Being a full time university student is one of the more enjoyable periods in your life. It’s when you’re learning a ton of new theories and skills, meeting lifelong friends, and effectively becoming the adult you’ve always wanted to be. The dark side, however, is it’s also very expensive, especially seeing as you’ll probably have to pay back that hefty educational investment eventually.
In this era of creative entrepreneurship, it is very possible to earn cash in college, so that when you get out, you don’t face the real world with absolutely no financial security. Earning extra money in college is not a sure fire road to riches, of course, though it’s rewarding to work on top of studying, and gain experience to supplement that degree.
Below we dive into some of the best options for earning money as a university student on a tight budget, in terms of money, time, and diversifying your skillset in surprising ways.
Apply On Campus
Most universities are well aware of how expensive their classes, books, and housing services are, and offer a variety of on campus jobs. Depending on the college or university, there are always options to work for the various service departments, such as dining halls, cafes, and events catering. There are always opportunities at your campus bookstore, and you can also make cash tutoring for various academic departments and library services. Some extracurricular societies on campus even have budgets for paid bookkeepers, marketers, and organizers.
While these jobs are often competitive, as there are always more students than job openings, it’s always the most efficient extra money practice to check on campus. What’s best about getting an on campus job is that your employer will always work around your studies. School’s usually the number one priority at school.
Get Online
If working at a dining hall or as a library tutor doesn’t suit you, there are a ton of creative ways to make money online. These days it’s not so difficult to tutor any of your stronger subjects online via a variety of platforms. For the more tech savvy of you, there are always companies who need websites built and fixed, and UX design that needs to be done. As well, if you’re visually talented, sits like Fiverr are perfect for building a graphic design portfolio. In fact, those sites are good jumping off points for smaller gigs of any kind.
Working online is optimal, as generally you can teach, tutor, proofread, and code with only a laptop and a cozy place to work. You can create your own schedule, and leave time to get through that pile of term papers or organic chemistry homework.
Take a Ride
Having a car has always been an asset as a college student, though before now it was only ever to be the designated driver or supermarket chauffeur. In this day and age, you can make quite a bit of money as an Uber driver, especially if you are a student in a more urban area where the demand is very high. Any of the ride share apps will do, in fact, and opting to deliver food this way, in addition to traditional food delivery, can offset your college living costs dramatically.
Go To Town
Even in this age of digital nomads and online gigs, there’s no substitute for good ol’ fashioned part time jobs. If you’d like to enter the work force outside of campus, first try bookstores that are affiliated with the university. After this, there are always bars and restaurants that will gladly take student employees.
To kickstart your professional life early, you can even try a temporary employment agency. For instance, Harvard University works with Randstad, which places people in temp positions, such as office jobs, security gigs, and commencement caterers. Depending on the temp agency, you may come away with a professional relationship that will aid in earning cash long after you graduate.
Basically, there are more options to work than ever before, with the freelance world expanding and remote work becoming more and more popular. In fact, university students nowadays have a thriving global startup scene to enter, which means your creativity and skills may be of more monetized use than you ever thought possible. This doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a summer of being a dishwasher - everyone should give that a shot at least once - it only means that extra cash jobs may end up being gateways for surprisingly lucrative and rewarding careers.
