Listicle: Five Side Jobs for Students to Boost Their Income

To some students, college can be a significant financial burden. Between the tuition, books and other materials, funds can get tight for those seeking higher education. Luckily, there are many ways to earn money, even outside traditional employment.

Food Delivery

Fast food has been a staple around the world for generations. Getting food delivered is significantly more convenient than cooking meals at home. However, an even more convenient method has emerged in recent years: paying someone to bring it to their door.

With the rise of apps like Grubhub and DoorDash, an earning opportunity has opened for people with nothing more than a working car or bicycle, free time and a willing heart. This market can prove to be quite lucrative, especially for those with no alternative source of income. A prospective delivery driver must sign up on the app and accept requests to get money into their bank account.

Baby or Pet Sitting

We live in a busy world. Most people spend most of their time working or fulfilling other obligations, which leaves them with little to no time to take care of things and those they hold dear. This can be either a child or, more commonly, a pet. People value these things as precious and therefore are willing to pay a great amount of money to ensure they are cared for. 

The difficulty will vary depending on the client’s needs and the specificity of the child or Pet one would take care of. However, it shouldn’t be too difficult because most people have experienced this sort of thing throughout their lives. This one does not have a dedicated app, so prospective sitters will have to network themselves either through personal acquaintances or apps designed for such activities, like Indeed or Craigslist. 

Ridesharing

Cars are among the most impactful inventions of the modern era. They changed how people got from place to place, and the routes to get there changed to match.

Most of the time, someone without a car cannot physically navigate a space with the intended efficiency. Students with a working vehicle, however, can fill this need. Through apps like Uber or Lyft, students can earn money by driving people where they need to go.

Fast-Food/Retail

A method of making money that has been there for students before has been traditional employment at a fast-food restaurant or retail store. These places have provided a service for as long as anyone can remember. Students will be expected to do things like stock shelves, cook food, and run cash registers at these places.

These employment methods provide a much more consistent and reliable income stream, but come with much less flexibility than the others. This one has set hours, but on the other hand, it also has set payments that usually end up being more than what students would otherwise obtain. 

Landscaping

For more outdoorsy students, there is landscaping. People like having their lawns and shrubbery looking nice; it’s a well-established status symbol of American culture. Unfortunately, like almost anything worth doing, landscaping takes much effort. The summer sun can be quite hot, and the hours can be long. However, people are willing to pay if you put in the work. 

This is another case without a dedicated app, and it may have the highest barrier to entry. Landscaping requires equipment, depending on the scale of one’s operation. This option requires quite a bit of initial investment unless you already have the tools, but it also means that it has the highest possible earnings. 

Andrew Barnes, staff writer

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