The ages between late teens and early twenties is infamous for its intensive struggle and hustle phenomenon. This is due to the fact that in addition to the pursuing higher studies, individuals at this age are burdened with other responsibilities as well such as doing the part- time job, participating in workshops in order to upgrade their skills relevant to their field etc.
Because of increase in day to day tasks, college students often find themselves running short in time and energy which inescapably leads to burnout and deterioration in college learning. When such situation incurs, college students are forced to make difficult choices that are: either to dropout from college to work full time or resign from job in order to concentrate in studies.
Both of these aforementioned options are ineffective as having college degree increases the chances of landing better career opportunities in long term and secondly majority of the college students don’t have luxury of adequate financial liquidity to pay their daily expenses hence a need for job occurs.
With these kinds of drawbacks in either of the two options, the third alternative becomes more practical which is to earn passive income.
Passive income is identified as the income which is earned with minimal or no effort. Unlike the full time job which requires long hours of labor, income earned from passive sources consume less time and energy which is convenient especially for college students.
Other than convenience, passive income is found to be beneficial in increasing financial security and improving the quality of life as well. Without waiting any longer, let’s move on ahead with the article which will talk about the sources of passive income for college students.
Passive Income for College Students
The following list contains the twenty ways in which college students can earn passive income from which are:
1. Become Audiobook narrator
If you are bookworm and loves to read book in spare time, then this source of passive income is perfectly suited for you. Who wouldn’t mind to earn extra bucks doing a specific activity that individual usually enjoys? With that being said, reading audiobooks presents a perfect opportunity for readers.
According to research as more percentage of population have access to digital gadgets, less time is allocated to actual reading which has cause people to shift from reading books to listening book through audiobooks while doing tasks which demands less thinking such as cleaning, boarding the public transport.
There are various audiobook websites that pays relatively good amount for one hour. This type of passive income doesn’t demand for many equipment: all you need is a book, a laptop or phone and good quality of microphone to narrate an audiobook.
2. Use your car as advertising tool for companies
This statement refers to using your personal car for exhibiting business by offering to put advertisements in your car. By showcasing the adverts in your car, this will allow you to earn lucrative money without sustaining any extra costs.
The amount of commission or pay rate that you will earn will depend upon your area of residence, your daily route and usage of transport.
3. Food Delivery service
You can earn additional passive income by working as a delivery person for various eateries. This passive income is useful for those college students who are running short on money.
If you have a car/bike and have free time around, why not utilize it by doing some food deliveries? Since divers are paid on bases on number of deliveries they have made, the more deliveries you make, the more money you will receive.
Interesting Read: How to become a reseller. A complete guide
4. Filling online surveys
Companies are always looking for gathering data with the purpose of understanding customers’ needs and making adjustments in their products accordingly to it.
Though there are few of the methods but among these, uploading online surveys and paying people to fill these surveys have found to be effective one. You can benefit from this form of passive income by signing up for survey sites and fill out those surveys whenever you are free.
For this type of passive income, you will only require Wi-Fi and laptop or any computer device.
5. Start an online course
With the increase in the usage of internet, there has been major shift in how things were. For example with the emergence of e-commerce, the need for physical space to make transaction is no longer necessity as products can now be sold online with ease.
Similarly if you have any exceptional skill such as drawing, painting, or ability to play any musical instrument, you can start online course by uploading video tutorials on either YouTube or any online learning website course like MastersClass, Udemy & SkillShare.
After uploading your content, you can then charge access fee from those who are interested in your online course.
6. Sell your merchandise online
Referring to previous passive income source, if you are skillful in drawing, you should consider selling your merchandise by designing logos or printing your drawings in T-shirts, mugs, key chains or even posters.
There are various websites that accommodate such artists to monetize their art such as Red Bubble, Etsy or Society.
7. Rent out the your storage space
Though it is uncommon for college students to have storage space since majority of them are either living in dorms or sharing apartments with other college students.
But if you have wide space which hasn’t being used for quite period of time like garage, attic or closet, you can offer that space for sale by allowing people to store their things when they need it. In this way not only you will able to earn passive income but that space will now be used productively.
8. Selling things online
Let’s be honest here, we all have items that are being placed idly and are not put in use. We will be better off if we sell these items to those having demand for it.
This presents the perfect opportunity for college students for one crucial reason that is if the college is out of town then there will no need for excessive possessions, so instead of leaving those possessions behind you can sell these items and earn extra passive income out from it.
Some of the sellers have found to be earning thousands just from selling second-hand items in well known bidding websites including eBay.
9. Data Entry Jobs
If you are that kind of person who can sit in front of computers for long periods of time without any strain and have proficiency in Word Office/data processing software, then you can do data entry jobs effortlessly.
Even though most of the data is incorporated by electronic means but some of the organizations do require people to input the data and information in computers in order to maintain accuracy.
In such cases, businesses are usually looking for young individuals particularly college students for data clerk jobs. So if you can adjust regular schedule without any interference to your studies then this job is just for you.
Interesting Read: Local online marketing for beginners
10. Teach a language
Being fluent in more than one language can assist you in making generous amount of passive income. If you have this opinion that knowing more than one language is the waste of time then you couldn’t more wrong as there are loads of passive income opportunities that comes with it.
Most people don’t have the ample amount of time to get themselves enroll and attend the language classes. Any college student can take advantage of this gap by teaching online language course on any skill learning website of their choice and earn money through this platform.
11. Rent your car
Regardless of how latest the car model is; it is bound to lose its functionality and collect dust if it is not used frequently.
Rather than getting rid of it completely, you can earn passive income from your car by renting it to the daily users. There are loads of authentic car rental apps available in Google Play and Apple Store which you can download and offer your car for rent with just one click.
If the car is in good condition in all aspects then it has potential to even make up to thousands on monthly basis.
12. Renting your things
Some of us have this presumption that you can only rent assets like house or apartment to generate additional income. Not necessarily as they are some items such as camera, lawn mower, drones or several other household devices that you can rent and earn cash from it.
If you have an item that is lying around and isn’t habitually used, then you make it practical by charging from those who borrow the item for use whenever the need arises. This is another simple and fast way to earn passive income with less number of inputs.
13. Monetize your notes or takes notes for target market
Your lecture notes doesn’t have to benefit you for learning purpose only. You can take advantage from this by either selling your notes or gather notes for other students.
There is always a demand for notes especially from those college students who have any kind of disability or students who are of elder age.
Other than this, you can make passive income by selling your essays to Essay writing services that provide quality essays to those students who have difficulty in any specific subject or topic.
14. Edit videos for clients
The usage of social media has intensified the popularity of the videos. According to data, approximately eight billion videos are viewed on Facebook. Social media users tend to watch videos more because of its dynamic graphics, bright colors and engaging content.
Those college students who know one or two thing about the video editing have upper hand here in a way that due to increase in watching videos, businesses will look for video editors who can edit and create engaging video content, hence creating a demand for video editing services.
College students can earn additional passive income by working as freelance video editor to create video according to the client’s needs.
15. Develop an App
If you have sufficient skills for developing software programs then you can generate a decent amount of passive income by creating a Smartphone app. This app could be related to anything for example quiz game, or puzzle etc.
After creating an app, you can monetize it by converting it into in-app purchases; enabling you to earn financial returns.
16. Playing live stream video games online
Nowadays gaming has not only become enjoyable leisure activity but it has become one of most well known ways of earning passive income.
Players can make ample amount of passive income easily by playing game and stream it live on either YouTube or other live streaming services including Twitch , Facebook gaming. If playing video games is one of your hobbies, then you can make it even more rewarding by playing it live and making sufficient amount of cash.
17. Start a Podcast
Not only there has been increase in audiobooks but currently people have been also been listening to podcasts of their favorite celebrity or prominent person they look up to. If you are that kind of individual that enjoys healthy and engaging conservation then earning passive income through podcast might be right choice for you.
Establishing your very own podcast doesn’t either demand large number of gear; you will just require a good quality of microphone, an interesting trendy topic and guests who are interested in discussion. At podcasts, you can even do affiliate marketing by endorsing the company’ products during breaks.
18. Put your stock photographs for sale
It’s not compulsory to have artistic talents in order to make passive income. There are variety of websites available that pays people for capturing outstanding photographs.
If you have either a DSLR camera or Smartphone and have an innate gift for capturing good quality photos then you can obtain financial benefits from it by offering to either digital agencies or stock photo websites like ShutterStock.
19. Become a dog sitter or house sitter
Even with advanced security system technology, people will still prefer to hire services that will look after their beloved pet and their residency when they are out of town. The responsibility of dog sitter and house sitter is simple; a hired person will be responsible for taking care of pet while at same time watch over house.
Since college students have got lots of things in their plate already, dog sitting or house sitting can be pretty hassle-free to earn passive income as long as person loves dogs and doesn’t mind new places.
20. Offering tutorials to students
In every college, there has been trend of the senior students giving tuitions to junior students who find some topics/courses challenging to understand. College students can make passive income by teaching students at their own flexible timings. If physical classes are not possible, then college students can always opt for official websites where they can explain the topic online. These are our top passive income for college students thus far.
Other sources of passive income for college students
So these are twenty ways of making passive incomes that college student can choose from. Here is another list of other best passive income sources that you can make extra money from, which consists of:
1. Copywriting
Copywriting is another form of affiliate marketing in which you compose phrases, specific keywords & sentences to advertise the goods and services of the businesses.
This job can be perform either within the premises of the organization or from the comfort of the home. In case of college student, the latter one becomes more feasible option, hence making it one of preferred choice of making passive income.
Since the purpose of copywriting is to promote the product, usually the content of the copywriting will mainly focus on clearly displaying the message by writing catchy phrases and sentences for the blogs, billboards & scripts for the radio.
2. Donate your Plasma
If you have plans to make big purchases and don’t have sufficient cash, then consider donating Plasma to the hospitals. Though it is not that common but it is one of the simple approaches for making passive income for college students.
Donating plasma is not same as donating blood as plasma is liquid portion of the blood that serves as medium for transporting necessary hormones and nutrients throughout your body.
Usually it takes between ninety to two hours but it can be done twice a week given that you have taken gap of 48 hours between two donations. After you are done with donation process, the company will credit the compensation in your bank balance. If you are in good health, then you will make perfect applicant for donating plasma. This also add up to passive income for college students
3. Start your own YouTube Channel
In YouTube, you can watch videos just about anything from how to cut apple to how to build Personal Computer, you name it.
This is because other than fun activity, you can actually earn money from this particular video platform as long you agree to showcase ads in videos you create. As I have already mentioned, the topic of the content can be anything random, the only limitation is your imagination.
4. Offer ride sharing services
If your college campus is in long distance and you happen to have a car then you can earn passive income from this by offering rides to the those students who live near the usual route you take.
Uber and other car sharing app accommodate these kinds of services in the form of ridesharing. The best part about this passive income is that you get to pick how many passengers you will be willing to take and at what time you will be available for pick up.
Final words
The list can go on but the main crux of this article is that passive income is solution for solving the financial needs for the college students and there are many options to choose from depending upon one’s class schedule and other commitments.
However before choosing the passive income medium, you should do the thorough research about the costs, responsibilities and commitments that comes with it and whether you have aptitude for it. We hope you would have liked our top ideas for passive income ideas for college students.
