9 Best Ways to Make Money Online (for College Students)

Benefits of making money online

Making money online does have numerous benefits.

However, I have listed a few of them below:

1. You can work anytime and anywhere. Thus, higher flexibility.
2. You are your own boss.
3. Less stress because you don’t have to work under anyone else.
4. More time for your loved ones.
5. Working online can highly improve your digital presence.

Nothing comes in the world without cons and yeah making money online does have some.

I have listed some of them below:

1. Lack of socialization and communication.
2. Working for hours online can badly impact your health.
3. Some people also face a lack of motivation due to lesser discipline compared to an office-based job.

However, you can handle all of them by allocating the proper time for your health and family.

Let’s have a look at our complete list of the 9 best ways to make money online as a college student.

9 Best Ways to Make Money Online as a College Student

1. Paid survey sites

So far I found that doing online surveys is one of the best and easiest ways to make money online.

You just have to spend 15 to 20 minutes of the day filling surveys and can make up to $100 per month.

Of course, you can’t earn much money from it but I think $100 for 15 to 20 minutes is quite fine when you are completely broke.

The only problem is the lack of availability of genuine survey sites.

For every 5 survey websites on the internet, only one is genuine. Even less than that.

Well no need to worry, I have done extensive research on the same and found some of the best survey sites that pay real money.

Below is the list of some of the websites that I personally use to make up to $100 per month.

• YouGov
• Swagbucks
• India Speaks (for India only)
• Google Opinion rewards

I will add more sites soon!

2. Blogging

Not the easiest one but one of the best and most genuine ways to make money online as a college student is to start your own blog.

A blog is an online portal or website where publishers continuously publish information related to various topics. e.g. health blog.

After you start getting traffic, you can display advertisements or promote affiliate products so as to make money online.

As a blogger, you can make money by:

• Displaying advertisements.
• Promoting products and getting a commission as an affiliate.
• Selling your products and services.
• Promoting other businesses and brands in exchange for money.

To get started with blogging, you need to make a little investment.

In order to create a blog, you need to purchase web hosting and a domain name.

Web hosting refers to the space where you host (store files of) your blog & the domain name is the address of your blog. e.g. www.fullonstudy.com

You can use Bluehost web hosting with a free domain name for just $3.95 per month.

If your budget is less then you can also go for Resellerclub, Namecheap, or GoDaddy.

I myself have been blogging for over 2 years and can help you get started for free simply follow me on Instagram @itsharishjoshi and DM me so that I can help you.

3. Article writing

If you are good at writing and can write awesome articles then article writing might be one of the best ways for you to make money online.

Top brands, bloggers, and news websites generally prefer to outsource their work to freelance writers.

There are plenty of platforms available online where you can sell your content writing services.

Here are a few:

• Fiverr
• Upwork
• Freelancer
• Guru.com, etc.

4. YouTube

YouTube is the biggest video streaming platform on the planet.

It has over 30 million active users every day. More than 50 million users are continuously creating content on YouTube.

And yeah, it is another best way to make money online as a college student.

You can make videos on anything from gaming to education.

Some of the best YouTube niches are:

• Gaming
• Product reviews
• Tutorials
• Fashion
• Technology
• Food recipes
• Vlogging, etc.

Of course, it requires a lot of effort to grow your YouTube channel but you can do it super-fast with quality content and proper marketing.

Once you have enough viewership on YouTube you can monetize your channel by promoting affiliate products and displaying advertisements.

5. Social Media Management

Do you love using social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram? Well, most of us do.

But, did you know you can make money managing social media accounts?

People who manage other’s social media accounts are called social media managers.

Big brands, businesses & public figures usually hire social media managers so as to save their time.

The key responsibility of a social media manager is to create content, improve brand awareness, and prepare analytics.

You can get anywhere from $500 to $1000 per month for each account you manage.

You can find work at:

• Upwork
• Freelancer, etc.

6. Website/App Testing

Before making any app/website live, web development companies hire testers to test their product or services.

As a tester, your job is to find issues/bugs in the product and create a detailed report on the same.

On average, you can get paid $10 for each test you perform.

Websites where you can find testing jobs:

• U Test
• Enroll
• User Testing
• Whatusersdo
• Analysia

7. Affiliate Marketing

You might have referred many products/services that you love using to others.

But did you ever get paid for the same?

No.

Well, you can, and this is what we call affiliate marketing.

As an affiliate, you have to promote/refer certain products/services to others using a unique referral link.

And, once someone purchases anything from your link, you’ll get a commission without any extra cost to them.

First, you have to join any affiliate program you love & once they approve you, you’re eligible to promote their products.

Some of the best affiliate programs are:

• Clickbank
• Amazon Affiliate
• eBay Partner Program
• Commission Junction
• MaxBounty
• Rakuten Affiliate

8. Transcriptionist

A transcriptionist is someone who listens to audio files & converts the same into text. You can make somewhere between $10 – $15 per hour as a transcriptionist.

The only constraint is that you need to have good typing speed along with outstanding listening skills.

If you have both of them, then this is another awesome way to make money while being in college.

Let’s say if you make $20 per day by working for at least 2 hours, then you can easily earn up to $500 per month (excluding holidays).

Some of the best websites where you can find transcription work are:

• Transcribe
• Scribie
• Transcribe Me
• Go Transcript
• Upwork

9. Online Courses

As more & more people are working from home, online courses are in huge demand.

If you have good knowledge of any skill (say Web Development, Graphic Design, etc.), then you can create your online courses & earn passive income for life.

Let’s say you have created an online course & you have put it on sale for just $10 & got 100 students enrolled, then your total earning will be 10 x 100 = $1000 with just one course.

Your next question might be how I would get 100 students. Well, you can upload your online courses on either Udemy or Eduonix.

Both are popular platforms & get millions of visitors every month. If your content is good, you will definitely gonna get students enrolled.

Some of the best places where you can put your online courses for free:

• Udemy
• Eduonix
• Skillshare
• Thinkific
• Teachable

10. Domain Flipping (Bonus)

I have already shared 9 of the best ways you can make money online as a college student. However, this is a bonus for our awesome readers.

A domain name is simply an address where the user can visit any website ( for example www.fullonstudy.com is a domain name).

Whether you believe me or not, thousands of domain names are getting registered every day.

It means the marketplace of domain names is continuously expanding. The best domain names are those that can be easily remembered.

What you can do is, purchase those domains that someone may need in the future & then find your target company/ person, contact them & close your deal at a much higher price.

You can also sell these domain names on various auctions online.

I suggest you buy a cheap domain name from Namecheap (for as low as $10) & start flipping.

Some of the best websites where you can list your domain name for sale after purchasing are:

• Flippa
• Sedo
• Freemarket

Up to You!

I have listed some of the best ways college students can make money online. Hope you find them helpful.

Now everything is up to you & you know what is good for you. Lastly, let me give you some suggestions regarding making money online.

Making money online is no doubt easier than it was before, but you should not expect money without giving any value to whom you’re working for.

I too have made the same mistake at the start of my career, i.e. just chasing money without giving any value to your audience.

If you want money, then first learn to provide value not just your services.

I hope you get my point.

Have something in your mind?

Speak it out in the comment section!

Recommended Readings:

• 9 Best Online Jobs for College Students
• 10 Most In-demand Skills
• 5 Best Finance Books You Should Read This Year
• Tips on Writing a Killer Resume
• Best Survey Sites for Making Money Online
• Super Easy ways to save money for College Students
• Best Study Music for Boosting Concentration