Ways to Make Extra Money at College

I haven't updated much lately - I've been too busy moving into my swanky new one-person apartment at Indiana University for my (first) senior year! It's pretty freaking amazing, but unfortunately I'm finding myself quite broke. My dad has decided he can't spare me any more money than the cost of my books (roughly $400, ouch!) so I've been having to scrape together some pocket change on my own. Luckily, I'm fairly good at that. Aside from my 3 hours a week job at my dorm (literally, I have a 3 hours per week cap on what I can work. That's about $22 a week, tops, but I don't have enough time to get another part time job) I have a variety of ways to scrounge up pocket change. I've already shared a couple on my blog, but here's a refresher course:

1. Earning money online doing paid surveys, clicking on links in emails, and filling out offers (mostly signing up for newsletters and such, yay for spam filters!) If I spend a couple of hours a week doing this I can make about $30 a month. You can read my complete list of proven legit sites here. Right now my favorites are Treasure Trooper, SendEarnings, Inbox Dollars, and MyPoints (email me to get a referal link to the last one, it's invite-only). The last three I earn primarily through their paid emails, where you get about $.05 each for clicking on ad-supported emails. They send maybe 5-10 a day, so it actually adds up really quickly. Clicking through them all is my favorite mindless thing to do while watching TV or on the phone!

2. I have a few other suggestions in this post, explained in greater detail. In short they are donating plasma, selling extra stuff, advertising your skills on craigslist (math tutor? knitting lessons? strong guy available to lift stuff?), or creating a blog or website to sell advertising on or sell goods/services.

The other one I list is paid university studies. I'd like to go into more detail on that one because I've been looking at a lot more of them lately and they are perfect for college students in particular. If you're at a large research school, there is an excellent chance that there are some studies that will pay you to participate. These can be anything from sitting at a computer answering questions for an hour to participating in a group discussion. You can find Indiana University paid experiment at this website. To find some for your own university, just search "[Your College] Paid Psych Experiments" or similar. I also find a lot of them pasted up on flyers around major classroom buildings, especially the psych building, but even in the business school here. They say something like "18-24 YEAR OLD FEMALES, GOOD HEARING, HEAVY DRINKER, SMOKES LESS THAN 5 CIGS A DAY, $10/HR" with some pull-off contact sheets. They are looking for just about every type of person, and don't be afraid of participating in the ones with qualifications like "heavy drinker/drug user" because that's not a ploy for turning you into the police, it's just a qualifier for the study! (I'm assuming that fact, as I do not actually qualify as either a heavy drinker or drug user. But if I did, I would totally be using it to get more money. To support my habits. Or you know, whatever. In my actual case, it's more like a shoe habit).

Other college-specific things I'm doing right now are selling off my old appliances that freshman didn't know they need but now that they're at college they totally need (Like last year's window fan? My new apartment has Air Freaking Conditioning. I'm happy to provide the same luxury of cool air to dorm-dwellers at a fraction of the price of the same appliance at Target!) Also, now is the prime time to sell textbooks on places like Amazon. Students are still enrolling in classes, being accepted on waitlists, and switching into other classes, so textbooks are being purchased like crazy. I bought mine yesterday, and they were probably twice the price than if I'd bought them in the summer! They will also likely pay more for shipping right now. If you don't want to sell on Amazon, use Craigslist or a University supported forum (most colleges have one - Indiana's can be found on OneStart. )

Do you have any good ways to make extra money at college? Please tell me. I am so broke. And my readers probably want to know too! :) Happy earning!