Make Some Extra Cash in College without a Work-Study (or Real) Job
Wednesday, November 1, 2006 by Kelly Sutton Work-study jobs are nice: you're paid to study for a few hours while doing a task every once in awhile. Unfortunately for some, not every student always gets work-study money or the work-study dollars may just not be paying the bills.
For further reading on this subject, check out these two articles (1)(2) on collegev2.com.
Stock PhotographyStock photography has recently moved out of the hands of professionals and into amateurs, largely due to the advent of "prosumer" cameras like the Canon Rebel. But with most newer digital cameras today, you shouldn't need a bag full of lenses to take your own stock photography.
How do you make money with some pictures of relatively boring subjects? Take a look at iStockPhoto.com. The site has single-handedly driven professional stock photographers out of business. They pay each amateur (now considered professional?) photographer each time a magazine, newspaper, what-have-you downloads the file for a nominal fee (anywhere between $1 and $25).
If you create your own iStockPhoto account and submit several stock photos, you could potentially have a steady stream of income flowing into your bank account for some initial work and periodic maintenance. Score.
"Gigs" on CraigslistWhile it's easy to find free couches on the other side of town on Craigslist, finding a suitable "gig" may be tougher.
"Gigs" are more-or-less one-time jobs or tasks that someone needs done, not British rock shows. It's a good way to make quick cash if you've got the time. There are gigs for just about any talent and they are always numerous.
Word to the wise: Craiglist is unmoderated, so you potentially dealing with "shady" or "sketchy" folks. Make sure your terms of service are clearly worked out before doing any work. Make sure their checks don't bounce when you cash them and make sure you have their real name/organization.
Medical experimentsA friend of mine was describing a sleep deprivation experiment he participated in once. He had to stay up for 36 hours straight while being monitored and made out with $550. That's not too bad.
Well, they did take nine blood samples over the course of the 36 hours. And he wasn't allowed caffeine.
So, if you're willing to be a lab rat for a little while and want to meet some "interesting" people who also need money, see if local universities (or your own) are putting on any experiments in the near future.
Hope you live to tell about it.
Start tinkering around in the stock market.If you've already got some money in savings, this could be a way for you to spend money to make money.
Start an account at an online trading site (I use Charles Schwab) and do some research. When you think you've found a good stock, jump in and buy it. See what it does.
I used $1000 I made over the summer to buy some shares of Apple Computer. I bought the stock at $68, and now it's somewhere around $80.
If I sold today, that'd be another $200 in my pocket (minus commission and trade costs). Not too shabby.
If you have the skills, freelanceThere are many businesses and individuals that turn to freelancers to get the job done for them. Whether it's editing a wedding video or designing a logo, freelancing is any easy way to make a significant amount of cash. The same warning goes for Craigslist though: make sure you've got your terms worked out before you start working, no matter what.
A good place to get started is freelance.com or a site like it.
Auction off anything you don't needI remember first arriving at school my freshman year, and I brought twice as much stuff as I needed. Even now I still have more clutter in my dorm room than I need.
It can be difficult to part with your possessions though. For me, I'm considering selling off my laptop and Mac Mini in hopes of getting a MacBook or something. But parting with two computers might be too much for me.
You have two main routes for efficiently unloading your belongings: eBay and Craigslist. eBay will probably land you more for your money, but you'll have to bother with shipping and setting up an account (if you don't already have one). For Craigslist, you'll probably get less for your item, but you won't have to hassle with shipping it.
Create your own websiteIt's what I'm doing at least. It's probably the hardest way to make money. After three months of dedicated posting and revising and publicizing, I've made less than $5 from adveritising. It's a tough road, but maybe traffic will pick up.
If you take this route, I highly recommend GoDaddy. I've had no trouble with them and they are very competitively priced.
Reader Comments (14)
[...] Make Some Extra Cash in College Without a Work-Study (or Real) Job Filed under: One Year Ago | [...]
I would recommend servage dot net for web hosting and find that google adsense is a good way to make money online. The secret of getting traffic is links, links and more links, still I agree it is not so easy in the beginning but you must perservere as in the long term the rewards can be great. Keep up the good work.
Great Post. Building a website is a good idea, why not even build a blog? Monitoring your progress and passing on your ideas/experiences can be exciting and positive for your own development. Plus, it is free to do with wordpress or blogger and an internet connection. If it had been around like it is today when I was on my first degree I would've started one - great way to earn even a couple of $'s a day.
At the moment I'm trying to score a freelance gig with my university, and I agree that the website idea is a hard one to do, but still a lot of fun!
[...] Photography Kelly at Hack College suggests signing up at iStockPhoto.com and submitting your best photos as stock images. It’s an [...]
Building a website is good i run many websites now but since its comming upo to end of year tests i have to lay low for a while and not try and update the sites so much.
Another option is studentcash.net. They pay college students recurring revenue to place "ads" on their websites. What are they really after? Links. The "ads" they tell you place on your website are links to other sites but from my experience they do pay as promised via Paypal and they don't allow shady advertisers like porn or gambling so its cool with me.
I will definatly try I-stock photo and sign up for charles schwab. Thanks for the list it should help me out
Nice list have to try some of them soon ;)
Medical experiments... that is a funny one! This can go wrong sometimes, but if you need the money then you have to go for it!
These are great online money making tips. I'll have to tell my girlfriend about i stock. Sounds pretty cool. I currently use pay per post and adsense. Also getting into private advertising. Great list though!
These are some good ways to make some part time money online. The problem is that there are tons of make money online solutions and people dont know where to start.
wow what a nice post about coupons and retail information.
Its a very needed information because i need some coupons to buy somethings.
Thanks
Making money with a website is right below selling plasma unless you do it right and this is a good place to start.