No more pencils. No more books. No more dirty looks from your roommate when you leave your socks on her side of the room. It’s summertime, when the living’s easy and the weather’s warm…and when it’s time for college students to rack up some money for the upcoming school year. Whether its through jobs or payday loans there’s plenty of ways to rake in the cash. Hey, those ramen noodles and EasyMac don’t pay for themselves, now do they?
Roll up your sleeves and get ready to make some green, because we’ve got a stockpile of summer money-making schemes perfect for any college student. Here are the best ways for college students to rake in some cash this summer break.
1.) Get a Job…or a Second…or a Third
Well, we couldn’t make a college money-making list without including the obvious, right? Scour the classifieds and call up local businesses to see who’s hiring. Work your networks to see if anyone knows of any open positions. This is the hands-down easiest way to earn enough money for the upcoming school year.
If you want to do it the smart way, register with a staffing agency. They can find you temporary work, and also temp-to-hire. Enjoy learning new skills, trying new vocations, and getting interim time off to travel during the summer. Temp work is a great choice for people who like a regular pay check, but who need breaks for extracurricular activities.
2.) Tutoring: Put that Major to Good Use
A bright, young college kid like you has got to have plenty of academic skills to pawn off, right? Your credentials lie in your major: parents are dying to hire smart math or English majors to give some mega calculus lessons to struggling Suzie or some much-needed application essay tips to college-bound Johnny.
Target parents looking to give their kids a summer boost in a subject their kid struggled with the past year. Summer tutor lessons can boost that “D” in Biology to a “B” next year. You can also try getting a gig at online tutoring sites like E-Tutor.com or Tutor.com.
3.) Teach English to Non-Native Speakers
If you don’t have a great major for tutoring purposes (it’s hard to find a market for Library Studies or Agriculture), why not try selling English lessons? As a native English speaker, you’re in high demand for ESL (English as a Second Language) students.
For casual tutoring sessions, you don’t need any certification or prior experience. Try posting signs or flyers at your local library, town hall or YMCA—anywhere the community gathers. If you’re a decent proofreader, you can even make a pretty penny editing for non-native writers.
4.) Turn Yourself Into a Handyman (or Handywoman)
You’re an able-bodied college student, right? You can paint, hammer, clean, re-stain and pressure wash with the best of them. Use your mad skills and muscles to clean up the neighborhood, one home project at a time. You’ll do better if you’ve got your own equipment and tools–or if Dad will let you borrow his.
5.) Put Those Tech Skills to Use
Are you a tech superhero able to battle viruses, replace hard drives and repair iPods in a single bound? Use your superhuman tech skills to open up an in-home repair shop. You’ve got a skill the clueless community needs, and your reasonable prices will make mere mortals flock to your superhero repair lair.
6.) Free Your Inner Freelancer
Consider yourself a killer photographer, writer, seamstress, web designer, graphic designer or artist? Be your own boss and peddle your skills as an independent freelancer. You control your hours and you control your workload, so you can even keep your freelance business running during the semester.
Building your client base takes work, so be sure to network as fast as your social-networking fingers can carry you. Looking for immediate work? All sketchiness aside, Craigslist is one of the biggest markets for freelancing gigs.
Just be sure to avoid ads with excessive usage of Caps Lock, dollar signs or exclamation points. Ads that read something like “STAY-AT-HOME MOM COLLEGE STUDENTS CAN MAKE A BILLION DOLLARS IN FOUR SECONDS” are also no-gos.
7.) Set up a Sitting Service
Who knew sitting could make so much money? Start your own babysitting, house-sitting, dog-sitting or even plant-sitting service to take advantage of the summer vacationing crowd. If sporadically watering someone else’s hydrangeas doesn’t appeal to you, try to set up a long-term service with one particular family.
With school vacation upon them, many families will be desperately seeking summer childcare options. As an extra benefit, you’ll get some bonus sunbathing time at your weekly pool trips. If you’re more animal-inclined, start a doggie daycare service in your backyard.
8.) Get Crafty
So you’re an arts-and-crafter, eh? Why not sell your handmade wares on Etsy or Craigslist? You’ll get to spend your summer crafting up a storm and you can keep selling during the school year, too. Summer is rife with farmers’ markets, flea markets or craft festivals, so look into getting a table or sharing a table with a fellow crafting friend.
Now Get Out There and Earn Some Cash
There are plenty of advantages for being a working college student. The people who hire you will get the warm-and-fuzzies for helping a hardworking student pay for college (they don’t have to know they’re actually helping a hardworking student pay for 50-cent wing night). You get a free pass for doing whatever line of work you want without having people tell you to “get a real job already.”
If you want to spend your summer selling knitted egg cozies or organic tofu dog treats, go ahead. Be creative. Get messy. Do what you want to do this summer. After all, you can put that tofu dog treat business on your resume someday.