Top 10 Ways To Make Passive Income For College Students

Passive Income For College Students income for college students comes with enormous benefits. One of the best ways to make money while you’re in college is through passive income. By creating passive income streams, you will be able to work less and make more money, which will help you pursue your dreams without being distracted by the stress of paying the bills. 

Also, the financial burden on your parents will be highly reduced and most likely wiped out completely if you follow these ideas diligently. So in this post, we dive straight into top 10 ideas of passive income for college students that will help you get started on your path to financial freedom!

Top 10 Ideas Of Passive Income For College Students

1. Freelancing

Freelance writing is one of those work-from-home jobs that offers freedom and flexibility and a great idea of passive income for college students. It is one of my favorites as it usually comes with little or no upfront investment.

Beside writing, if you have acquired any soft skills such as writing, graphic designing, or any digital skills, you can land gigs on Freelance websites such as Upwork, Freelancer, Guru, or even through reputable companies seeking people with your expertise.

All you need to make this work is a computer, internet connection, and skills—and you would have found an easy way to bring in extra cash. 

There are sites that will pay you anywhere from $10 to $100+ per hour or more, depending on your skill and experience level.

According to Pay Scale, average rates for freelance writers are $15–$20 per hour. But top earners (those who make more than $100 per hour) earn much more than that. At Elite Writer, for example, experienced writers charge between $75 and $100 per hour for their services. And at Elance, top writers earn $100 per hour or more.

Now you may say, this freelancing looks like working actively and so it doesn’t qualify as a passive income for college students.

Smart thought! but follow me

If you really understand the concept of passive income. You will know that it’s something you will have to put an initial investment in before it can turn passive.

So how can freelancing turn into passive income for college students?

When you first start working as a freelancer in your chosen industry, such as writing. You get money, expertise, a reputation, and a reputation, among other things. After some time has passed, you may opt to create an online course on that niche, which you will only complete once but will continue to generate money (passive income) or write and publish an ebook on it, both of which will provide you with a passive income stream.

Because of these possibilities, freelancing is an excellent idea of a passive income for college students. 

2. Digital Products

Another great idea of passive income for college students is selling simple, low-cost products, like an ebook or webinar. You can sell these products on your own website or on sites like Amazon and iTunes. On these platforms, you’ll typically pay a commission of anywhere from 15-30%.

Selling ebooks on Amazon, iTunes, or Google Play is a reliable way for students and 20-somethings to earn passive money quickly and cheaply. If you sell digital products online, you don’t need a lot of money to get started because there are no shipping charges (unless you have to send things), but you still have expenditures like hosting and payment processing.

In creating an eBook and selling it on Amazon. You don’t have to write your book from scratch, either. There are several pre-written eBook templates out there you can purchase and/or use that are high in quality and only need a few small tweaks here and there. Because of their nature, eBooks require more investment than other types of passive income generation projects. However, if you want to kick things off quickly but don’t have some or all of these resources available just yet, here are some options: 

TIP! You can also consider using paid services to create your digital product at first until you feel comfortable enough with writing books. People often think they need their own product idea before starting with passive income projects when really all they need is a good place to start. 

If you don’t want to go down any of these paths, here are some more approaches to come up with ebook ideas: What kind of material would be most valuable to new college students? How do college students squander their funds? Where do people have difficulty managing their finances? Is there something that people often overlook after graduation that could help them retain financial stability for the rest of their lives?

3. Consulting

If you’re in school and want a source of passive income, consider starting your own consulting business. For example, if you love fashion, set up a website where you interview celebrities about their favorite fashion trends. If you like skateboarding, create a website and teach people how to build a skateboard from scratch. If you have something more valuable than time (like skills or experience), do some consulting on your own.

You can either become an independent consultant, linking people with whom you have a connection (maybe you run a photography business and are looking for customers; you might know of others that do a lot of work in digital marketing). But if that doesn’t interest you, there are sites like Elance and Odesk where you can sign up and offer your skills on those networks.

Be detailed when explaining what you’re capable of doing so they don’t take advantage of you. Don’t over commit yourself before getting a firm job offer so you’re not left hanging. Get referrals from previous clients before accepting any new gigs. There will be fewer surprises that way—you’ll both know exactly what’s expected of each other. 

Also, once you’ve established trust, communicate regularly and make them feel comfortable throughout the process by updating them frequently on how things are going. A little transparency goes a long way!

4. T. Shirts Sales

There’s an old joke in business that you should start a restaurant because it has a high barrier of entry. The joke might be on us, but one thing is true: Starting a T-shirt business is a great idea of passive income for college students and can be an incredibly simple way to earn money if you have an eye for design and know how to use your resources.

Sites like Etsy and Threadless provide print-on-demand services, enabling you to set up shop quickly without worrying about inventory storage or shipping costs.

Most college students are constantly wearing their college-branded T-shirts and sweatshirts around campus. Why not make some extra cash by creating your own T-shirt? You can either sell them on campus or online. In fact, most of your profits will come from sales made online. 

There are many sites that you can use like Teespring, Spreadshirt, Amazon Merch, and more. All of these sites offer simple instructions on how to upload a design and make it available for purchase. Once people buy it, they have your shirts sent directly to them in return for payment. 

While making your shirts may take a little money upfront (you’ll need supplies and equipment), you’ll recoup costs rather quickly with just a few shirt orders each month. The best part is there are no limits to how much money you can earn. This strategy is great for entrepreneurs who want an easy way to launch multiple passive income streams! 

Click here for our full tutorial on designing and selling t-shirts online  . You can also check out how to create your own custom t-shirt store at Shopify HERE

Why do I list so many different websites instead of one? Because each site has its own benefits and drawbacks. I’ve listed them all here because you’ll have an easier time finding a website that works best for you. 

You may want to try a few sites and find out which ones are best suited for your interests. You might even be able to start small with just one or two sites and eventually branch out into others as you become more experienced.

5. Affiliate Marketing

Simply, affiliate marketing entails advocating another person’s goods in exchange for a share of each transaction they earn as a result of your recommendation.

Affiliate marketing is an excellent way to get passive income for college students. Your role as an affiliate marketer is straightforward. You create a website that advertises other people’s items (affiliates) and earns commissions when consumers click via your site and buy something.

One striking feature of affiliate marketing is that even if you don’t have an audience or any money to invest in products! It is possible to get started with it

The easiest way to start is by focusing on larger retailers. Because they already have such huge audiences and active customers, selling their products will be far easier than selling smaller items

This post provides five simple ways you can begin making passive income through affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is one of my favorite income-generating activities. My initial goal was $100 a month, and as I began working on it regularly, I made more than $1,000 a month within six months (and have been able to maintain that ever since). 

Focusing on larger stores is the simplest way to get started. Selling such products will be significantly easier than selling smaller items like household goods because they already have such large audiences and active customers. Begin with writing reviews of items you’ve purchased in stores or online — I guarantee that anybody who has ever shopped has had questions about them at some point!

You can also use your own site or social media accounts to offer coupons to encourage people to buy those items; once people buy using a coupon code you provided, you’ll receive a commission based on their purchase amount.

This could easily double as an experiment in content creation because taking pictures and videos of yourself reviewing products are bound to attract new followers! 

Another great option is Amazon Associates , which allows you to promote products directly sold by Amazon and receive commissions when users click on your links and make purchases. 

What’s cool about Amazon Associates is that there’s no limit to how much money you can earn, meaning your earnings potential really could go up as high as whatever your traffic level is!

 6. Blogging

The internet is home to hundreds of thousands of blogs, which can be a great tool for passive income for college students. So whether you like it or not, blogs are where most people get their information these days—and if you have a ton of interesting info on your topic of choice, chances are you’ll attract some readers. 

While blogging can be effective in building an audience, it also takes time. If you’re looking for a more passive source of income, try monetizing with affiliate links.

Before you start blogging about your passion (for example, video games or fashion), make sure that you choose a topic that is going to attract an audience. While writing online doesn’t have many barriers (anyone with a computer and an internet connection can write a blog), there are some things you’ll need in order to be successful. 

To begin, you’ll need to be able to write well. Next, consider your target market; who are the people who would be interested in reading what you have to say? Finally, but probably most crucially, you should determine how much time it will take you to develop material before choosing whether or not blogging is a worthwhile endeavor. 

Blogging might not be ideal for you right now if it appears as a hobby that could turn into another profession that takes time away from school or work obligations.

However, if you want to give blogging a try, consider these five ways to make passive income while doing so. In no particular order:

1) Write Reviews After you decide on a niche for your website (in other words, after determining what kind of products or services you plan on reviewing), it’s time to get started on reviews! Try to find unique angles when reviewing products.

Sure, plenty of reviewers include both pros and cons lists when talking about new items, but why not go even deeper? You may find helpful hints by taking notes on how others use items differently than you do.

2) Adopt Ad networks in your blog such as Google AdSense , which allows you to display small text ads alongside content on your site. When someone clicks on these links, you get paid a small sum from Google.

3) Sponsored posts can be another smart way to earn passive income from blogging. This usually comes when you have attained a good level of consistent traffic to your blog. Companies and businesses in your related niche can contact you for this and pay you a huge sums

4) Selling Your Course or any other digital products such as ebook in your blog can help you earn a great passive income as a student as you merely to create such course once and continue to reap from it

Here is a comprehensive guide on how to start your own money making blog today

7. Start a Dropshipping Store

Starting a dropshipping store is another amazing source of passive income for college students. When you set up a dropshipping store on Shopify, you can link that store with products from popular marketplaces like Amazon and eBay. Whenever someone buys something from your store, Shopify automatically purchases it from whichever marketplace you linked it with and ships it out. If there’s a markup on that product when sold through your Shopify store (due to higher advertising fees), then you get to pocket that extra money.

There are plenty of websites and marketplaces you can use to start a dropshipping store—like Shopify, Oberlo, AliExpress, and many more. A dropshipping store allows you to sell physical products without needing any inventory. For many college students, it’s a great way to earn money on nights and weekends. The best part about dropshipping? You don’t need upfront investment or experience in ecommerce or retail. You don’t need much besides creativity, some time and energy, and most importantly: hustle! If you work hard enough, there will be no limit to what you can accomplish as a student entrepreneur selling online. 

My advice? Start your own dropshipping business as soon as possible; save up, get set up with multiple sellers on multiple marketplaces, ship orders yourself at first (so you don’t get overwhelmed), learn from your mistakes, and figure out which type of model works best for you.

Though Dropshipping may sound like an easy way to make money from home or as a college student, sometimes it requires knowledge of marketing and getting traffic flow so that you can create a steady stream of orders coming in. How well you perform when running your dropshipping store depends largely on what kind of marketing techniques you choose to drive traffic through to your website.

Think again if you think you won’t be able to develop a profitable Dropshipping business that will provide college students with passive income. Building a great business takes commitment, perseverance, and courage, but anyone can achieve it if they put their minds to it long enough. So, right now, take the first step toward success!

8. Stake Cryptocurrencies

Staking cryptocurrencies allows you to earn interest by leaving your wallet running on a desktop or laptop computer. One of the best cryptocurrency staking platforms is called PoS (Proof-of-Stake). Other examples of cryptocurrencies that work with PoS are NEO, GAS, and NXT.

You can try your hand at staking coins if you’re a tech-savvy student who knows how to code. You won’t become wealthy overnight, but tools like Proof of Stake Coin can help you make some extra cash (POS). You’ll get regular payouts from particular cryptocurrencies in exchange for staking your coins (keeping them off exchanges in a wallet).

If it sounds confusing, don’t worry; all you need to learn more about staking is taking some free time and a keen interest in blockchain technology. It’s also advantageous if you have some computer science experience, although it’s not essential. There are numerous credible websites that provide more information about crypto staking or crypto trading. Crypto Investor Club and Crypto Daily News are two sites worth checking out; they both routinely cover new projects and tokens. The news sections alone provide useful information about which cryptocurrencies are gaining popularity and which are likely to do so in the future.

Once you get started with research, though, take note: there’s a lot of noise on these sites. Do your best to stick with well-known cryptocurrency personalities as well as trusted sites with news content displayed above advertising links. The ability to avoid useless noise might keep you from making bad investment decisions later on down the line. As always when dealing with finances, DYOR!

9. Sell NFTs

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs), represent unique digital assets that are used by various blockchain games and platforms. Many projects sell unique NFTs on their platform; users can purchase these NFTs and transfer them to other parties in exchange for cryptocurrency.

They are not interchangeable, and they don’t trade like a currency or stock. Instead, you can track how much each NFT is worth at any given time. This makes NFTs an attractive investment opportunity of passive income for college students because you can hold them without concern about whether they will depreciate in value. Plus, if you have special knowledge that helps other people decide what to invest in, you could earn passive income by acting as a consultant. Keep in mind that when it comes to investing—especially with cryptocurrencies—you should be cautious and know what you’re doing before putting money into something.

At the very least, do your own research before deciding which initiative to support! Check CryptoKitties if you want to learn more about non-fungible tokens in particular.

10. Lend Money To Peers

Peer-to-peer lending means loaning money in a group of people to a person, typically via an online platform.

Peer-to-peer lending can be a great source of passive income for college students, provided you’re willing to take on some risk. Lending $10,000 privately means you could expect about $1,000 in return. 

There are other several peer-to-peer lending platforms such as Zopa, Lending Club, Proper and SoMoLend that offer these services.On Lending Club and Prosper, interest rates average from 4 percent up to more than 20 percent annually. 

Before you sign up with one of these companies, do your research on all of them to ensure that they are legit. Note that some sites charge fees for borrowers and/or lenders so read their terms and conditions carefully before getting involved with any website. 

Conclusion

With the explosion on the internet, tons of opportunities have been birth for anyone to cash in on it an better his financial life for good even while in school. With these 10 ideas of passive income for college students. I am certain that you will pick one or two from them, put in the due diligence and reap from it afterwards