College is a fantastic time in any young adult’s life. It is a time to grow as a person, to make lifelong friends, and to learn that it is in fact possible to buy a week’s worth of food with 20 dollars (hint, it involves Ramen. A lot of Ramen). Regarding the last point, wouldn’t it be nice to eat something besides salt in noodle shape? Maybe go out to eat every once in a while, have a little cash in your pocket? I certainly think it would be, so I have compiled a list of some of the best ways to make money while in college (or any other time for that matter!)
Sell back your textbooks
While this is a fairly obvious one, a list of how to make money in college would be incomplete without it. Selling back your textbooks can bring back some serious cash at the end of a semester, especially if you sell back to the right people. Oftentimes, your college bookstore will not provide you the best deal. Instead, sell to companies like Amazon, Chegg, and Belltower Books. These companies will often give at least 15% more than your bookstore; while working for Belltower, I have personally given people 50% more for certain books than the bookstore would have bought the books for. Moral of the story: do your research before you sell them, and it could pay out big in the long run.
Find on campus employment
Believe it or not, there are other jobs at your school besides working in dining services. You would be surprised to find out how many jobs at your school are one by student workers. Consequently, you would likely be surprised to find out how many other job opportunities are laying open waiting for someone to fill them. If your school has an office for career services, they will likely be able to lead you in the right direction to find a job on campus.
Find off campus employment
There are a wealth of ways to find off campus employment, and they aren’t as hard as you may think. Forgive the shameless plug, but the best way that I have found to locate off campus opportunities is a company called WayUp. This company provides its users with new job opportunities around them every week through email. Many of these employment opportunities are one-click applications and require little to no effort to apply for. Signing up is free and thousands of people find jobs through the company every day. To sign up and start looking for jobs, visit www.wayup.com and mention that you were referred by a campus rep (that’s me!) and then enter my name when prompted. If you put in the effort you will find a job in no time, some of which may even allow you to work from your computer.
Save your change
Believe it or not, I have seen people disregard coins that they get back from transactions like they are garbage. I have watched people literally throw change away because they feel it is less convenient than cash. There are, however, a number of uses for change. This is mainly because, well, it’s still money. Many credit unions offer a service where a machine will count your coins to exchange for cash at absolutely no cost if you are a member of the credit union. Outside of that, many grocery stores have a machine that will charge between 2 and 8 cents per dollar for the same service.
Ask for student discounts
This one isn’t so much a “getting money” idea as it is a “saving money” idea. While there are a number of places off campus that will advertise a student discount, oftentimes a store will give you a discount if you ask about it. Many times even if a store does not normally have a discount, the person whom you ask will inquire about the subject to the manager and they will usually give one to you. Just bring your student ID along wherever you go and you’ll be all set!
