The Top 13 Online Jobs for College Students

Steve Cummings

online jobs for college students

College costs increase yearly, and that’s just for tuition, room, and board. There are other expenses college students have to take care of, and with inflation at all-time highs, it’s getting harder for them to get by with increasing costs of gas, groceries, and even rent.

Fortunately, college students have many ways to make money today. We’ve found the top online jobs for college students to make earning money less stressful than finding a part-time job. 

If working online sounds like something that you might enjoy, keep reading to learn the simple ways you can increase your income. 

Why Online Jobs for College Students are a Good Idea

College students have a lot on their plates between schoolwork and living on their own. Adding a part-time job can be more stress than most can handle.

Working online, though, college students can work in their free time, be comfortable in their own dorm or apartment, and work as much or as little as they want. Working online puts you in control of how much money you make, and in many cases, it provides real-world experience while you’re still in school.

13 Online Jobs for College Students

1. Freelance Writer

If you love writing, get paid for your skills. Small businesses often outsource their content needs to freelancers. You can get paid to write blog posts, website content, product descriptions, white papers, and even e-books.

As a freelance writer, you can charge per word or a flat fee for each content piece. This gig works great for college students because you can work it in your free time. 

You can market your services yourself or join a site like Fiverr that matches writers with companies looking for help with their content. You create a gig, and buyers looking for services like you offer will start a conversation and potentially buy your services. 

2. Proofreader

If you prefer to proofread others’ work rather than write, you can get paid for your excellent grasp of grammar. You might even find opportunities to proofread right on campus. If other students struggle to proofread their papers, you can offer your services to perfect their papers.

You can also advertise your services online to companies. Many companies need a professional to review their content before publishing it. A company’s risks their reputation if they publish poorly written content, so it’s an important task that many companies outsource to ensure it’s done right.

There are many opportunities to start a freelance proofreading gig on Fiverr, Upwork, and Freelancer.

3. Tutor

If you are a master in certain subjects, consider tutoring. There are many ways you can tutor, whether you help students at your college or market your services nationwide.

With Zoom and other online video programs, it’s easy to offer your services to anyone. For example, you can tutor elementary school students in reading or math or offer more specific services, such as tutoring in chemistry or economics.

If you prefer to join a company that sends clients directly to you, Chegg and Wyzant are both great options for college students.

4. Website Designer

If you’re majoring in graphic design, start creating your portfolio by offering website design services as a freelancer. Even if you aren’t a graphic design major but have a good eye for detail and know what designs perform best, you can use free programs like Canva to create websites for clients.

If you’ve already created websites, share them in your portfolio so potential clients can see your work. You can set up a portfolio on sites like Fiverr or Upwork or advertise directly to small businesses in the area or bloggers online. 

5. Data Entry

Data entry is one of the top online jobs for college students because it’s mindless. You don’t need special skills or equipment. To do data entry, you need a computer or laptop, and a good attention to detail. That’s all that’s required to succeed at it.

People per Hour and Clickworker are great sites to get jobs doing data entry in your free time. 

6. Virtual Assistant

A virtual assistant handles many tasks for businesses. You can offer a specific task or see what businesses need. A few examples include social media management, appointment handling, responding to emails, customer service, and bookkeeping.

To find the best virtual assistant positions, check out Fancy Hands, Zirtual, and Virtual Assistant Networking sites

7. Blogger

Did you know one of the top online jobs for college students is blogging? It sounds crazy that you could make money writing a simple blog, but they are very popular right now.

To make money blogging, you must first pick a niche. Choose something you’re passionate about and have a lot to share. Next, market your blog, so you build an audience. Once you have a large audience, you can monetize your posts with affiliate links from networks like CJ Affiliate or FlexOffers.

If someone clicks on your links and buys something, you earn a small commission. 

8. Social Media Influencer

Do you love social media and have a large following? Then, you can jump on the social media influencer bandwagon and make money. Depending on the size of your audience and the brands that sponsor you, it’s easy to make a decent income as an influencer.

Try giving your channel a niche so brands find you and choose to sponsor you so you can make the most money.

9. Join Get-Paid-To Sites

If you’re looking for one of the top online jobs for college students to do in your free time, join get-paid-to sites.

These sites pay you for micro-tasks, like answering surveys, watching videos, accepting offers, and reading emails.

Essentially, you’re getting paid for companies to market to you. They want your opinion on surveys to shape the products and services they offer and for you to watch their videos and read emails to learn about their products and services and share them with others.

The top get-paid-to sites are Swagbucks, MyPoints, and InboxDollars. Of course, you won’t get rich on these sites, but if you hop on them whenever you have free time, the earnings can add up.

10. Play Games

If you’re a gamer, don’t pass up the opportunity to make money playing games. It sounds impossible to get paid, but there are several ways to make it happen.

Apps like Mistplay, pay you to play games. You just download the app, choose the games you want to play, and make money. The longer you play, the more money you’ll make. Again, this isn’t something that will make you rich, but it will buy you a few coffees just to play games.

If you’re passionate about gaming, you can also join Twitch, the gaming streaming service. Much like gaming for YouTube, you get paid to stream yourself playing games. But, first, you must build an audience, and once you do, you can monetize your channel with affiliate links and sponsors and sell merchandise.

11. Product Reviewer

If you love trying new products, become a product reviewer. Some sites pay you to try the products and provide a written or verbal review. Others let you keep the product, which is like getting paid since the product is free.

Toluna, Pinecone Research, and UserTesting.com are great sites to try. You’ll either receive products to try or, in the case of UserTesting.com, get paid to test websites and apps and write a review of your findings. 

12. Sell Crafts

If you’re crafty, turn your hobby into a money-making opportunity. You can sell your products on Etsy and make money doing something you love. Even if you craft to release stress or keep your mind occupied, it’s a great way to earn extra money.

Open an Etsy store, and you can leverage their large audience. Write your store and product listings with keywords your audience will search for, and you will increase the traffic looking at your products, earning you money.

13. Sell Digital Products

You can sell digital products if you aren’t crafty but are great with computers and design. Etsy has an entire category of digital products, such as digital planners, invitations, calendars, flyers, and email templates.

You can also sell stock photos on sites like Shutterstock. If you’re great at taking photos, upload them to Shutterstock and sell digital copies. Each time someone buys your picture, you’ll earn a commission. 

Final Thoughts

There are many ways for college students to make money today. Whether you’re trying to get ahead on your student loans before graduation or need extra money for rent and food each month, the top online jobs for college students will help you make ends meet and maybe even have money left over for fun.

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