15+ Best Online Side Hustles for College Students (in 2024)

In college, you don’t need to have exceptional abilities or wait for an employer to hire you to earn extra money. There are tons of online side hustles for college students to start in 2024 and make money.

There are a lot of activities you have to do in your college, such as enjoying coffee, going on trips, and having dates to pay for. You don’t have enough pocket money.

So, side hustles are more important than ever for college students to earn extra money. The best side hustles for college students are the ones that can be done easily.

All you have to find out which one is best for you so that it will not bring more stress to your busy college life.

Additionally, there are numerous Facebook groups for side businesses, both locally and nationally. Most likely, none of these will turn you into a millionaire. Some of your college side jobs could become careers if you’re particularly good at them.

However, your search ends here, I’ve listed the 15 best online side hustles perfect for college students. It will help you to make extra income without affecting your studies.

Let’s drive in!

Why You Should Start a Side Hustle as a College Student

If you’re an entrepreneur mined person and want to start your own business in the future, starting a side hustle is the best possible way to step into the business world.

Side jobs aren’t just for covering expenses but it’s about living the break-free life you want to live. However, there are several reasons you should start a side hustle as a college or university student.

1. Bearing Monthly Living Cost

Starting a side hustle you can add more money to your pocket. Even if it’s only an extra $100 a month is good to go ensuring your financial security.

If you live in South Asia like me, making $100 bucks is a good add-up to bearing your monthly cost. While I started blogging as a side hustle in 2019 and by 2020 I started making up to $100 bucks per month, periodically it’s growing more actually.

Since then (2020) I’ve been able to bear my monthly study and living costs, and now I’ve 3 blogs and making good money out of them.

There are tons of side hustle you can start with, but I only listed online side hustle for students so you can pick the right one and earn money remotely.

However, a side hustle has the potential to make extra cash during college and bear all your costs on your own.

2. Level Up Your Skills

If you start a side hustle, you can learn various high-income skills. Since I started blogging I’ve learned skills like content writing, web development and marketing, and more.

No matter what side hustle you pick for yourself, it automatically levels up your skills.

You already know that with formal education, you will only learn theoretical knowledge rather than practical knowledge. But with a side hustle, you can learn practical knowledge that takes you so far in real life.

As I’m studying Marketing, I’m fascinated by online marketing. So I step into content marketing and start blogging, and freelance writing, and get more excited about related new skills.

However, Having a side hustle you will easily develop a wide variety of profitable skills that can help you in your career.

So, Instead of wasting your time in college, it’s better to dedicate your time to your passion (skills) and get paid to do it.

3. Pay Off Your Student Loans

This is another good reason you should start a side hustle in your college. If you can make extra money from side jobs, it’d be a real help to pay off your student loans faster.

With the help of side jobs, you can make payments without disrupting the balance between your budget, and your living expenses.

4. Financial Freedom

If you can turn your side jobs into something that earns good money, you will feel more freedom and confidence in your life.

Having a source of income behind your back may give you the chance to do whatever you want.

Having a small source of income in your college life, you can leverage your income to build more wealth. It means you are able to pay the bills, enjoy things like travel, or have an emergency fund to cope with bad days.

5. Use your free time to better yourself

While others doing shit in their free time in the meantime you can build something to make your life better.

I’ve seen many friends of mine just wasting their time, and at the end of the day, they get depressed because of financial insecurities.

Only you can rescue yourself from your insecurities. We all get 24 hours, nobody studies all hours long.

If you spend 3/5 hours on a side hustle project, believe me, at the end of your study you will be more tension-free than your friends.

Stop making excuses that you don’t have time to do hustling. The more time goes the more you get busier. If you’re looking to manage time for your side jobs, believe me, you may actually find more free time than you imagine.

In a nutshell, starting a side hustle in college gives you an extra push in your real life. And it is the best time to start a side hustle to make life financially better.

Wanna start a side hustle in 2024, here are the 16 best online side hustles for college students.

16 16 High-Paying And Easy Online Side Hustles for College Students in 2024

There are numerous side hustles that college students might pursue. They engage in these activities to increase their income while they are still in college. The following are the 16 best online side hustles for college students.

1. Paid Online Survey

Doing paid online surveys is a great, legitimate, and easy way to make money while studying. The first step is to sign up for the survey sites available in your country; then, you start taking surveys.

Many survey sites offer other options such as watching videos, getting cash back online shopping, playing games, social media tasks, ads, and more. This microtask can help you to boost your income.

Survey sites have different offers, so you can sign up for various sites to enhance your chances of making money.

There are several benefits of paid online survey sites, such as you don’t need to make any investments. You don’t need any training as well. Other benefits are that you can do these tasks where feasible or convenient.

There is no risk involved. You can have many opportunities like companies and organizations wanting to hear your opinion.

Therefore, there will be a lot of available surveys for you on many platforms. Examples of top online survey sites are Swagbucks, Surveyjunkie, Inboxdollars, and many more.

2. Freelancing

In many industries, freelancing work is now available, thanks to the internet. Consider your strengths; chances are, there is freelance employment accessible in those areas.

Freelancing is a broad topic that includes many freelance skills such as blog writing, data entry, designing, web development, resumes and cover letters, copywriting, and many more.

You can spend more time freelancing if you are not busy. There are millions of jobs available, for example; if you have writing skills, you can pick any job according to your expertise and skills and start.

Nowadays, there is a high demand for article-writing jobs. There is another option, like ebook writing, if you have the skill of writing a lot in a short period.

College students can find businesses that need freelance writers on a part-time and project-by-project basis using services like Fiverr and Upwork.

This side hustle income depends on the type of freelancing work. For instance, if you are designing websites, then you will get paid more.

However, you can make 10 dollars to 100 dollars for each freelancing writing job. It depends on your ability and skills.

3. Start A Blog

Blogging can be a passive side hustle for college students. If you like writing, you can start a blog as a side hustle in college.

If writing is your hobby and you want to make money with it consider starting a blog. It can make you good money with multiple methods like affiliate marketing, Ads, partnerships, and more.

I personally like blogging to make money as a side hustle and it’s been fairly lucrative for anyone where you can make thousands of dollars every month.

Having a blog has so many benefits, such as it becoming your portfolio if you want to do freelancing.

However, I believe that everyone should have their own online presence, and self-hosted is the best way to do that.

5 Tips to Start a Blog!

Choose a blogging platform: Use a platform that is easy to handle, I recommend WordPress (Self Hosted).
Pick a hosting platform: Use Blog hosting that is fast, secure, and scalable. For starter bloggers, I recommend Bluehost and personally use it.
Find the right niche: Niche can be anything your blog is about. Pick a profitable niche you have an interest in, scalable and Profitable.
Select a blog name and domain: Pick an easy and brandable name with .com extensions. For your domain management try Namecheap.
Set up and design your blog: Set up your blog WordPress and use a premium theme that is easy to customize.

After building up your own blog, you need to write quality content on a specific blog frequency that helps you to grow your blog.

Once you start getting blog traffic you can monetize your blog through ads, affiliate links, sponsored posts, and more.

Want to start a blog as a side hustle; (Here’s Step by step beginner’s guide on how to start a blog from scratch and make money)

4. Start Vlogging

Vlogging is another great side hustle and alternative to blogging. If you especially like filming rather than text content it would be the best online side hustle option for you.

With the rise of Instagram reels and YouTube, video content is becoming more popular than ever.

There are so many you can make money on Vlogging in your leisure time such as ads, paid promotions, and affiliate marketing.

Here are some to start vlogging:

Select a Vlog Niche
Create a YouTube Channel
Invest in the Right Vlogging Equipment
Prepare to Shoot
Maintain Pro Video Quality
Publish and Promote Consistently
Make Sure Your Vlog Channel Is Well-Branded.

After creating your vlog channel, you need to publish content consistently so that you grow your viewership. Once you grow it’s easier to make good money as a side business.

5. Sell Digital Products

A digital product is an intangible asset that can be sold periodically online without the need to replenish the inventory. These products often come with Video courses, Ebooks, downloadable, or many more.

Selling digital products can be a passive source of income. If you want to start selling digital products as a side hustle, you need an online selling platform that allows you to sell your products.

A platform like Podia is an all-in-one online selling platform for anyone who wants to sell online. It provides the best tools to assist you in getting started selling digital things online.

However, Digital product is an easy side hustle for students with immense benefits. If you are good at something, creating and selling digital products is an ideal side hustle for you.

It’s a one-time effort to create a product that leads you to earn money even when you sleep.

You can help fellow students learn the subjects you have already learned by sharing your digital product such as Ebooks, and courses.

However, creating digital products is a one-time effort, once you create your product, you can keep selling it to anyone anywhere online. That being said It is a high-paying and easy online side hustles for college students in 2024.

Want to start selling with an easy digital selling platform, then try Podia!

6. Start a Podcast

A podcast is a series of digital audio files that are made available for listening. Podcasts are typically hosted by anyone from an individual or individuals.

Mostly A podcast is hosted by individuals who lead a conversation, share stories, or fairly anything. Each recording audio is known as a podcast episode.

Podcasting can be a good side hustle for college students who enjoy talking & sharing thoughts.

However, the Audio content industry is growing every day, and now is a perfect time to start your own podcast!

A podcast is a low-cost lifestyle online business you can start on the side during your college and make money. There are many students even doing so and earning good money as a side hustle.

How does a beginner start a podcast?

Choose a Podcast Topic
Pick Your Podcast Name.
Write a Good Podcast Description.
Select Your Podcast Format.
Get Your Podcast Artwork and Music Created.
Buy Your Podcast Equipment
Choose Your Podcast Hosting.

It’s easy to set up and handle and a great opportunity to make extra cash without affecting your studies.

7. Become A Virtual Assistant

A virtual assistant is a remote office assistant for a person, company, or organization who is completing certain tasks on behalf.

Such tasks as an executive assistant like scheduling appointments, handling calls, emails, and more. Basically, Your tasks as a VA depend on what your client does.

So, If you’re highly organized and enjoy taking care of such tasks you can offer services as a virtual assistant.

The virtual assistant is a great side hustle for college students to get started with because it’s flexible to work remotely.

Most VAs can be paid hourly an average of $10 to $20 per hour, according to Indeed. Pretty Lucrative side hustle isn’t it?

You can offer your virtual assisting services on sites like Upwork, and Fiverr. If you want to be a successful VA as a side hustle, you need to have certain qualities such as following orders, patience, and hard work.

So, If you are really enthusiastic about making extra cash, instead of browsing Facebook in class, work as a Virtual Assistant.

8. Social Media Management

Social media management is another best side hustles for college students. Starting a social media manager job will help you grow your social media accounts. It means you are managing a brand or company’s social media accounts.

This job is about posting material about a company or brand on the Facebook page or posting an image daily on Instagram. Besides this description, growing social media accounts is also included in this job.

For instance, you must post images on Instagram daily and have 1000 followers/per month.

This job helps earn a lot of money. It also includes social media assistant and social media freelancer job positions. You choose any one of the platforms like Facebook or Instagram.

Like on Instagram, you start posting pictures and stories daily. Other platforms for finding social media manager jobs are Upwork, Freelancer, PeoplePerHour, and Toptal.

9. Copywriting

For many college students copywriting is a perfect side hustle. You can meet clients wherever you are and work with them on your terms. It’s adaptable, imaginative, and enjoyable.

But it’s also not a side business because some people try to define it. Copywriting is one of the side jobs that requires more knowledge and experience than others do.

For instance, if someone wants to conduct tax preparation as a side business, they better be skilled at it, right?

The same is true for professions where individuals must gather and perfect a set of abilities, such as bookkeeping, legal assistance, graphic design, copywriting, and other related fields.

10. Transcription

Transcription can be termed as the listening of audio and typing it in the form of a transcript. It is also an ideal job for college students as a side hustle as it gives you extra money. Your job is to convert the audio content into text format.

The documents required for transcription includes speeches, lectures, medical diagnosis, court depositions, and many more. Different transcription jobs are available for students.

For instance, the most famous are general, legal, and medical transcription. It gives you a chance to make more money during your studies.

An average estimate of 15 dollars per hour can make up. If you are more experienced, then you can earn up to 30 dollars per hour. You can look at the websites such as TranscribeMe.com and Rev.com to find transcription jobs.

Students who want to work as transcriptionists can benefit from working from home and flexible hours to balance their academic and professional obligations.

11. Affiliate Marketing

As a third party, affiliate marketing earns a reasonable commission on the product or services. Affiliate marketing is beneficial for students to make money as a side hustle and improve communication skills.

It also helps you to make decisions with time. The aim of the brands or services is selling. If you are doing the job for them, then you can earn money by the commission as per their terms.

The commission rate is different from brand to brand and the type of product being sold. Try to choose less costly elements; if you choose expensive items, they will be difficult for you to sell.

Because your network is comprised of people students like you, choose items such as ebooks, fitness bands, skateboards, discounts on gaming deals, online courses, beauty products, clothing, and so on.

You can refer to your friends just by chatting or using social media marketing tools so interested people will approach you for purchasing.

You can motivate people in your circle will be easy. However, numerous affiliate programs are available; the top five best are an Amazon affiliate and a Grammarly affiliate. Skillshare affiliate, Udemy affiliate, and Canva affiliate.

12. Print on Demand

You can start a print-on-demand business using Canva and generate a passive income. It shows that you are a creative person.

Print-on-demand firms are entertaining, low-risk companies if you like the design and want to test the entrepreneurial waters.

You can quickly upload innovative designs to products like t-shirts, mugs, phone covers, canvas bags, pillows, and more using Shopify tools like Printful and Printify. You can then add it to your Shopify or Woocommerce store.

Items are printed and distributed straight to customers from the manufacturer when they make a purchase. Print-on-demand has one significant advantage over manufacturing goods in bulk.

You may increase your product supply to meet demand without needing to make significant upfront inventory expenditures.

You can also still brand and personalize things using your distinctive visual designs. It does not need an inventory of the products as it borrows from a drop shipping model. So, it is less risky and makes a perfect college side hustle.

13. Sell your Photos

College students follow their passion while doing side jobs or hustling. For instance, if your passion is photography, you can earn extra cash by selling stock photography.

You can start to apply for photography sites to sell your work. However, there are sites where you can upload stocks for free means they don’t pay you.

You can choose paid photography sites such as Shutterstock and iStock. These two sites will pay you a good commission.

Side jobs for college students allow them to follow their passion. For example, if you have a passion for photography, you can earn extra money by photographing portraits, weddings, or selling stock photography.

You’ll need to develop your portfolio first, but if you have one, you’re happy with, you can start applying to freelance photography sites to sell your work.

However, this is a great hustle you can start in college, as it can create a passive income. It means to do things with more time to enjoy or prepare for exams.

14. Sell your Lecture Notes

You can earn money while you’re a student by selling your college notes as a side business. These also go by the name of study notes.

You must take your time and write these notes while listening to lectures. Many students who struggle with taking orderly notes can purchase from you.

Additionally, there are various places where you can upload your study notes for sale. You may make money with your notes on these platforms since some will pay you, while others will charge a commission when your notes are sold.

Many students find that selling their lecture notes is a highly lucrative side business. You, too, can benefit from it. The best-selling lecture notes sites are Stuvia, OneClass, Oxbridge, and Nexusnotes.com.

15. Flipping Items Online

Flipping your items is another great side hustle for college students. It means things you are not using, you can find a great deal to flip them on market sites.

Brand-new products and secondhand products can sell to generate a few dollars.

It depends on what you are selling. Several sites are available such as Amazon, eBay, Worthy, Facebook Marketplace, and Poshmark. You can go through all the websites and check which is best for your product.

It also includes shipping costs, so better to add the price of the shipping cost. However, most of these assignments may be done on the weekend or in your free time to earn a little extra cash.

You can do most of these at your own pace. And be honest with yourself; a few additional dollars might mean a lot to a college student.

The important thing is that a side hustle is not a source of income. You can add to your resume as it gives you more pay and experience than unpaid internships.

16. Online Tutoring

Online Tutoring is an excellent way to earn some extra cash during college. COVID-19 has forced the worldwide schooling systems and remote learning has, for many, become the new normal.

As a result, more and more parents are hiring online tutors to help their kids stay motivated and engaged. That’s open a great side job opportunity for students to make extra at home.

Online Tutoring is a high-paying and easy online side hustles for college students because you get to help people with topics they’re interested in. Also having the freedom to set your own schedule.

The fun part is you conveniently tutor students sitting at home or anywhere using a computer with an internet connection.

To get started as an online tutor use TutorMe, it’s giving you a steady stream of tutoring opportunities to earn cash.

With the help of TutorMe, you can make up to $16 an hour tutoring others online and pay yourself on a weekly basis.

What is the Best Side Hustle for Me?

Not every side hustle works the same! Some side hustles may be fun for some or tedious for others.

Always pick college side hustles that could boost your income without affecting your academic studies. For me, I like blogging because it’s scalable, easy to manage, and able to make passive income.

Why am I called blogging Scalable? This side hustle will take a considerable amount of time to make money from but it has remarkable potential.

However, I started blogging as a side hustle when I was a 3rd-year University student. It’s been three years and a half of my blogging journey.

Now I’m an MBA (Marketing) student and hopefully will graduate end of 2024. But I’m making good money from my blog which I started as a side hustle back in 2019.

Since then I’ve started a couple of Amazon niche blogs that make passive income. Even if I’m not working on a regular basis due to my exam or class, it doesn’t decline earnings from the last 5 months.

Why do I recommend blogging as a good side hustle for students?

I already mentioned that blogging is scalable and it can be a business. You can make multiple incomes from blogging that other side hustles can’t do.

You can even make at least 9 ways to make money from a single blog, such as Affiliate Marketing, Ads revenue, and more.

Remember blogging is not making quick money as other side hustle does. It takes time and consistent effort. If you have a long-term plan, patience, and hard work, it would be a good side hustle for you or it can be your career.

Most importantly its starting cost is literally low and it can be done without hampering your studies. I did it too and currently run 2 money-making blogs that consistently earn between $700- $1000.

How to Start a Side Hustle in College

Thinking about starting a side hustle while you’re still in college? Here are 5 tips for starting a side hustle for college students:

1. Identify Passion.

First things first, you need to write a list of things you’re passionate about.

Select something that genuinely excites you.
Pick a passion that you are knowledgeable about or want to explore about it.

Once you have done it, make sure you research it so that it is worth trying it.

2. Do I need to invest money?

After narrowing down your passion for a side hustle, you need to figure out if you’ll invest money in it.

Well, basically any side hustle you pick above the list of college side hustles you need a computer with an internet connection.

If you already have these things right away you can start your own side hustle in college. Of course, some side hustle needs initial investment like blogging, selling digital, etc.

Personally, I like blogging as a side hustle for college students because it is scalable. It has the ability to make multiple ways to make money.

3. Manage time for your side hustle.

During college, there are so many academic things on our hands such as assignments, exams, and more. So you have to be more organized to run side jobs.

Managing a side hustle is easy, all you have to do is organize your day, and find out when you have the free time. You can apply the time-blocking method that I use most to organize my day of hustling.

4. Create a plan for your side hustle.

Without a proper plan, you can’t make your side hustle into a profitable business. Plan for your work, time, and study to make your hustle profitable, so that it does not hamper your studies.

As I blog, I create a content plan, and promotion plan, and fix a specific time so I can only focus on my side hustle. However, having a plan is your roadmap for your side hustle.

5. Execute your plan!

A plan without execution is just a plan. And it’s up to you, how you can execute your plan. After launching a side hustle business, you have more discipline to execute the plan.

Take small steps so you don’t feel overwhelmed and work daily at a minimum hour on your side project so you execute your plan hassle-free.

Over To You

College students might pursue many side hustles to increase their income. The activities mentioned above are some of the best side hustles you should follow.

Any of the side hustles as mentioned earlier, jobs are good options if you are a college student and want to make extra cash.

I’ve not listed any offline college side hustles because online side hustles have more flexibility than offline ones.

And offline side hustle can take the most time of your day. Also, You feel tired and overwhelmed which may hamper your studies.

That’s why I have listed the 16 best online side hustles for college students that you can do hassle free from anywhere.

I hope you find this article helpful. feel free to share it with your college friends. Let me know which side hustle is best for you and what you currently work for.

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