15 Ways to Make Money in College

Joseph Meyer
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Start with These Tips

Money is the most annoying problem faced by most college students. The first semester of college can be very expensive. To manage your money better, keep these 15 ways to make money in college in mind.

Sell the things you don’t use.

Have you ever wondered why garage sales have so many junk collectibles? There is a reason for it. No one wants to throw these useless things away because they are being sold at a garage sale. You can do the same.

Take every unused thing and flaunt it at a garage sale. How much you earn depends on the items and their conditions. This might seem a bit boring to you, but at least, you get the money.

Give food delivery services a try.

If you live in a relatively populated area where the demand for food delivery exceeds the supply, then you can easily make a decent amount of money. Companies like Doordash, Eat24, Grubhub, and Google Express need more delivery people in your town. Apply for one of these companies. If they accept your application, you can work as a prep cook before hand to save money on groceries. To do the delivery, the most important thing is to have a bike or a car.

Sell your grades.

15 Ways to Make Money in College

Based on Your Major.

So you’re heading off to college in a few months.

Maybe you’re going alone, or maybe you’re taking the whole family along with you. Regardless, things are going to get very expensive very fast, especially with all those additional living expenses.

Fortunately, there are ways to make money in college without taking out a second mortgage on your dorm room. Here at Ziplist we have a handy college edition of the Ziplist grocery list. If you shop for just a few items on the list each week you can save quite a bit of money.

But the Ziplist college edition doesn’t stop there. You can also use it to list the items you need to make money in college. Here are 15 ways to make money to help keep college costs down.

Proctor for Extra Credit

Many college courses are equipped with a proctoring service that allows students to proctor tests for other students. These services are usually paid, and the money is divided between the student and the professor.

Be a Peer Tutor

College professors will pay you for your time to help their students. If you are knowledgable about a certain subject area, you can use your knowledge to tutor other people in the same subject.

Quick Short-term Cash

There are a million different ways to make quick money, but they all have the same thing in common: they’re quick.

This doesn’t mean they’re easy. There are always ways to make quick money, even if it’s minimum wage-level easy, but you have to be willing to work for it. It isn’t like ordering a hot dog and beer to watch a game of baseball.

These suggestions require energy, effort, and often times a general state of undress. Sure, you’re going to get better at any of these as you try them, but you’re still going to suck at them the first time.

Drive for Lyft

Take Online Surveys

There is so much information available online through numerous surveys and questionnaires. These surveys are centered on different topics – ranging from political opinions to consumer behavior and shopping habits.

You can take part in paid surveys as well. These surveys are conducted by businesses and organizations to gain consumer insights into their products. There are even surveys that deal with budgets and studies. These surveys may often take too much of your time but can help you make a bit of money.

If you’re skeptical, check out the survey sites listed below.

Become a Sports Referee

You don’t need any skills to become a sports referee. You just need to be ref-certified (by the USSF, for example) and 16 or older. You’ll make money based on the number of games you referee. So if you’re interested in refereeing, you can often find an opportunity on Craigslist or Facebook.

House Sitting

If you are familiar with the 9 to 5 rat race, then you know that the hectic schedule most people keep these days often causes pet owners to board their pets in kennels while they go on vacation. These kennels cost a lot of money to maintain, and you’d think that paying extra to have your pet boarded was the only option. But there is a better way. With house sitting, you can have your pet cared for throughout your vacation, and the cost is only what they pay in kennel fees. This is where house sitting comes in. For a small fee, you can have someone you trust to care for your pet for the days that you are away.

Having a house sitter take care of your pet can be a great money maker for college students. When you are searching for clients, get your family and friends involved to increase interest in your service. The more people you have involved, the higher the chances you will find a client.

Become a Server or Bartender in a High-End Restaurant or Club

If you have aspirations of working for a startup or how to make extra money in college startup, becoming a bartender or server in a high-end restaurant or club may be a good way to network.

You’ll get to talk to a lot of entrepreneurs and find out what it’s really like working in the world of startup. Just be aware that, in some instances, the networking can go a little overboard, and you’ll be expected to make social commitments that can get in the way of your classes.

Also, be sure to look for restaurants and clubs that have good reputations and pay their employees fairly. Your student loan and credit card companies may not be forgiving if you get into trouble with your finances.

Babysitting

One of the most common ways you can make money in college is babysitting. Plain and simple. Your friends, relatives, or neighbors may ask you to watch their kids while they go to the movies, get some errands done, or go sit in traffic.

And while babysitting is not likely to earn you a six figure salary, it can help you earn extra spending money and save up for bigger items – like a laptop, a new pair of kicks, or textbooks.

Some other ways to make money in college as a babysitter include:

  • Hosting a toy or book drive.
  • Organizing a lemonade stand.
  • Mowing lawns.

You can often turn in your skills for some quick cash. Some examples of work that you might do include editing papers, tutoring classmates or professors, or delivering or picking up papers to and from campus. By doing this, you’ll not only be making money, but making a good impression on professors who will remember your name if they need help in the future.

If you are willing to work evenings and weekend on campus, you should consider working in the student union or athletics office. Though the pay may not be great, you’ll get to see and be involved in the inner workings of these offices. You may also meet influential professors and people who can give you a leg up when it comes to internships.

Take a Job at School

Tutor Other Students

Many college students seem to forget that many of their peers are willing to pay for the knowledge they have.

Students would rather do the same work for free so they can get the credit. If you are a strong student who is looking for more money, consider tutoring other students in your class.

This can be a lot of work, but it will get you out of your stale routine and give you a chance to help and connect with others in the class. It can even aid in your learning if you are explaining something so that a peer can understand it better.

Outline the main ideas and major concepts of the material the student needs help with. Include worked examples of problems or test questions that make a concept clearer.

You can charge by the hour or by project, and you can set a cap on how many hours you will work with a particular student. This way, you don’t end up spending more hours than you intended but also leaving some flexibility to help more than one student.

Use Your Specializations to Help Other Students

If you have a specific and in-demand skill, you can easily parlay your abilities into getting paid for tutoring your fellow students. For example, if you are great at drawing and you are a graphic design major, offer to do headshots, portfolio practice sheets, and other design work for other students. You could also freelance as a graphic design translator. That is, take the logo the local bank pays a graphic designer to create and translate it into SVG or PNG code.

If you are an expert on something you may be able to develop and sell some notes online.

If you are skilled using a specific app, you may be able to tutor others on how to use that app.

Assist a Professor or Department Head

You can be the “go-to guy” for your professor’s office. If students have questions, be the one to help out. You’ll be recognized, and your professor will appreciate you cutting into his or her workload.

Help Out in the Athletic Department

Athletic departments offer great opportunities for making money because they have several different budgets. Unlike clubs, most of which only offer positions in operations, athletic departments also need people to fill positions for coaching and recruiting. Pay for these types of positions varies widely, but you can make a lot of money because many of these jobs pay hourly wages, especially if you take a part-time role.

Talk to your teams’ coaches to find out what they need, and let them know you’re trying to build your resume. You can help out with collecting stats, scouting other teams, writing copy for their web page or handling social media, developing marketing materials and promoting events. You can expect to be paid a small amount for these kinds of jobs.

Businesses that can Turn into a Career After College

College student are notorious for being broke and spending what little money they have on eating out and partying with friends.

But some college students are actually able to earn enough money to not only have all the fun they want, but to actually pay for school and buy some of their own stuff.

Be a Virtual Assistant

Virtual assistants are self-employed individuals who provide business support services to clients from a variety of locations. They work with companies to cover short-term business emergencies, or they can work independently to secure business/financial support. The virtual assistant role is a hands-on gig, and you can