In today’s world, finding a job can be difficult. As a college student, balancing the demands of a job and school can be complicated, but necessary to pay for college, which is why students are always trying to find extra ways to earn money.
When you think of side hustling, you often think of bugging all your Facebook friends trying to sell them cosmetics or something they don’t really need. But there are other options for students to make a little extra money on the side — here are five.
Uber or Lyft
By becoming a rideshare driver, you can earn money just for driving people around the city.
Uber and Lyft share pretty similar driver requirements.
For Uber, you have to be at least 21 years old and have three years of licensed driving experience (one year if you are over 23), according to Uber's website.
The site goes on to say, Uber will look at your license, vehicle registration and insurance to make sure your car is fit for the job. Your driving and criminal records will also be checked. Once you pass all of that, you can become a driver.
You make money through the app, and you create your own schedule based on your availability, a bonus for busy college students.
Food delivery
If you are like me, you might be afraid of driving strangers around in your car. What if they’re weird or smelly — or worse, dangerous? Well, there is another option.
You can be a delivery driver for companies like UberEats or Doordash. Working for these companies is like delivering pizza, but without having to work at the pizza place.
You just drive around, picking up food and making deliveries to people’s house or office. The only disadvantage is it can make you pretty hungry.
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Resell items
We all have those outfits we bought for a special occasion and never wore again. Luckily, there are tons of places you can get money for your gently used clothes or belongings.
Cleaning out your room and taking stuff to Plato’s Closet or Buffalo Exchange where you can get cash for your clothes is an easy way to earn some money.
Or, you can take it upon yourself to sell your stuff. There are some great apps like Poshmark or Mercari where you can sell all kinds of things.
Personally, I have loved using Mercari — it’s super simple, and you can even choose for the shipping to be prepaid, and mailing slips pre-made for you. Then you just drop off your package at the post office, and once the other person receives it, you get your money.
Online surveys
There are tons of websites that will pay you for taking surveys or reviewing the site. Companies want opinions from real consumers like you.
Global Test Market, User Testing, Survey Spot and Opinion Outpost are some of the top sites that will pay you for completing tasks. Depending on the site, some will send you a check in the mail or pay you via PayPal.
Taking surveys can be quick and fairly simple. That is why they are on almost every list of side hustles you will find, including this one.
Donate Plasma
While this last option seems a little drastic, a lot of college students have started doing it to make some extra money and pay the bills. Plasma is a liquid component in blood and is an ingredient used in many medicines and treatments for medical conditions. Donating plasma can essentially save lives.
There is a plasma donation center, BPL, right by the University of New Mexico’s Main Campus on Yale Boulevard.
Plasma can be donated as often as two times a week. Donors must be 18 years old and go through medical evaluations, according to donatingplasma.org.
However, if you don’t like needles, this might not be the job for you.
There are many other ways you can make cash to help pay for the expenses of college and living on your own. Of course there are always the options of babysitting, dog walking, lawn mowing, house sitting, etc. This list is to help you think outside of the box and find fairly easy ways to side hustle.
Hopefully with these suggestions, you can have a little more green in your wallet.
Catherine Stringam is a freelance reporter with the Daily Lobo. The views in this column are her own. She can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @cathey_stringam.
