Holding a job while maintaining a full college course load is a juggling act, with no perfect method for balancing both. Schedules, mental strain and transportation contribute to the difficulty of managing both one’s education and employment, and it makes it difficult for students to keep up their health and relationships. In 2018, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported that 43% of full-time college students have jobs. Budgeting finances as a college student is challenging enough, but budgeting one’s time for work in addition to classes and homework assignments creates even more of a hassle. If you’re a college student looking to make a bit of extra cash without the extra stress, below are five ways you can make money while working from home.
1. Test Websites and Apps for Companies
Many companies pay people to review the user experience of their website, and you can make an average of $25 an hour doing so. One company that does this is UserTesting.com, which is an organization associated with Microsoft, Ford and Adobe. The requirements for the job include: ownership of a compatible computer, internet connection, the ability to speak English and being at least 18 years old. Once you record your website review, the company will pay you within seven days.
Other sites like UserLytics.com also hire for testing positions and pay between $5 and $90. This website is geared toward websites and app prototypes. You can test the products from anywhere at any time, which is perfect for the schedule of a busy college student. The website also allows you to use a mobile device to review the product rather than only a laptop.
College students often use laptops and smartphones anyway while working on school projects, so why not make money at the same time by working from home?
2. Become an Online Tutor
If you’re tempted by the invitation to pick your hours, choose your rates and work with people, tutoring from home through a service like PrePly.com might interest you. As a tutor, you can choose your own rates; for English tutoring, most people tend to charge an average of $15 to $25 an hour.
The first step is to choose the subject that you feel most confident in helping others learn. Then you’ll need to establish a schedule that works for you and add those potential hours to your professional profile on the virtual tutoring website. Students can book one-on-one sessions with you, while you’re free to create a tutoring plan once you begin working with them. Many services such as VarsityTutors.com connect tutors with students, depending on the student’s needs and the tutor’s expertise.
Online tutoring makes learning for kids from all over the world a lot easier, and it’s one of the few good things to come from the COVID-19 pandemic.
3. Start Your Own Small Business by Marketing Your Skills
Do you have a secret talent? Or, consider what you’re studying in school and find a way to make money from it! Once you determine which of your skills can be monetized, it’s time to get to work. If you’re a musician, you could try producing people’s songs. Maybe you’re better at coding and web design, so building a website for someone could make you some extra money. If you’re an artist, you could join fiverr.com and market your skills as a children’s book illustrator, portrait artist or painter. Both etsy.com and fiverr.com are platforms where you can advertise your skills while working from home. The best part: You don’t need a business license to get started.
You may be contemplating whether or not you have any marketable talents. If you can’t think of a skill to sell, check out fiverr.com to glean ideas from different services people have to offer. Perhaps something will spark your interest.
4. Do Other People’s Laundry
“Underwear,” “shorts,” “chonies” — whatever you call them, you could get paid to wash them. During your statistics or your marine biology class, you could earn almost $15 an hour by washing and folding someone’s work shirts.
One company you can partner with is LaundryCare.biz. The job requires you to pick up clothes around your neighborhood, bring them back to your house and then follow the customer’s laundering instructions while washing the clothes. The clothes are later delivered back to their original homes within two days. With each squeaky clean sock and cardigan, you become even richer than before.
5. Caption Videos
The final idea on the list is participating in accessibility efforts by adding captions to audio and video clips. Rev.com, a site featured in Forbes magazine, pays between $0.54 and $1.10 per minute of the video you add captions for. For this company, you’re responsible for listening, captioning and describing sounds, as well as syncing the audio with the captions.
The company’s website also claims that there’s “no limit” to the number of videos ready to be captioned. So whenever you have a minute to spare, you can sit down with a cup of coffee, open up your laptop, caption a few videos and make money. As a bilingual individual, you have the potential to make even more money, with the pay increasing to $3.00 per minute.
Unless you’re attending clown school, you’re probably not majoring in juggling. Therefore, finding employment that doesn’t require you to toss around both your work and school schedules may make college more manageable. Not only do you get to make money while working from home, but you also get to provide services to people who need them. It’s a win-win situation for everyone!
