students who are bilingual or multilingual. You can offer your service as a freelance translator to people who need documents, websites, or other things to be translated. Pretty easy, right?
5. Join an Affiliate Program
You can earn money by signing up for an affiliate program. This got very popular these days! What happens is – you get a commission on any service or product that you promote on your blogs and that gets sold by clicking on the links on it.
6. Start a YouTube Channel
Opening a YouTube channel is a creative side hustle for college students out there. Though it takes a little time to fulfill the requirement to get your YouTube monetized for earning. But once it starts having a good amount of viewers, you not only get paid by YouTube, you’ll start getting sponsorship deals as well.
7. Social Media Manager
Many business people or organizations are too busy to be constantly posting to their customers or fans on social media. Luckily college students are not that busy. If you are one, take social media manager as a good side hustles for college students online.
8. Sell Your Crafts on Etsy
Etsy can be a top side hustle for College students with creative sides. It’s a great platform for small business owners making crafts, customized jewelry, digital products, or anything like that. Earning is pretty good here! Check this out to know more.
9. Fill Out Surveys
Filling out surveys can be an ultimate side hustle for college students online. Who needs a real job when you can get paid by giving simple answers like rating something from 1-10? You’ll get paid just by giving your opinion – crazy right? Find me an easier side hustle if you can.
10. Become a VA for Amazon
A virtual assistant job may be one of the Biggest side hustle for students in college. This brings a handful of money to you from the comfort of your home. Check out my article to get to know it like the back of your hand and get on with this.
11. Be a Live Streamer
In case you are wondering, how the hell it is supposed to make you money, you have no idea how interesting it can be. People will love to send you money just to see you doing some pretty basic stuff like gaming, cooking, doing makeup, etc. Well, first you have to make a good fan base though.
12. Freelance Graphic Design
Graphic designing is a good student side hustle idea as it’s not crazy hard. Even if you don’t know how to do it already, You can just learn it and it won’t even take one hell of a lot of time. All you need to do then is open an account in freelance marketplaces like Fiverr and Upwork and get clients to get that cash coming in.
13. Be an Influencer
What is a fun side hustle? – Here it is. Influencer marketing is a real deal now. Businesses are spending millions of dollars on influencers to promote their name and product. What better time to build your social media and get paid to post photos and videos in front of your audience?
14. Virtual Video Editor
Video editing is one of the best side hustle for College students. Did you notice everything on social media is leaning toward videos? Let’s be honest – we all love videos more than photos or texts. Be it YouTube videos or product videos or social media videos – people are willing to pay fat money for professional video editing. Get the demand?
15. Sell Your Music Online
If you are a college student who also happens to be an aspiring musician, you can use your talent to fill your pocket with some extra cash. There are a lot of sites where you can upload your music letting people download it in exchange for money. This is a good side hustle for students.
16. Sell Your Art Online
Similar to music, you can earn money if you are an artist too. I’ve already talked about Etsy. Redbubble, Art Finder, etc are some of the sites where you can upload your art pieces and sell them as a side hustle.
17. Etsy Store Management
Let’s say, you are not that good at art pieces or creative stuff. No worries – you still can earn from Etsy! Just be an Etsy store manager for other Etsy sellers. This is one of the easiest side jobs for college students.
18. Freelance Stylist
Think you are good at styling? How about earning some bucks by using this talent? Just be a freelance stylist for people seeking outfit advice to make them look better.
19. Virtual Friend
Believe it or not – many people these days will pay you to become their friend and talk to them when they want you to. There are already some popular apps for it. It’s an easy side hustle for college students – well if it’s okay for you to make friends like that.
20. Sell Stock Photos
I’m sure you are aware of this. You can sell your photography to many sides and get paid or get a commission on each download. Shutterstock, Adobe Stock, Getty Images, and iStock are some of the popular ones to take as a side hustle for students.
21. Data Entry
Go to freelance marketplaces like Fiverr or Upwork. People are paying good money to list data for themselves or their companies. It’s a pretty easy side job for any college student. You’ll hardly need any complex skills to earn money with this. Just some basic Excel skills will do!
22. Make And Sell Templates
Is your Designing skill good? Then make digital files or templates of resumes, business cards, flyers, Instagram posts, or many things like that, and sell them on marketplaces or your own website. In this side hustle, you can sell the same template over and over again.
23. Be a Web Developer
Being a web developer is one of the Biggest side hustle for students. Though you need to be very skilled to develop websites, if you can, scroll through freelance marketplaces and just look at how well they are being paid.
24. Writing E-books
If you are into writing stuff like stories, novels, comics, etc, you can publish e-books on various platforms like Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, etc.
25. Resume And LinkedIn Expert
Professional resume-making and LinkedIn building are in high demand among people looking for jobs. If you are an expert in them, you can earn money through this side hustle as well. They usually pay a lot for getting a professional-looking resume or LinkedIn.
26. Teach English Online
This is a very profitable side hustle for college students with English as their native tongue. Many Non-English-speaking people from around the world are willing to pay a good amount of money to teach English to them or their kids.
27. Create a T-shirt Design Business
This can also be an offline side hustle for college students but it’ll be more profitable online for any college student. You can design cool and trendy designs for t-shirts and sell them to be printed by other people.
28. Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is no doubt one of the Biggest side hustle for students in college. Once you get into it, I’ll not be surprised if you end up being a full-time digital marketer after college or university.
29. Logo Creation
Logo creation can definitely be a good side hustle if you have a good hand in Adobe Illustrator or any other designing tool. If creating visually appealing graphics brings you joy, create logos to earn some extra money.
30. Transcribing Work
Imagine you get paid just to write down everything word by word from audios or videos. How easy money that could be! Converting audio and video files into written transcripts for businesses or individuals can be one of the easiest side hustles for college students.
31. SEO Services
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a very important aspect of digital marketing. You can provide SEO services and make people’s websites rank higher on search engine results as a side hustle besides your college study.
32. Online Shopping or Wardrobe Consulting
Are you a fashionista? Then make your fashion-sense to get you some cash as well. You can build a good following on your social media first and then offer to be an online shopping or wardrobe consultant for them. Many of your followers will love to hire you.
33. Website Testing
If you have an eye for details and are comfortable with technology, sign up for platforms like UserTesting, TryMyUI, and Userlytics and get paid opportunities for website testing.
34. Dropshipping
Dropshipping might be a good side hustle for college students with more spare time. Here you act as a middleman between the customers and suppliers.
35. Virtual Bookkeeper
You can offer bookkeeping services for small businesses through accounting software like QuickBooks and get paid for it.
36. Online Voiceover Work
Providing voiceovers for videos or audiobooks can be one of the coolest side hustles for college students. If you have a good voice, don’t waste it. Go for voiceover work now.
37. Edit Product Commercials
This one might require extraordinary skill in editing videos. But editing product commercials is one of the high paying side hustles for college students any day!
Offline Side Hustles for College Students
38. Sell Your Study Notes
Let’s start with a classic! Selling study notes can be one of the easiest offline side hustles for college students. Well, make sure to note everything down clearly with good handwriting and include everything relevant. You don’t want your classmates or juniors to think of them as chicken scratch, do you?
39. House Painting
A college student with artistic talents can use it to make some cash as well. House painting is a high paying side hustle for college students. The better you are with paintbrushes, the more cash will come to your account.
40. Be a Paper Boy/Girl
If you are not that interested in online side hustles, you can simply get a job as a paper boy or girl. All you’ll need to do is deliver papers to every house door in your assigned area. Piece of cake!
41. Work at Your College Cafeteria
A cafeteria is an easy option to work at as a side hustle besides your studies. As a college student, keeping your workspace and study space close will save you a lot of road time.
42. Be a Barista
If you are looking for an offline side hustle for college students with minimal training, this is it! Be a barista at your local coffee shop. You’ll not only get paid by the shop, but you’ll also enjoy tips from many people.
43. Teach Art
If you are good in arts such as painting or sculpting, you can have your own workshop and accept paid students who are eager to learn from you. Who knows – you might just discover your inner Bob Ross in that process!
44. Be a Photographer
Have a camera and some photography skills? This can be one of the good Side hustle ideas for college students. Earn some extra cash by doing photography for other people.
45. Be a Computer Technician on Campus
Being a computer technician can be a great side hustle for students who are tech-savvy. The college IT department hires students to provide technical support and deal with software, hardware, or network system issues. Take your chance on that!
46. Events Coordinator
If you are into stuff like planning and organizing, you can take event coordination as a high paying side hustle for a student. You can use your talent to plan events like birthday parties, weddings, or corporate parties and earn a lot of money.
47. Be a Sports Coach
Let’s say you are a soccer enthusiast, you can apply to coach your juniors or students of high school soccer. This can be a good side hustle idea for college students like you.
48. Teach Music
If you are an expert in any musical instrument like guitar, drums, piano, or anything, you can teach them to others for money as well. This is a pretty demanding side hustle for college students.
49. Proofread And Edit Your Classmate’s Work
If you are a book nerd and quite not interested in anything but books and study, I got a side hustle idea for you too! Just proofread and edit your classmates’ notes, homework, and assignments in exchange for some money.
50. Thread Eyebrows
This might sound a bit unusual for a side hustle, but if anything so simple brings you some extra cash why not give it a try?
51. Be a Referee for Sports
You can be an unbiased referee for your college sports week for some extra money. That’s a fun side hustle for college students, don’t you think? I’m sure they’ll pay you well.
52. Be a Makeup Artist
Becoming a makeup artist is one of the High paying side hustle for college students. How’s the demand – you ask? Just scroll through your Instagram reels. Makeup is a constantly growing industry. Build an audience on your social media showcasing your makeup skill and be a professional MUA charging fat money.
53. Provide Manicure Services
You must know how crazy some people are toward manicures. Earn money by providing manicure services in your locality. You never know – you might end up opening a nail salon and taking it as a full-time career in the near future.
54. Dog Walking
Just think – you can even earn cash by walking someone’s dog outside. Insane – I know! But what easier side hustle will you get out there? The only skill you need is to walk – Why is it so funny!
55. Be a Babysitter
Do babies love it around you? Then get a babysitting job and earn money while entertaining the babies of your town. This is a side hustle for quick income!
56. Help People With Their Grocery Shopping
Many people find it troublesome to go grocery shopping. Good for you – you can earn some extra money by helping them with that. You just need to be patient and organized to give this service as your side hustle.
57. Be a Tour Guide
If you are a college student from a city with famous tourist spots, consider yourself lucky! This might keep your pocket always full of hard cash. Just take a tour guide job as a side hustle.
58. Sell Your Old Textbooks
Let me give a very good side hustle idea with literally zero skill needed. Just sell your old textbooks through AbeBooks, BookScouts, Chegg, Cash4Books, etc. that you don’t need anymore to your juniors. You’ll get some money, they’ll also get the books at a cheap price. Win for both!
59. Car Washing Services
washing cars at a cheaper price than car wash centers might be a very profitable side hustle for college students like you. Cars will never disappear, and neither will the demand for cheaper car washing Services.
60. Sell Your Clothes
You can earn some extra money by selling your clothes as well. Many people prefer to buy second-hand clothes in good condition for a cheaper price. So what if it’s cheap? All of it will be your profit.
61. Help People Take Care of Their Plants
Nowadays many people are too busy in life. They hardly have time to take care of their gardens. This can be an easy side hustle idea for students to help people tend to their plants like watering them, cleaning out the weeds, trimming the branches, etc.
62. Rent Out Your Car or Bike
If you are a college student and have a car or bike, I can tell you – it’s sitting wastefully in your garage most of the time. Why don’t you rent it out and make some good money while you are doing homework in your room? It’s a clever side hustle, don’t you think?
63. Sell Baked Goods
Cakes or cookies – what do you love to bake? Whatever it is, did you ever think to be a little entrepreneur by selling them? This is one of the good side hustles for college students wanting to earn some sweet money besides studying.
64. Deliver Food
Food home delivery is a very common side hustle for teens out there. It doesn’t require past experience, or any extraordinary skill to get you this job.
65. Custom-make Greeting Cards
You can make customized handmade greeting cards as a side hustle in your college days. It’s easy and fun. Perfect thing for spending your spare time on.
66. Be an Uber or Lyft Driver
Got a driving license? Yes? Then you can work as a Uber or Lyft driver to earn some extra bucks to spend on outings. A convenient side hustle for college students I must say!
67. Help People Move House
Moving house is not a fun thing I know. But if it’s for money, what’s not fun? Helping people to move their stuff from one house to another for good cash – good side hustle I think.
68. Rent Out Your Parking Space
When you are out with your car, isn’t it clever to rent out your parking space to others for money? Try out this side hustle for students.
69. Pet Sitting
Yes, it’s a real job! I got two cats and I know how it feels to leave them unattended while I leave for a long time. So pet lovers look for pet sitters who can look after them while they are away.
70. Be an Extra in Films or Ads
Being an extra in films or ads can be an easy side hustle idea for college students. In case you are thinking “I’m not good at acting, How am I supposed to do it?”, you don’t need to be good. The audience will not even look at you, but you’ll get money anyways!
71. Help People with Personal Errands
Many people are too busy to do small tasks. You can offer them your service for personal errands such as picking up dry cleaning, dropping off packages at the post office, etc. It’s one of the easiest side hustle ideas for students.
72. House Cleaning
Again, many people are too busy to take time and properly clean their houses. You can offer this service as a side hustle besides your study in exchange for money.
73. Rent Out Your Spare Room
If you don’t need your spare room immediately, rent it out to people who need that. You can earn some extra cash by literally doing nothing.
74. Product Photography
Many companies look for good product photographers for their promotions and ads. If you are one, try your luck on it. They pay pretty well!
75. Personal Trainer
If you are a fitness freak, be a personal trainer for people who need some help in gaining fitness. This way you can earn as well besides your study.
76. Meal Prep for Others
Good at cooking? A good side hustle for college students like you will be to prepare meals for other students or corporate employees or simply for people who can’t cook.
77. Lifeguard at the University Pool
Universities appoint lifeguards for their pools in case of an accident. You can apply if you are good at swimming and know how to save someone from drowning.
78. Lawn Care
People look for lawn care services to clean and organize their house ward. You can provide this service as a side hustle in your spare time.
79. Busking
If you have any talent that you think may be interesting to people and can hold a crowd, you can take busking as one of the side hustles for college students. If people like your entertainment, they’ll pay you voluntarily.
80. Be a Videographer
Got good videography skills? Why waste it by only making random videos when you can make money with them? Videography is one of the top side hustles for college students.
81. Language Translation
With the increasing globalization and international travel, the demand for professional language translation is on the rise. This could be a great side hustle idea for bilingual or multilingual students.
82. Be a Handyman or Handywoman
Provide home repair services as a handyman or handywoman to earn some money. You’ll not be crazy rich, but hey, who doesn’t like some extra pocket money?
83. Pet Washing
Paw lovers many times need help to groom and wash their dogs or cats. You can provide this service for money.
84. Be an Airbnb Host
You can earn money by listing your space on an Airbnb account and then renting your unused rooms, and guesthouse to travelers. Make sure not to piss off your parents – ask for their permission before.
85. Jewelry Making or Repair
Earn some extra cash by making and repairing jewelry. This can be a good side hustle for students in college.
86. Property Manager
In your spare time in college, you can work as a property manager. It’s basically working as a manager for rental properties on behalf of the landlords or owners.
87. Personalized Gift Making
Being a college student, making customized gifts for birthdays, wedding anniversaries or any special occasions can turn out as a good side hustle for teens.
88. Pool Cleaning or Maintenance
Pools need to be looked after for hygienic purposes. You can work as a pool cleaner or maintainer in your spare time of college to make some extra pocket money.
89. Mystery Shopping
One of the easy side hustles for college students may be mystery shopping these days. Here you’ll get paid to visit or shop in a store, restaurant, or other places and report back your experience.
90. App or Product Testing
You can get paid by many companies for testing out their apps or products. This way they can see the original user experience and improve their product or service accordingly.
91. Drone Photography or Videography
Drone photography or videography is getting very popular among urban people. But not everyone owns a drone. If you do, use it to earn some cash with it by providing other photography and videography services.
92. Be a DJ at Parties
Being a DJ can be a side hustle idea for students in college. It’s not only good money, but it’s also fun.
93. Interior Design
If you are passionate about interior design or studying it, you can prepare yourself for the full-time interior design profession in the future by taking it as a side hustle in college. What’s wrong with earning some money meanwhile?
94. Furniture Repair or Refurbishing
Many college students choose to repair and refurbish old or broken furniture as a side hustle. But let me tell you – it needs skill! If you have it, just go for it as not everyone has the skill.
95. Painting or Drawing Commissions
If painting brushes gives you joy, I’ll suggest you take painting as your side job. What is a fun side hustle than the work you love to do? You’ll also earn some extra money by painting and drawing Commissions.
96. Be a Librarian in Your College
Being a book nerd, You can get the job of a librarian in your college as the book is the love of your life. You’ll not even have to stay away from them and also get paid for it. Isn’t it sweet?
97. Personalized Calligraphy
Calligraphy is a very aesthetic decorative item in interior design – pretty expensive as well. If you are good at it, what’s stopping you from getting this high paying side hustle for college students?
98. Cloud Kitchen Owner
Love cooking but don’t have the funds to open a restaurant? Then open a cloud kitchen and make food in your spare time. Time’s changed! People enjoy having pizzas in their cozy sofas more than any pizza place these days – especially after Covid!
99. Offline Tutoring
Tutoring has been a side hustle for students in college for literally centuries. You can keep the record on as well to earn some dough.
This was the list of 99 side hustles for college students. Though they are listed in the online and offline categories, some may be applicable in both ways.
How to Decide Which Side Hustle Is for You
Among all the 99 side hustles for college students mentioned above, first look for things that interest you or seem easy to you. Make a shortlist of them. Then think about what you are studying in college.
It’ll be the icing on the cake if you could find something related to your subject. If it doesn’t, that’s also fine. Think about how much spare time you usually get and how much time it requires on those shortlisted side hustles. My personal take on it will be to go for something you already did before or had practical knowledge on.
Say, for example, if you loved to make paintings from before. Then choose your side hustle to be selling paintings or custom-making paintings for other people… well, you get the idea!
Final Words
Have you found it yet? The list of side hustles for college students was pretty long, I know. Can be confusing at times of choosing – sorry about that. But It’ll help you to get some creative juice flowing in your brain and give you wider options to choose from.
So go ahead, become an Uber driver, start your Etsy shop, or just walk your neighbor’s dog. Once you taste the feeling of earning money, you’ll realize side hustle was the best thing that happened to you in your college life. No – the second-best thing I guess, nothing can beat instant ramen for a college student.
Hey, I am Khalid, a content creator & digital marketer who practices what he preaches. Over the last 6 years, I have built my own persona online with nearly 1m+ subscribers & followers on YouTube & social – along with 100s of happy clients for my agency. I blog about my journey here.