Every student is looking for ways to make a bit of money, be it physical or online. That’s why you landed on this page, after all. As someone who’s been in your shoes, I’ve always tried out new side hustles. From the days when I was in my early teens up until I hit 19, I’d tried a few dozen different side gigs.
In turn, I’ve compiled 35 side hustles that every student can do, many of which I’ve done over the past decade. Keep in mind that these are active side hustles, but I have previously covered some passive income ideas for students if you don’t have any time to spare.
That said, if you’re willing to put in the time and effort, you’ll be rewarded almost immediately with most of these side hustles. Let me not keep you any longer, and let’s jump straight into my list.
35 of the Best Sides Hustles for Students
As I said right above, these are primarily active side hustles. Thus, you’ll need some time for each and potentially some equipment. I’ll cover everything below.
1. Make a paid student community
Making a paid student community is hands down the best side hustle you can do as a student. This will be exclusively for students, where one can exchange studying tips, time-management advice, productivity hacks, and so on. The great thing is that you can host this group right here, on Whop, and it’ll only take a few minutes to set up.
What you’ll need: Setting up and managing the community will take some time, but it won’t cost anything if you host it on Whop. Then, all you have to do is bring people on board and get them to pay a fee to the community.
Earning potential: You can make quite a lot from such a community. For example, you can set up a worldwide group of students, charging $5 per month for access. All you’ll need is 100 students to join, and you’re already making $500 every month.
2. Pet sitting
Got anyone around your neighborhood who’s going on vacation soon? Offer them your pet-sitting services. Whether they have a cat, a dog, or other pets, you’ll have to drop by once or twice a day or stay overnight (for an extra fee, of course).
What you’ll need: Just some time each day/week and basic pet care knowledge. Since you’re pet sitting for someone else, they’ll provide everything you need.
Earning potential: You won’t make thousands, but you can easily make $50-$100 as a baseline daily.
3. Mow lawns
Much like pet sitting, you can ask around your neighborhood if anyone needs help with mowing their lawns. This is pretty straightforward; you just need to do a good job, and you’ll be paid the fee you asked for.
What you’ll need: Most of the time, homeowners will provide you with their lawnmowers, but having your own will make the job easier.
Earning potential: If you put the time in, you can make around $200 per weekend, charging $50 per house, without sacrificing significant time from your studies.
4. Online tutoring
Back in the online world, online English tutoring was one of the first real side hustles I did as a student. In today’s market, it’s much easier to find platforms to sell your services or ones that’ll automatically connect you with students.
What you’ll need: Nothing more than a couple of hours a day and a laptop. If you have a whiteboard or some learning cards, that’s a big plus and you can charge more.
Earning potential: I was making close to $10/hr back as an online tutor. If you teach a specific subject that’s more difficult than English and you source your students, you could take your rates up to $40/hr.
5. Personal training
Are you a regular gymgoer? You should consider becoming a personal trainer. All you have to do is hop on a quick call with your potential client, understand their goals, and create a workout routine for them. You can also add a meal plan for a slightly higher price.
What you’ll need: To be jacked, honestly. Besides that, as long as you have a good idea of how each exercise can benefit every individual and you have a couple of hours to spare every week, you’re sorted.
Earning potential: You can sell your plans for as low as $10 or as high as $50-$60. Generic ones go for lower, while personalized workout routines can be more lucrative.
6. Online coaching
Ever wanted to become an online coach? It’s one of the most versatile side hustles for students, as you can be a coach on anything. Fitness, school, studying, you name it. The more unique the niche, the more you can charge.
What you’ll need: A lot of knowledge and experience on the topics you’ll be helping with.
Earning potential: Coaching can become a full-time gig pretty easily. As a side hustle, you can start charging $50/hr.
7. Sell your notes
Here’s another side gig I did during my time in college: note selling. While this can be a passive way to earn some money, you can take it a step further and sell your notes for more. Essentially, instead of just selling your notes, add your own examples or maybe provide some explanations for parts that might be difficult.
What you’ll need: Some time to take notes during classes and an hour or two afterward to enrich these. Maybe invest in a nice multi-colored pen set to make these look fancy.
Earning potential: I was selling each day’s notes for a couple of coffees, which was pretty low but passive. If you take the extra step and enrich your notes, you could sell them for around $5-$10 for each page.
8. Sell study guides
A side hustle idea I never tried out was selling study guides. Studying well is a skill, and if you’ve found tricks to study each subject, you can sell that knowledge for a good buck.
What you’ll need: Creating study guides will require some time, as you’ll have to come up with a unique framework for each subject. But that’s basically it.
Earning potential: How much you earn depends on how practical these guides will be. If you were one of the 10 students who passed a particular class, you could sell a guide for that class for $10-$20 easily.
9. Sell study planners
Now, what’s a study guide without a study planner? If you’ve got some graphic design skills, consider making and selling study planners. Think of them as Notion or Canva templates but for fellow students.
What you’ll need: Just some good graphic design skills and an hour each day to work on your unique planners.
Earning potential: As with guides, you have to make these planners stand out so that you can sell them for the big bucks. You can do that by creating personalized ones or selling general ones according to the current trends.
10. Freelance web development
Got some great web development skills? Become a freelance web developer. Start by creating a portfolio of your projects, and then move on to client work through platforms like Upwork or Fiverr.
What you’ll need: Some great web development skills, a bunch of time to build up your portfolio, and a lot of effort overall. This is a small business, after all.
Earning potential: When you’re starting out, expect to make around $40-$50/hr. But, within just a couple of years, you can get that up to $100/hr.
11. Freelance writing
Now, I’m definitely biased, but freelance writing is one of the best side hustles you can do as a student. There are tons of different routes you can take. You can become a content writer or a copywriter, like yours truly, or go down the essay writing path. Either way, you must build your portfolio before you can start getting some client work.
What you’ll need: Some pretty good writing chops and a bit of creativity will be more than enough to start. Obviously, you’ll also need to set aside a few hours a day to work on this if you want to make some good money.
Earning potential: A good writer with little experience can earn about $15-$20/hr when starting. But, as long as you consistently scale and offer more premium services, that number can go up to $50-$60/hr within just a couple of years.
12. Edit essays
If freelance writing isn’t your thing but you still want to take advantage of your writing skills, consider essay editing. All you do is go through the essays of your collegemates, edit them so they’re more presentable, and get paid.
What you’ll need: Time and writing skills. That’s it
Earning potential: Much like writing, you have to start low and slow, so, at first, you’ll earn close to $20/hr. But, as you get better, you can start charging closer to the $50/hr mark.
13. Sell handmade jewelry
Let’s do a 180 and talk about some more interesting side hustles, like selling handmade jewelry. This is mostly for any of you already doing this as a hobby, as learning from the start can be rather tedious. All you need to do is craft the jewelry and sell it on platforms like Etsy.
What you’ll need: Jewelry-making tools and a bunch of time to work on each piece. Plus, you’ll need to find a good platform to sell these on and have a starting capital to get your first materials.
Earning potential: Since you’re actually making these and are sourcing high-quality materials, you can sell each piece for a pretty high price, in the $100+ region.
14. Rent out your car
Here’s another side hustle that’s a bit more passive but an equally good moneymaker: renting out your car. My top tip here might sound a bit weird, but hear me out. I’d suggest you try out another side hustle to make a few grand and reinvest that in a used car that you’ll rent out. That way, you won’t have to worry about it getting any significant damage as much.
What you’ll need: A car and a trustworthy network of rentees.
Earning potential: There’s really no upper limit here, as long as your car is running. You can rent it out for $100 a day (a profit of around $50 if you pay for gas and cleaning), which is pretty good for doing nearly nothing.
15. Sell stock photos
Any photographers out there? Start taking some pictures and selling them to stock photo platforms, like Shutterstock. Maybe it’s a nice landscape or an interesting car, but it can really be anything. And you’ll get royalties from every photo you post.
What you’ll need: A good camera and some photo editing skills are enough. The more time you spend outside, the more picture-worthy scenery you’ll find.
Earning potential: Stock photos are generally not the best moneymakers, yes. But, once you take a photo and upload it on one of the stock photo platforms, you’ll get royalties as long as it stays up. So, you can earn some pretty good passive income down the line.
16. Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is a tried-and-tested side hustle that any student can try. All you have to do is get affiliated with companies, products, or whops, and create content to funnel consumers to these. Think of it as a cornerstone for most other side hustles, like blogs, podcasts, etc.
What you’ll need: Depending on your approach, a lucrative skill, like video editing or copywriting, will be a big plus. Besides that, you’ll just have to spend some time each day uploading content.
Earning potential: Affiliate marketing can be a huge moneymaker if done right. You can start slow and get commissions per sign-up, usually in the 15%-20% range.
17. Create an online course
Online courses are an equally great side hustle. You need to be an expert in a specific discipline or have a unique skill on which you can create a course. And, the best thing is that you can sell your course directly through Whop.
What you’ll need: The only thing you’ll really need is the time to create your course. A 1-hour module will take around a month to create and publish for reference.
Earning potential: Sky’s the limit here. A course around a lucrative skill, like copywriting, can be sold for at least $50. So, if you can sell it to 100 people, that’s an easy $5k.
18. Pick up odd jobs and tasks
A side hustle you can do in your free time is taking some odd jobs or tasks. This was technically my first “profitable” side hustle, doing micro-tasks for crowdsourcing platforms. It’s repetitive, yes. But it’s a good way to make some money on the side.
What you’ll need: Time’s the only thing you need here. You can spend an hour or two each day doing these as they come.
Earning potential: I was earning around $15/hr when I started doing these a while back. Usually, you won’t make more than $25-$30/hr, but the tasks are pretty mundane, so you hammer them out quickly.
19. Take surveys
Here’s the first-ever side hustle I did in my early teens: surveys. Surveys are an active side hustle, but they’re usually so mindless that you can essentially do them “passively”. You just find a survey platform, create an account, answer questions, and get paid.
What you’ll need: Just an hour each day to participate in these surveys. You don't usually need to complete many surveys to justify spending any more time.
Earning potential: I wasn’t earning much back when I did these, but you can probably make a few bucks from each, or around $200 per month.
20. Become a transcriber
Transcriptions were one of my favorite side hustles, as I did them on micro-task platforms. All you do is listen to an audio file and type out what you hear. Sometimes, you’ll need to follow specific formats, but you’ll get paid more to do that.
What you’ll need: A fast typing speed. Time-wise, transcription tasks are pretty sporadic, so you’ll only spend a few hours each month.
Earning potential: Early on, you can average around $20/hr if you type at a good speed. This can go up to $30-$40 as you get more familiar with the craft.
21. Become a virtual assistant
Becoming a virtual assistant was a pretty easy side hustle back in the late-2010s. Most of the basic tasks are now done by AI, but the demand is still high for those who can effectively use AI tools. Your job is to take care of any tasks an assistant would do, like data entry, appointment management, and so on.
What you’ll need: You have to be knowledgeable in a lot of different tasks. A Jack or Jill of all trades. And it’s a pretty time-consuming side hustle, so you might need to spend a few hours a day.
Earning potential: Virtual assistants can earn around $20-$30/hr. When you’re starting out, this will be a bit lower, closer to the $10-$15 range.
22. Food delivery
Delivery driving is a side hustle most have heard of. It’s a pretty good moneymaker if you do it on the side, and all you really do is deliver food to nearby areas.
What you’ll need: Any form of transport. A bike, car, or scooter will be the best. I’ll add that you can get a GoPro to film your trips and post them as Shorts, as that can be an extra side hustle.
Earning potential: The money you’ll make varies on the days and times you deliver. Usually, you’ll make around $20/hr, but that can go up to $30/hr during peak hours or late nights.
23. Rideshare driver
If you like driving around, consider becoming a rideshare driver for Uber or other similar apps. You could tell other students that you do this and drive them around to keep the money flow consistent.
What you’ll need: A car is a must here. You’ll also need to be a good driver to make the most out of it.
Earning potential: As with food delivery, you’ll usually make around $20-$30/hr.
24. Mystery shopper
A rather odd but fun side hustle you can try out is becoming a mystery shopper. You basically sign up on mystery shopper platforms and are prompted to shop specific products at certain stores and get paid for them (as well as a reimbursement for the items you buy, of course).
What you’ll need: Just a bit of time every week. If you have big stores, like Walmart, close to you, that’s also a big plus.
Earning potential: As a mystery shopper, you’ll earn close to $20/hr. You’re paid around $10-$20 for every store you visit.
25. Start a podcast
Now, let’s get into some interesting and profitable side hustles. First off, we’ve got podcasts. Starting a podcast around student-related topics, like productivity or time management, can be a great way to make some money on the side.
What you’ll need: You’ll need some good sound equipment. So, a good mic, some basic editing skills, and a set of tools, like recording and editing software.
Earning potential: Podcasts can net you quite a lot of money. When you start out and get your first few viewers, you won’t make more than $1k per month. But that can go up to tens of thousands if you manage to get a large loyal following.
26. Start a blog
If you don’t want to take the freelance writing route, consider creating your own blog. Blogs can net you some good money from ad revenue, sponsored posts, or affiliate links. You just need to consistently post on your blog, and it can be about anything you’re fond of.
What you’ll need: A domain, web hosting, and some good writing chops. You’ll also have to spend 1-2 hours each day working on your posts and managing the blog.
Earning potential: Blogs can quickly bring in $1k-$2k/month. The only caveat is that you’ll have to post for a few months or a year before you start getting some good traffic.
27. Start a newsletter
Newsletters kinda combine podcasts and blogs. You create a small community (mailing list) and send out weekly emails on a topic you like. It can be anything from student hacks to studying tips; it’s up to you.
What you’ll need: Some form of mailing software, some good writing skills, and, preferably, social media accounts to bring in subscribers.
Earning potential: When you start out, you won’t make much from newsletters unless you put it behind a paywall. If you do so, you can price it at around $10/month, meaning you only need 100 subscribers to make $1k each month. You can also get sponsorship deals, which will net you some good money.
28. App/video game testing
Here’s one of my latest side hustles. Right before I got into writing, I was doing video game testing for AAA titles through crowdsourcing platforms. You can do the same thing for mobile apps and websites. You play or browse around a specific level/page and give some feedback.
What you’ll need: Just a phone/laptop and an hour or two each week.
Earning potential: On most platforms, I was making close to $25/hr. The rates going around seem to be the same, so expect to make around $20-$30/hr.
29. Student coaching
Here’s one that most of you should try out ASAP. Instead of coaching a subject or becoming a life coach, try out student coaching. You can help out students with their admission interviews, studies, etc.
What you’ll need: Some time to coach your students and a lot of experience in what you’ll be helping with.
Earning potential: While you can do this for free, you can charge as much as you would for online coaching, so around $50/hr.
30. Social media management
I’m not the biggest fan of social media management, but there’s no doubt there’s some good money to be made there. You essentially handle everything around a social media account besides content creation (most of the time). So, you reply to threads, post the content, reply to DMs, that sort of stuff.
What you’ll need: Some good management skills and to be social media savvy. As a student, you probably already check both boxes.
Earning potential: Social media managers can charge monthly retainers of at least $1k. When you start out, that equates to around $30/hr. You can easily take that up to $50 or even $100 per hour once you’ve done it for a couple of accounts.
31. Lifeguard
Let’s get into some more unique side hustles, like becoming a lifeguard. Your job will be to make sure everyone’s safe around the pool, sea, lake, etc. Plain and simple, albeit a bit stressful.
What you’ll need: A lifeguard certificate and training is mandatory. Other than that, you’ll have to set aside some time to do this. And don’t forget to put on some sunscreen if it’s an outdoor body of water.
Earning potential: Lifeguards usually earn around $15/hr. It’s not much, but it's a great side hustle in the summer.
32. House cleaner
House cleaning is a pretty good side gig to do every now and then to make a few bucks. You can start by going around the neighborhood and asking if anyone needs some help with house cleaning. It’s a pretty good workout as well if you ask me.
What you’ll need: While you’ll usually have all the equipment you need, some essential cleaning supplies are good to have. You can charge extra if you bring your own equipment.
Earning potential: Most house cleaners make $15-$20/hr. If you have your own equipment, you can take that up to $25 or $30 per hour.
33. Car detailing
Car detailing is basically car cleaning mixed with minor fixes in the interior and exterior of a car. Typically, you’ll clean a car inside and out, but you might have to polish the exterior.
What you’ll need: You’ll need quite a lot of equipment for a full car detail, but you can start with a high-pressure washer, vacuum cleaner, and some microfiber cloths.
Earning potential: Considering that each car might take 3-4 hours to work on and you can earn roughly $200 from each one, you’ll make around $50-$70/hr.
34. Offer graphic design services
Any art majors out there? You should definitely give graphic design a try. You can sell your services online and get paid per commission, like a logo.
What you’ll need: Some graphic design software will be necessary. Then, you just need to outline how much time you’re willing to spend each week.
Earning potential: Most graphic designers can make around $70-$80/hr. When starting out, you’ll usually be closer to the $40-$50/hr range.
35. Become a translator
Let’s go over one more of my former side hustles: translating. As long as you know a language pair in high demand, like English to Spanish or English to Arabic, and vice versa, you can get some pretty steady work.
What you’ll need: Knowing an extra language is a must. The more fluent you are in each language, the faster you’ll be able to get the translations done.
Earning potential: Translators can make anywhere from $25/hr early on to $100+/hr for obscure language pairs.
How to Balance Your Side Hustle With Your Studies
Those were quite a few side hustles, right? You might want to try a few different ones, or maybe just one caught your eye. Either way, I must affirm; you need to balance whatever side hustle you want to try with your studies. I’ve got some quick tips that helped me while I was still studying.
Prioritize tasks
Setting priorities will be difficult, but it’s the only way to keep a balance. If you’ve got mid-terms coming up, focus on studying and don’t spend as much time on your side hustle. In contrast, when you’re on summer break, you can go all out as long as you set aside time for some R&R.
Set hard deadlines
Hard deadlines are a big one. If you only work on your side gig from Friday to Monday, set smaller deadlines for each task throughout these few days so that you can have it ready ahead of time. If you have a task due on Monday and have to spend 10 hours on the day to get it done, that’s a ticket straight to burnout.
Start slow
Remember that until you start making some good money, your studies are your #1 priority. So, start off slow. Don’t go all-in on one side hustle; it might just not work. Once the first payments start coming in, you can put in more time and effort without neglecting your studies.
Set your limits
Limits are a huge thing for any side hustle to work alongside your studies. This goes hand in hand with everything I’ve noted above, in that you shouldn’t focus on your side hustle too much at first; you should only work on it on designated days.
Set out a couple of hours a day, maybe 4-5 hours on designated days you don’t study. Otherwise, you might find yourself studying for 6-7 hours a day and working on your side hustles for 4-5, which is going to lead to a bad case of burnout.
Starting a Side Hustle? Start It With Whop
While these are just some side hustle you can try out as a student, there are endless options, especially if you take the online route. Trying out a digital side hustle is the way to go, as you can start within the next hour using Whop.
Whop is the go-to platform for selling anything digital, such as private communities, podcasts, courses, and everything in between. There are already 1,000s of creators monetizing their content.
You can use the “Courses” app to upload and sell a course on getting through your first year of college. Or, you can have a designated “Chat” for your community members to discuss time-management tips. When you create a whop, you get access to tons of different apps like these to help you manage and scale your side hustle.
The best thing? You don’t have to pay a penny upfront, as Whop only takes 3% off of any sale you make.
Some of the other ways to earn through Whop are:
- Selling your services (translation, transcription, etc.)
- Ebooks
- Newsletters
- Affiliate marketing
- And many, many more.
So, if you’re ready to get started, sign up to Whop. Create your whop, set up your apps, and start marketing online, all within the next hour.
Student Side Hustle FAQs
What are some online side hustles for students?
Some of the best online side hustles for students include selling a course, running a paid community, starting a podcast or newsletter, creating a blog, or giving affiliate marketing a try.
What are some good side hustles for students?
The best side hustles for students are based online, and selling digital products is a very profitable market. You can start by creating a community or course and selling study planners/guides or online services.
Are there any easy side hustles for students?
There are tons of easy side hustles you can start as a student. Some physical ones include selling custom, handmade jewelry, mowing lawns, or pet sitting. Some online options, which are much more profitable, could be coaching, starting a podcast, or writing a blog.
