If you are a college student, you can relate to the fact that paying college tuition fees is not a piece of cake for you as well as for your parents. We understand how difficult it can be to arrange a shedload of money after every 4 to 6 months.
As a result, the majority of students prefer doing a side hustle along with their studies to ease some of the burdens from their parent’s shoulders. Moreover, to start taking charge of maintaining their cash flow at the early stages of life. Some people call it side hustles, and part-time jobs and some even call it a side gig. All these words carry as many benefits, as cool as they sound.
To validate, as per the latest CareerBuilder survey, 39% of the young people aged between 18 to 25 are engaged in any form of side gig to earn some extra funds. These people broke the code of learning about the financial world by stepping into it along with their studies.
Moving ahead, though side hustles provide you the perk of earning good money, there are many other benefits that come along with this. To give you more detailed information, a couple of them are mentioned below.
- Network building – Pursuing a side hustle’s biggest perk is getting the opportunity of knowing people of that particular industry that can assist in building a strong network. The best possible scenario that can happen is when you get a part-time job in the same profession you want to build your career in.
In that case, one way or another, building a network is going to be very beneficial for you in the long term.
- Industry-oriented knowledge and skills – University can only assist in gaining paper-based knowledge. The real experience of the industry is crucial in understanding its operations. Hence, side hustles can help you in gaining industry-oriented knowledge and skills by giving you real-life experience.
We all know when it comes to building a profession, the sooner you start, the better you get with time. For upskilling yourself on the go, you can make the most of excellent learning apps for professionals.
Nevertheless, it is also crucial to understand that the side hustle you choose to do should never jeopardize your studies because these are only temporary gigs to get you started on taking charge of your financial health. Hence, it is vital to conduct extensive research on the few mentioned below points –
- Will I get sufficient time to study along with this job?
- Does this job offer the flexibility of time and environment that I am looking for?
- Am I going to be so tired from this job that I will start compromising my studies?
- Is this job offering me money worth the hard work I will be investing in?
These questions will help you to analyze and find the perfect job for you that will support you in getting a stable cash flow that can assist you in paying your college tuition fees or your other bills and dues.
Moving ahead, we have picked some of the best flexible side hustles that can get you going in the race of earning some extra pocket money without jeopardizing your studies. So let’s dive right into the blog without further ado.
7 Flexible Jobs for College Students for Extra Pocket Money
1. Delivering goods
People being busy with their lives are nowadays loving the concept of getting things delivered at their doorsteps with just one click. Hence, delivery service is a business that is high in demand, especially after the pandemic. Delivery of goods can include anything, from delivering food to clothes or any other product.
Many people, due to lack of time, hire other people for various pick and drop services of multiple goods. Hence, this provides an opportunity for college students to choose this side hustle to earn a good amount of money by delivering a few boxes from one location to another.
Continuing further, many students need vehicles for transportation and nowadays they require high maintenance, and to cover up that cost, many students are choosing delivery of goods as a side hustle to cover up the expenses of their vehicles.
Delivery of goods offers you flexible working time and you can take your orders according to your study cycle. If everything goes well, delivery of goods as a part-time job can even lead to a business delivery service.
- Earning prospects – As per Indeed, 34% of the delivery persons in the U.S. are satisfied with their salaries earned by delivering goods and think that it is enough for living a good life in their area. Further adding, an average base salary of a delivery driver in the U.S. is approximately $17 per hour.
- Major requirement – Choosing this hustle will require a license unless you choose to do it on a bicycle. Vehicles are not a compulsion in this side hustle because many companies provide the delivery vehicle themselves to the students for the delivery service.
2. Tutoring other students
For students who wish to continue their profession in teaching after the completion of their studies, it is the best side hustle they can choose. It is also called freelance tutoring, in which college students take out a few hours of their schedules to teach younger students.
It will enable them to learn the skill of teaching and will give them a chance to earn good money along with it. Some students take out a few hours daily, while some of the tutors prefer giving classes on weekends. This perk of flexibility makes this side hustle even more efficient.
Tutoring other students can assist in polishing your leadership and teaching skills and will help you in adding something worth noticing in your work experience.
To further substantiate, many online platforms allow students to earn remotely in their flexible timings. For your reference, some of them are listed below –
- Chegg – Chegg is an online education platform that can assist college students to earn while they are studying. You can register yourself as an online tutor and teach subjects and provide answers according to your preference.
Chegg not only offers exposure to tutors teaching vast students but also gives you a good amount of money that ranges from 20$ to 30$ varying upon the quality of service you provide.
- Wyzant – Wyzant is another online platform that connects students to all types of tutors according to their needs. The benefit of this website is that tutors get to set their rates of pay which can commonly range between $30 to $60 per hour. In every deal, the websites take their commission of acting as a bridge between students and tutors.
- Earning prospects – According to Indeed, an average salary of a tutor can go up to $24.95 per hour in the U.S.
- Major requirement – Complete knowledge of the subject is the major requirement along with good communication and teaching skills. Another major requirement in this side hustle can be an electronic device that can provide you ease in teaching remotely.
3. Selling handmade art and crafts
If you are an artist and are interested in using your hobby or passion as a way to earn money then this gig is for you. Nowadays, handmade gifts and art are generating online buzz more than ever. So, if you have the ability to fulfill the expectations of people in an artistic manner, then this gig can help you earn a lot while you are studying.
Further elaborating, you can work on a variety of categories like women’s handmade jewelry and hair accessories that are the new trends in the market. You can create pieces of customizable art and sell them on various online and offline platforms.
This can be a solo startup or you can work as a freelance artist combined with various other brands. This gig offers to work in a comfortable environment without making it a barrier to your study. If everything goes well in the initial stage and you see a good generation of revenue, then this can always be converted into a big business in the long term.
- Earning prospects – This will effectively depend on the quality of your work and the investment you make while creating a piece of art.
- Major requirement – Creativity and good idea executions and the knowledge of the needs of the customers are the major required skills to pursue this side hustle.
4. Freelancing based on skills
Freelancing helps you to monetize your skill set in an efficient manner. The major benefit of freelancing is the leverage of getting an appropriate balance between studying and earning some extra bucks. A few of the categories that you can pursue your freelancing in are listed below –
- Content writing
- Photography
- Editing
- Coding
- Social media handling
- Acting/modeling
- Graphic designing
If you are working as a freelancer, you can either contact the client directly or can work with various organizations on a contract basis to provide them with the services of your skillset. This side hustle will assist you in getting exposure to the field and will assist you in generating good cash from your skillset.
Earning prospects – As per the data given by Freelancer Research in 2020, freelancers can earn at the average rate of $20 per hour. In addition to this, they state that freelancers working in legal, and marketing along with many other high skilled jobs can even earn up to $28 per hour. As a freelancer, you can effectively use the Pareto Principle
Major requirement – Any professional skill with a good hold on the expertise along with easy access to resources are the major requirements of this side hustle.
5. Offering caregiving support services
If you have a caring nature you love to embrace then this job is totally meant for you
There are many living beings who need caregiver support services in order to survive. Many students take time off from their schedules either on a daily basis or at regular intervals to contribute to these services in exchange for a good amount of money.
Some of the categories in which you can invest your time and efforts to earn some money are listed below –
- Child care – When both the parents are working and are facing trouble in handling their child, that is where the role of childcare or babysitting comes into light. From taking care of an infant to dropping and picking up kids from school, all this work comes under babysitting.
- Animal care – It is one of the most popular hustles among college students because the young generation is more concerned about caring and giving to animals. Animal walking and grooming are part of animal care.
- Elderly care – There are many old-age people who face abandonment from their children. For them, there are many old-age shelter homes that take care of and provide services to them. Shelter frequently requires volunteers to assist in the job and in return pay them a good amount of money.
This side hustle of caregiving is for those who really care about other living beings because it requires effort and hard work and empathy to take care of someone’s health.
Salary expectation – As per the data given by Talent, the average salary of a babysitter in the USA is 12.50 per hour. Freshers can get up to $19,500 and experienced workers can get $37,050 per year. Talking about animal care, the average wage for caretakers is $10.82 per hour.
Major requirement – Personality traits like empathy, responsibility, and sensitivity are the major requirements of this field. If you think you have the ability to handle any of the above-mentioned categories with patience, then this side gig is a perfect way to maintain your cash flow.
6. Proofreading of written pieces
Proofreading is one of the low-stress hustles that can be there for a lifetime. If you have a great command of English or any other language, this is a perfect job for you. Proofreading means cross-checking and taking out errors from a written piece of content that can be a thesis, research paper, or any article.
There are many online sites that provide a good amount of money in exchange for proofreading per article. Some of the sites are mentioned below-
- Scribendi – It is an online site that provides college students to become a proofreader and earn an average of $15 to $20 per hour. On this site, students usually get a thesis, resumes, and even essays for proofreading.
- Jobforeditors.com – For this website, you do not require any type of professional degree, just a good command of the English language is necessary. This site gives you $5 to $7 for simple assignments and the cost can go up to $9 to $15 per hour for the complex assignments
- Reedsy – Reedsy provides its services to those published writers who are in need of proofreaders for giving the final touch to their work. Proofreaders charge their fees but the website deducts a 10% commission from the proofreader’s side as their fee.
Salary expectations – This solely depends on the website and your qualifications.
Major requirement – A person needs to have a good eye for details and a love for reading to be a good proofreader.
7. Joining affiliate market groups
This side hustle is for sales-oriented students who have an effective knowledge of how to sell different products to customers. It is usually commission-based work. Hence, if you know how to sell, then it can give a huge amount of money to pay your dues.
Before moving ahead, there are some of the surprising statistics of affiliate marketing that you should know –
- The worth of affiliate marketing at a global level is estimated at around $12 billion.
- There are almost 76% of the publishers like the concept of affiliate marketing because it helps them in generating more revenue.
- The top source for affiliate marketers is SEO with almost 69.22%
Moving ahead, below listed are the top affiliate programs that can help you earn as a student.
- Amazon associate – If you are a beginner in affiliate marketing, then this is the best platform for you because you have millions of products to choose from and sell them to your local network of friends and family. You just have to sign up on an Amazon affiliate and earn money on every product you will sell.
- ShareAsale – For the past two decades, ShareAsale has been working in the same industry and giving many students an opportunity to earn some bucks while studying. You just have to go on their website, create an account and you can start earning today.
- Fiverr Affiliates – With almost 5.5 million users in 160 countries, Fiverr Affiliates are one of the largest groups in the marketplace helping businesses to grow. You can visit their website to learn more about their commission and the products they sell.
Salary expectations – It usually depends upon the type of campaign, It can go up to 5 to 10% of the selling price of the product.
Major requirement – Proper skill in selling different products to the consumers along with electronic devices to operate the task is the major requirement of this side hustle.
To encapsulate, we understand sometimes choosing a side hustle becomes difficult for students along with so much syllabus and multiple assignments. That was the only reason we chose those gigs that can offer you great flexibility but with a good amount of money. In addition to this, all the above-mentioned hustles can be converted into full-time jobs and can even provide you with a huge sum of cash to maintain a healthy income.
