The life of a college student is a precarious juggling act as you try to manage academics, work, and a social life (if you’re lucky). It can get exhausting and being stuck at a part-time with no leeway might mean doing your homework assignments on borrowed time, whether that’s sneaking in some extra reading when your supervisor’s not around or pulling all-nighters to study for exams. If you want to take charge of your own schedule while still making money on the side, then these flexible side-hustles are for you.
1. Online Tutoring
An obvious choice for many people in school, tutoring offers students a chance to practice their own academic skills while also teaching others – and getting paid. But, working as a tutor at your college or university might mean having a limited pool of students requiring your services or having a fixed hourly wage without room for a raise. Online tutoring is a great alternative and allows you to set your own hourly pay rate and grow the number of students that you can offer your services to exponentially. You also have the added freedom of working from any location.
Wyzant.com and Preply.com are two of the most widely used online tutoring platforms. Each of them lets you set your own pay rate and schedule. With Wyzant.com you can offer both in-person and online sessions, and tutors usually charge between $30-$60 an hour. Preply.com is specifically designed for online tutoring, and even offers a custom domain so that you can promote your services on your own personal website. Their most popular tutors make up to $550 a week. Each platform has their pros and cons, so make sure to read the fine print when choosing which website to work with.
2. Babysitting/Dog-walking
This one’s a great option for getting off campus and getting to know the people in your community. There are always listings for babysitters and dog-walkers online – I would even suggest checking out your school’s job searching site (my school used Handshake), but if you don’t want to wade through all of them yourself, there’s plenty of apps and websites that make it easy for clients to find you, instead of the other way around. All you need to do is create a profile, and they take care of the rest.
Care.com is a popular caregiving website that offers a wide range of at-home and after-school services. You can apply to be a tutor, babysitter, or a pet sitter. It’s a one-stop shop with a trustworthy reputation.
To offer your dog walking and dog sitting services, apps like Wag and Rover make it easy to find work. Wag gives you assignments based on your location, matching you with a local dog owner, who can then approve of your service. This makes it easy to find jobs on the spot. The pay rate ranges from $20-$50, with your pay increasing the longer your services are required, however Wag does take a pretty high cut, 40% to be exact.
On the other hand, Rover allows you to set your own pay rate and only takes a 20% cut. They also make it easy to re-book clients, meaning you can have a more predictable and sustainable side hustle. Rover is still a bit new to the game and might not have as many people on the app like Wag does, so keep that in mind when choosing which platform to go with.
3. Start Your Own Business
Starting your own business while you’re in school can obviously seem very daunting and it’s much more hands on than the other two options, but if you’re someone with an entrepreneurial spirit and have a skill you can monetize, then why not go for it? Running a small business will always include some kind of risk, but it also comes with big rewards when it’s successful. You get to be your own boss, run your own schedule, and it’s something you can continue with after you graduate from college or university.
If you love arts and crafts and are constantly raking through ideas on Pinterest, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to sell your creations on websites like Etsy.com. Especially with the holidays coming up, there is plenty of demand for unique and custom-made gifts. Maybe you’re a gifted photographer selling prints, a jewelry maker, a ceramicist, or even a Christmas wreath-maker, who knows? The options are endless.
But if you’re not so artistically inclined, you could try selling something all of us definitely have:
used clothing. There are plenty of websites and apps that make it really easy to sell your clothes online, like Depop, Poshmark, and Facebook Marketplace. Not only will you be making extra cash, but you would also be helping the environment by recycling your clothes. Plus, your overstuffed closet will thank you.
These are only a few possibilities, and it’s really up to you to know what type of services or goods you can offer, but hopefully you were able to get some ideas for your next side hustle. It can be tough being in school while also managing a full time work schedule, and whether you decide to switch to a side hustle that gives you more flexibility or use it to supplement your other flows of income, we wish you the best of luck.