Passive income is the ultimate way to becoming financially free for the rest of your life.
If you’re not familiar with the concept, it is simply money you earn without spending much time or effort working. Let’s say you had a house and you put it up for rent, every month you’ll be receiving rental payments without actually doing anything.
On the other hand, if you were working in a restaurant, your salary is not passive because you have to physically work hard for it every day.
Most wealthy people have numerous sources of passive income and therefore never have to worry about working all the time.
In this article, we shall be looking at 20 profitable side hustles for students that can create such an income stream.
20 College Side Hustles that can Make Passive Income
1. Sell stock photography
Many people are obsessed with taking photos with their smartphones. As a result, we now have an entire generation of amateur photographers.
If you happen to be one of those people, you can make passive income by selling your images on stock photo websites like Shutterstock and Alamy. Whenever people license your photos, you get paid a royalty.
You could literally publish hundreds or even thousands of photos on such websites and then just sit back and watch the money roll in.
2. Start a Print-on-demand business
If you’re a creative person and you’re great with tools like Photoshop and Canva, you can make passive income by starting a print-on-demand business.
You can create various designs for t-shirts, hoodies, mugs, smartphone cases, etc., and then advertise them on your e-commerce site. Whenever you get an order, you simply just forward it to a printing service like Printify to fulfill it.
Print-on-demand borrows from the dropshipping model in the sense that you don’t need to keep an inventory of the products you’re selling. This reduces the risks on your part significantly, which makes it the perfect college side hustle.
3. Sell digital files online
Some examples of digital files include PDFs, how-to guides, templates, phone icons, etc. If you know how to create any one of them, you can make passive income by selling them on Etsy, a marketplace for creatives.
Since the files are digital, that means they can be downloaded infinitely without much work from you.
4. Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is a fantastic way to make money if you happen to have a large following on social media, or a blog/YouTube channel.
It’s very easy to get started. You just need to sign up on affiliate networks like CJ Affiliate, Clickbank, and Amazon, find products that would resonate with your audience, and then start promoting them.
For example, if a lot of your followers are into fitness then you should probably focus on promoting fitness products.
Anytime somebody buys something through your link, you get paid a small commission. The more expensive the products you’re promoting, the more money you’ll make from commissions. It’s a fantastic side hustle idea for college students.
5. Start a blog
If you enjoy writing then starting a blog is definitely something worth considering. Although it can take some time to grow your audience and start getting organic traffic, once that happens, you’ll be able to make passive income through ads and affiliate marketing.
The blog can be on any topic you’re knowledgeable and passionate about. If you love cooking then you can start a food recipe blog. It doesn’t really matter what topics you’re writing about, as long as there is demand.
6. Publish an e-book
This is another side hustle idea for people that love writing. Self-publishing has become very easy thanks to Kindle Direct Publishing, a platform that gives you access to millions of Amazon users. That means you won’t have to worry about marketing.
The e-book can be on any topic that has demand. You can use tools like Google Trends and Keyword planner to see what people are searching for online. That will help you gauge the level of demand for the topic you want to write about.
Once the e-book is published online, you’ll keep earning passive income from its sales for the rest of your life. There are many authors who are living off the income from just a handful of books they published many years ago.
7. Create an online course
This is similar to the previous idea in the sense that you’ll be leveraging your skills to make passive income online.
Nowadays a lot of people have developed a craving for knowledge. The e-learning industry is currently booming.
You can create a course on almost anything, whether that’s gym workouts, cooking, drawing, public speaking, etc. Once you record and upload the course on platforms like Teachable, people will be able to enroll from anywhere in the world without much work from you.
8. Dropshipping
Dropshipping is one of the most popular online businesses for students.
The idea is simple. You create an e-commerce store using Shopify and then fill it up with a bunch of products. Whenever you get an order, you then use the money to buy from a supplier like AliExpress and then have it shipped directly to the buyer.
The great thing with dropshipping is that you never have to keep an inventory of the products you’re selling. That makes it very easy to get started even if you have limited capital.
9. Create an app
Do you have an app idea that could become the next Uber? If so, then you can use tools like Adalo to build it from scratch (even if you don’t have coding knowledge).
You can create an app that helps solve some common frustrations students on your campus are facing. You could also create a marketplace where people can buy/sell their old textbooks and other items. The possibilities are endless.
Once your app is live, you’ll make money by either charging a subscription fee, charging for downloads, or displaying ads.
10. Rent out your car
Do you happen to have a car? If so, then you can make some passive income by renting it out on Turo.
11. Rent out your parking spot
If you have a car, then you probably have a parking spot. You can make extra cash by renting it out to other people on Neighbor.
12. Advertise on your car
Once again, this is another side hustle for college students who have cars. You can sign up on platforms like Wrapify and Carvertise to get matched with brands doing marketing campaigns in your city.
Once you get admitted, your car will get wrapped with ad banners, and you’ll get paid depending on the mileage you cover during the campaign. It’s a very easy way to make money. According to Carvertise, you can make up to $1,500 from just a single campaign.
13. Become a social media influencer
Did you know that with as little as 1,000 followers on Instagram you can be considered a micro-influencer?
There are several agencies that link micro-influencers with brands looking to advertise their products, including GRIN and ApexDrop.
If you don’t mind promoting products on your account, such as tequila for sale, then you should definitely sign up with such agencies and submit your social media accounts for vetting.
14. Airbnb arbitrage
This is one of the most profitable side hustles for college students. As you probably know, Airbnb is a platform that allows people to rent out rooms in their homes.
But since you most likely don’t have a house yet, the arbitrage model is a great way to leverage Airbnb to make money. It’s quite straightforward.
All you have to do is lease a house near your campus, furnish it with second-hand furniture, and then sublease the rooms on Airbnb. Alternatively, you can sublease the rooms to students and turn the house into a hostel.
Since this idea might require a lot of upfront capital, it would be advisable to execute with a few of your buddies.
15. Start a YouTube channel
If you’re a natural in front of the camera, then you should definitely consider starting a YouTube channel.
The channel can be on anything you’re passionate about. You can also do it in the format of a vlog (if your life is interesting enough).
Over time as your channel grows, you’ll start making passive income from ads and affiliate marketing. YouTube is one of the best side hustles for college students.
16. Start a podcast
If you love talking, but YouTube just isn’t for you, then you can start a podcast instead. Podcasts are very cheap and easy to produce. All you need is a microphone, a laptop, and a hosting service.
To make the podcast more interesting, you can occasionally interview other people. If you have friends with lots of social media followers then you should definitely interview them and then have them share the episode with their followers. That will not only help you grow your audience but also gain tremendous social proof.
17. Do your shopping through cashback sites
Although this idea might not necessarily qualify as a side-hustle, it is still a great way to make some extra cash every month.
If you do a lot of online shopping, then you should sign up on platforms like Rakuten to get some percentage cash back from all your purchases. Rakuten has so many popular vendors, including eBay and Macy’s. Some of them offer as much as 20% cashback.
18. Invest in stocks
Dividend stocks are the foundation of many wealthy people’s investment portfolios. Warren Buffet got into stocks when he was just 11 years old. He is now one of the richest men in the world.
You can find interesting stocks to invest in for almost any budget, you don’t need to have tens of thousands of dollars. Make sure to first educate yourself on the stock market before making any investments as it can be very risky.
19. Invest in crowdfunded real estate projects
This is a great way to get into real estate investing with a small budget. Real estate crowdfunding enables developers to raise money for their projects from many small-scale investors.
In exchange for your investment, you get a small share of the project and the income it will generate once it’s complete. You can get started with as little as $10 through sites like Fundrise and RealtyMogul.
20. Invest in a small business
This is another investment idea that doesn’t require a lot of capital. Through Mainvest, you can get connected with small businesses that are fundraising.
Mainvest allows you to invest as little as $100, which makes you a shareholder in the business, and you’ll be entitled to a portion of the income it generates.
