10 ways to make money while going to school full time

[adstalker]

When I was going to college, my parents paid for my tuition and board, but left me to my own devices when it came to extra spending money. Like every other college student I know, I needed to make extra money for going out with friends, paying my cell phone bill, and the all important money for beer. Since I didn’t want to wait tables, or park cars, I turned my search to the internet for ways of making money. Back then, during the dot com boom, there were many new internet start ups offering new ways of making money online. The most memorable online money making scheme at that time was All Advantage, a paid to surf company, that paid you for surfing the internet and clicking on the ads they served up. I remember getting a check from them for a whopping $75.00.

These companies are gone now along with a lot of other online companies when the dot com bubble burst and the stock market crashed.

The good news for college kids today, is that there are even more ways of making money online that didn’t even exist when I was going to college. Of course if you want to make any kind of money, its going to take time, perseverance, and a good work ethic. If you are willing to dedicate yourself to some of these money making ideas, you can potentially earn a lot more than working traditional jobs like McDonald’s or as a waiter at Denny’s.


Here are some of the things I did when I was in college to generate extra cash.


1. Selling Stuff on eBay

Almost anything you can think of can be bought and sold on eBay for the right price. Back in 2001, my friend and I were looking for stuff we can sell to turn
a quick profit. We quickly came up with a scheme where we would buy cheap jade pendants and bracelets from Chinatown for 10 cents to 25 cents a piece, and
re-sold each piece on eBay for 1 to 5 dollars (we also charged a couple of bucks extra for shipping too). Back then business was so good, we were making about
$200.00 profit every week. That’s a lot of beer money! Unfortunately, because we had money to party more, we neglected our business. Wrong items got shipped to customers or we forgot to send an order all together. On eBay your feedback is very important. We started getting so much negative feedback we were forced to close shop. Now days, there are so many people trying to sell on eBay, the competition is very fierce. But if you take the time and dig through your garage or attic for things to sell, you can still make some money. There are also people who go every week to garage sales and thrift stores to find things that they can sell on eBay to turn a profit. If you stick to it and not be irresponsible like I was, you can make a lot of extra money selling on eBay and still be able to to school.


2. Tutor Kids

Check the local newspaper or online for tutoring companies that hire students as tutors near your campus. When you interview with them, let them know which
academic subjects you excel at. These companies will then match you up with the kids that need tutoring. They tell you when and where to go, and pay you an
hourly rate of $25.00 to $40.00 dollars a hour. Since I was the biggest nerd in high school, and like any good nerd I excelled at math. I spent 4 hours a week
tutoring high school kids on how to prepare for the math portion of the SAT. Its great money, for just a little amount of work. Sure beats washing dishes!


3. Use Craigslist to find a part time job

Craigslist can be a great resource to find a variety of things being offered in your local community. Asides from old TV’s and used refrigerators posted for
sale, there is a huge section dedicated to all sorts of jobs. I was able to find a paid internship for my summer break with a small high tech start-up near my
school through Craigslist. Best of all, everything is free!


4. Get a sales job that pays commission only

During my last year and a half in college, I took a job doing door to door sales for long distance phone service. Because the job paid commission only and
not a hourly rate, I had the flexibility to work anytime I want. Best of all, getting paid by commission meant that I had unlimited income potential. The
amount of money I made was based on how hard I worked and how many sales I made. In my best month, I brought home a check for almost $4,000 dollars, and this is while I was attending school as a full time student! Asides from the financial rewards, sales will teach you many important skills that are useful in all
aspects of your life. For more info, check out Why you need to learn how to sell.


Here are some of the other things you can do to make money.


5. Sell your own blood

I have done this only once in high school. Not for money, but as a volunteer to support a cause. I will never do this again for any amount of money. The
nurse that stuck me with the needle, failed to realize that the first time she poked me, a little piece of my skin got stuck inside the needle. She assumed
that she couldn’t find the vein, and proceeded to stick me with the needle another 4 times before she realized what the problem was. I have seen some of my
buddies in college make money by doing this. Giving blood is just something I would never do again personally.


6. Make 5 dollars at a time on Fiverr

If you have any special talents or skills, you can offer your services on Fiverr for 5 dollars. You can offer services from writing, making videos, doing stupid random things, offering advice, programming and much more for 5 dollars. Fiverr takes a 1 dollar cut and the rest of the money is paid to you via Paypal. You can do this over and over and make 5 dollars every time.


7. Sell articles online

If you are good at writing, you can write about anything and try and sell your articles online. There is a huge market among web site owners to buy
unique content for their sites. On the web, content is king, and who ever has the best content is able to attract more traffic to their sites. If you are good at writing, you can make good money selling articles online at places like Helium.com, Articlesale.com, or constant-content.com.


8. Writers and other online talent for hire. Freelancing

Similar to selling your articles online, there are thousands of freelancing jobs online that you can do from the comfort of your home. Sites like odesk and
elance offer freelance jobs, from writing, to programming and web design, and much more. If you have any of these skills, you can browse thousands of
freelance jobs and get paid for doing them.


9. Get paid for your opinions

You can also get paid for taking surveys, participating in focus groups and writing product reviews. There are many survey sites out there that will pay you
for market research. I have also seen some people make money from participating. Just be careful when you choose which sites to sign up with. If you have to pay to use their service its probably a scam. Most of the legit survey sites are totally free to sign up with. If you are interested in making money this way, you can check out sites like Cashcrate, Survey for Profit, Global Test Market, Opinion Outpost, ACO, Toluna, and Survey Adventure.


10. Create and flip websites with Flippa

If you know how to create and design a website, you can make serious money in your spare time making and selling websites on Flippa.com. There are people make upward of $10,000 a month making and selling websites online. Flippa is auction based, you can list a website for sale, and buyers will bid on it.


Hope this helps. If anyone else has any great money making ideas, please post them in comments!

[timbuckley10]

Tutoring is something I wish I had always done as a college student. It is extremely easy to market yourself as a tutor as a college student and many parents are willing to pay to have their kids tutored.

[krantcents]

There is so much more flexibility in part time earnings on the Internet. When I was in school, I did Navy experiments, normal part time work or other psychologial tests.

[ConED]

There are great lists, this is not need to be college students only but applicable also to home based job where housewives take it as part time...

[Kelvin]

nice tips to make the money.

[scotland]

Another great way to make money is to become a mystery shopper.
You not only get paid for doing assignments but you get paid for expenses too.

[PatientSaver]

7. Sell articles online

"If you are good at writing, you can write about anything and try and sell your articles online. There is a huge market among web site owners to buy
unique content for their sites. On the web, content is king, and who ever has the best content is able to attract more traffic to their sites. If you are good at writing, you can make good money selling articles online at places like Helium.com, Articlesale.com, or constant-content.com."

Have to disagree with this one. On the web, it's not that content is king, it's that VOLUME of content is king, meaning that many, many websites like ezine or any of the others don't really care how good the writing is, they just want volume, and to have every subject area covered. They pay $10 or $20 for a 500 word story which comes out to about $3 an hour for a well-researched and professionally-written story. The reason these sites succeed is because there will always be an unlimited pool of non-professional writers with egos big enough that they're willing to work for ridiculously low rates. The really good writers steer clear of these sites because it's really an insult to their profession.

[MonkeyMama]

Also, seek out seasonal work, sell expertise, and seek out experience in your field of study.

I share because this is how my spouse and I paid for college.

I thought I was smart to sell piano lessons part time at $20-$60 per hour. Though hours were VERY part time.

My spouse only worked summers at an amusement park. I get our social security statements now and am shocked how equal our income was during those years. He worked nights (cash control) so got a nice wage. He worked full-time/overtime 4 months out of the year or so, plus a lot of weekends in spring/fall. I worked there for a time - was like working for a bank. Meaning, it was a good/enjoyable job. Not what you think of as far as unskilled labor and amusement parks.

Reminds me - several of the people we worked with also counted inventory. Another night job that pays well simply because it is at night.

*Internships* are generally thought of as unpaid. BUT, business internships paid double minimum wage when I was in college. Experience was invaluable. I actually never got a formal internship, but worked for a CPA who hired college kids. We did the grunt work for her, and got the experience. I only worked 5 hours a week or so at that job. Every field is different, but keep your ears open for paid opportunities that will help you in the job market.

[jadet]

Part time tax preparer!

[charlieh]

mystery shopper

Please do not become a mystery shopper. Most of the time mystery shopping jobs are scams. If you are asked to call a phone number and make up a story to tell the person you know you are participating in a scam. This is normally affiliate marketers attempting to get paid a commission on sending a prospect to a company looking for business like an insurance company or mortgage company.

[bjl584]

The best way I found to make money while I was in Grad school was to keep my day job. One of my criteria while searching for schools was to find one that offered evening and weekend programs.

[beth_williams]

Nice tips. There seems to be a lot of noise on Flippa. How do you differentiate your products?

[ir_dizzle]

Good post - so true, so true!

[tajmahal2222]

Best Insurance policy life, car, travel, health- Policy Mantra

Tutoring is something I wish I had always done as a college student. It is extremely easy to market yourself as a tutor as a college student and many parents are willing to pay to have their kids tutored.

[photo]

On the web, it's not that content is king, it's that VOLUME of content is king, meaning that many, many websites like ezine or any of the others don't really care how good the writing is, they just want volume, and to have every subject area covered. They pay $10 or $20 for a 500 word story which comes out to about $3 an hour for a well-researched and professionally-written story. The reason these sites succeed is because there will always be an unlimited pool of non-professional writers with egos big enough that they're willing to work for ridiculously low rates. The really good writers steer clear of these sites because it's really an insult to their profession.

Agree 100%.