In this post we cover 15 ways for college students to make passive income.
With the cost of college education skyrocketing today, a lot of students find themselves in debt and they are often on the lookout for various moneymaking schemes which can make their lives easier. Some students even have to take on part-time gigs to augment their allowance. Luckily today, there are various ways to make passive income.
With passive income, you can still devote your time and attention to classes, internships, and other extracurricular activities for a good school and life balance. Although some jobs listed here might require more time than others, they shouldn’t affect your studies at all.
Passive income won’t make you a millionaire, but it will allow you to earn money that can cover your living expenses and help pay some of your student loans. Building a passive income stream can be a challenge, especially if you don’t know where to begin. Don’t worry though as we are here to guide you through the winding ways of earning extra income while attending college at the same time. Hope you enjoy this list of 15 ways for college students to make passive income!
15 Ways for College Students to Make Passive Income
1. Make Youtube Videos
People nowadays love to put their lives on videos for everyone to see. Why not make some money while you’re at it? Youtube is fast becoming the go-to place for videos and you can use it to your advantage. However, before you can generate passive income, you need to grow your audience first. Your audience, together with your content, is going to help make money.
Create a Youtube channel and start uploading engaging content. Join the Youtube partner program and start making money by displaying ads on your videos. Starting a channel is hard work but if you put out videos regularly and promote your channel well, you will reap rewards!
This is a great sideline for someone who knows and loves to shoot and edit videos. This might be the path to get into digital media and possibly, even delve into affiliate marketing. There is a lot of money to be made there.
2. Invest in Real Estate
Yup, you heard it right. There is quite some money to be made in real estate. Now you might wonder why we would ask you to invest what little money you have on real estate when it’s not even enough to help you finish your studies in university. Well, first of all, we are not asking you to purchase any high-value property.
What you need to do is invest some money in real estate by putting your money n REITs or real estate investment trusts or by looking into real estate crowdfunding. REITs are mutual funds but for real estate.
On the other hand, real estate crowdfunding provides small investors with an avenue to participate in high-income and sophisticated commercial real estate projects. This way you will be able to invest in a portfolio of real estate investments with little money. Real estate platforms have lower requirements. Diversyfund, for example, has a $500 account minimum while you can start with Groundfloor for as little as $10.
While you’re at it, don’t forget to educate yourself about investments and real estate investment trusts, particularly.
3. Start a Business
You do not need hundreds of thousands of dollars to start a business. You also don’t need years of experience and an advanced degree. If you have a unique idea for a service or a product which will make the lives of your target consumers easier, you are on the right path. There are many businesses which you can start for as low as $100.
It is a good idea to have a business that has something to do with your passions and strengths. For example, if you are a fitness buff, you might want to launch a business that has something to do with personal training. You can offer customized workout routines to your clients. When your business becomes a hit, you can then hire other people to manage it.
4. Start a Blog
You enjoy writing about a few topics or you are an expert on a certain topic? You should try blogging. A blog is a kind of website that has a focus on blog posts or written content. Bloggers create content from a personal perspective which allows them to connect with their readers. Blogs typically have a comments section where readers can correspond directly with the blogger.
You can easily create a blog that generates $100 a month, but if done correctly blogging can be quite profitable. Picking a topic that you have passion for makes the process of starting a promising blog so much easier. You spend just a few hours a week writing a blog but continue to make money from it long after the blog post is written.
Start by picking a catchy and descriptive blog name. Register your blog online and get hosting services. Customize your blog and then start writing and publishing posts. Promote your blog to get more people to read it and then start monetizing!
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5. Become a Translator
Do you speak other languages? Learned Spanish from your grandma and now speak it fluently? Well, you can put that to good use by becoming a translator. Translation work is needed across various platforms. Aside from translating written documents, you can also translate the spoken word. There are plenty of websites where you can sign up for translation work and start earning money. Smartling and Unbabel are two such websites.
6. Do User Testing Online
When companies create new initiatives online, as well as new websites, they need people to test out the functions first to confirm everything is working properly before they go live. You can easily get one of these user testing jobs to earn a few extra bucks. UserTesting.com is one website where you can sign up to participate in these tests. You will be paid according to the tests that you do.
7. Do Online Design Work
If you have a knack for art and are quite good in graphic design, you can have a side hustle that generates a steady flow of money. There are plenty of businesses and websites which need help with design tasks as small as graphics for advertisements to full suite redesigns.
There are also several design competitions which pay a good amount of money to their winners. You might also want to try these competitions.
8. Become a Pet Sitter
If you happen to adore furry friends, you can earn money by pet sitting in your local neighborhood. Rover is an app that makes it easy for pet sitters to connect directly with pet parents who require someone to look after their cats, dogs, guinea pigs and other beloved furry members of the family.
Through pet sitting, you will be able to set your schedule and choose the type of pet you would like to care for. Aside from developing your pet sitting skills, Rover also offers ongoing pet care education for absolutely free. You not only get to earn money, but you also learn a few things.
Pet sitting doesn’t require much. All you need to do is feed the pets, give them water, play with them, walk them, and scoop up after them. You can easily make as much as $10 per hour for pet sitting services.
9. Do Transcription Work
If you are an accurate and fast typer, transcription work is for you. Aside from being able to type fast, you also need great listening skills. Several industries are on the lookout for people who can transcribe audio into text so that they can be posted online.
Working as a transcriptionist means you do not even have to leave your room or travel to a workplace. As long as you have a good internet connection and a laptop, you can start.
10. Participate in Market Research
Joining market research groups are a great way to earn some extra income. Most college campuses have an advertisement for different market research studies. These research studies are conducted by companies that want to know the opinions of students. Most will require you to sit for an hour in a room to participate and in return, they will give participants gift cards or cash.
11. Ship Things for Other People
If you have ever seen the TV show Shipping Wars, then you know what I am saying. Shipping things around the country for other people is a legitimate way to make extra money. Many sites allow you to do this and one of them is uShip. uShip connects people that need assistance with shipping with carriers, as well as drivers all over the country. If you have a truck or a car, this is a good way to make some money.
12. Providing Tutoring Services
One of the tried and tested methods of earning money on the side while in college is to provide tutoring services. To put it simply, you have reached a certain level of academic advancement and you almost specialize in your field or area. There are a lot of students or children out there that need someone to assist them in their studies. They need someone to help prep them for high school or college.
Plenty of parents opt for students over teachers because students are often closer to their children’s age, they cost a lot less compared to teachers, and students have more free time and they are a lot more flexible compared to teachers.
There are many websites where you can advertise your private tutoring services for free such as Preply.
13. Design and Sell T-shirts
If you are artistic and want to market your unique designs, you can design and sell t-shirts. The great thing about t-shirts is that they are more than just a piece of clothing. They can be used to express oneself through pictures, phrases, and funny sayings. The fashion industry has a stable and secured place in e-commerce and is projected to hit $735 billion in 2023. It’s a good time to get a piece of that pie.
Before you start selling t-shirts online or offline, it is important to find your niche and target audience first. Look at your competitors in the same market and take some time to check their strengths and weaknesses. Set up your online store and then start adding products to your store. Remember that as a rule of thumb, the more popular a product is, the more competition there is.
14. Become a Calligrapher
Calligraphy is a visual art that is dedicated to the creation of text. Calligraphy is sought after nowadays for font and logo design, wedding stationery, and the inscription of historical documents. The handwritten word seems to be even highly celebrated now that people move towards the online text.
Many professional calligraphers start on a part-time basis and if you are a college student, this is a good way to spend your extra time to earn money. You can advertise your work on a project by project basis for private individuals and companies who need your unique skill-set. You can also sell calligraphy creations on Etsy.
15. Become a Virtual Assistant
Another excellent way to earn money online is to become a virtual assistant. A virtual assistant is a person who can give support to businesses. Hundreds of businesses today look to outsource administrative work and other “assistant-type” work, such as handling basic organization and writing, responding to emails, research tasks, appointment making, and others. They need help but do not want to bring on full-time staff in a specific location.
As a virtual assistant, you also get to choose the tasks you take on, as well as who to work for. You can work anywhere and manage your schedule. You just have to learn the basics and you will be able to set up your own virtual assistant business in no time.
Final Thoughts
Instead of spending your college years partying hard with no foresight of your finances, you should spend your free time learning new skills and building your financial foundation. We are not saying you should not enjoy college life anymore, but a good balance of work and play is always a good thing.
Hope you enjoyed this post on 15 ways for college students to make passive income! Let us know in the comments what you think!
