11 Proven Passive Income Ideas for College Students

We’re all looking to make some cash on the side when it comes to real student life. Instead of flipping burgers or changing the oil in cars, though, why not look at the idea of making the most of passive income ideas for college students?

There are now even more options than ever, and it means that you’ll be able to make some serious dough while you’re in school. Here are some of the best passive income ideas for students!

Proven passive income ideas for college students

You read that right. Below, there are going to be 11 helpful and realistic options for passive income for college students so that you can enjoy actual income while you are focusing on your midterms. Take a look for yourself and see!

1. Fill Out Online Surveys
There aren’t those same kinds of surveys that you used to read about online, either.

These are dedicated survey platforms that will use all sorts of careful screening questions to help match you up with surveys that you can actually fill out and use to help marketers and CEOs learn, and give you a bit of scratch for your time. This is a great idea for passive income sources for college students that like to work whenever is convenient for them.

While it’s not technically as passive as the other sources, it’s still passive when you think about the fact that you can do it while you’re watching TV!

2. Passive income ideas for college students – Sell short stories or eBooks
If you are a writer, or you’ve always wanted to be one, why not do it now? One of the best passive income ideas for college students that love the world of writing, this is going to be fun and helpful for bringing in some cash.

You can sell short stories one by one or bundle them together in an eBook. This is great for making use of those little “ditties” that you’ve been playing with, and you’ll love stretching your creative muscles.

Self-publishing them has never been easier and you can list them on all of your favourite platforms in order to get some passive income that came from just putting everything together in print!

3. Sell Pictures on your Phone
Our phones are magical. When it comes to their ability to help in searching for passive income sources for college students, they excel. You can take photos of interesting views that you find, and then sell them!

The best part is that it doesn’t have to be even exciting. Something as simple as pencil shavings or sunset is great. You can put them up online and sell them over and over to people if you want.

Add more as you find time, and then continue to see the cash rolling in! Our phone cameras take great photos these days, so don’t waste money on a camera!

4. Create an Online Course

This one takes a bit of time, so it’s not the best passive income for college students that are strapped for time, but it is rewarding!

You can create an online course on something that you love (drawing, painting, writing, dancing, etc) and then sell it to people online. You don’t need to do live sessions or anything like that. Just have a course put together for each of your interests, do a tiny bit of marketing on social media and you’ll have people signing up, downloading, and more.

When you see what’s more profitable, you can add more courses for higher levels and then up the prices.

5. Rent Your Parking Spot/Charge scooters
If you’ve got a parking spot near your dorm or campus that you aren’t using, why not consider the idea of renting it out? It’s one of the most passive income streams for college students and it’s one that is constantly popular for other college students. Don’t be shy about putting a good price on the spot, too!

The other similar option is to offer to charge scooters for those that use them. While this will cost you a bit in electricity, of course, you can price it per hour or per percentage of charging and enjoy the idea that you’ll get to do your part to help stressed students!

6. Rent out a fleet of bikes and snowboards
If you’ve got access to them, you’re definitely going to want to look at renting out bikes, snowboards, skis, whatever you have! These are always in demand with those around you — aka other cash-strapped college students — and you’ll be able to enjoy lots of choices when it comes to setting rates.

Look at the idea of charging hourly rates or flat rental rates, whatever is best. Just make sure that you know who it is that is borrowing your gear so that you can charge them extra if they don’t bring it back or damage it while they are gone. And make sure you’ve got the owner’s permission, of course.

13 Best Side Hustles for Nurses to Make Extra Income

7. Ride-Sharing Apps like Lyft and Uber
If you’ve got access to a vehicle, consider working a job like a ride-sharing app. These are great to offer at affordable rates for students and you’ll be able to enjoy the passive income while you are driving around.

Since many commercial drivers don’t like driving students or don’t drive on campuses due to their complexity, you can be the premium choice since neither of those things are going to be problems for you!

Just make sure to set fair rates that don’t undercut you and your car’s use, since it will put a little bit of wear and tear on your vehicle, depending.

8.Sell educational content/Start a Youtube channel

This one is similar to the idea of course creation but different enough that it’s going to be a fun and simple way to enjoy some cash. One of the best passive income ideas for students with a rich background in education.

You can put packages together by selling educational content. While you can do it in things like face-based cheat sheets (ie: shortcut documents for subjects, not literal cheating!) or you can do something more like a YouTube channel where you discuss those topics in short, easy-to-edit videos.

Earn cash by selling the PDF/documents as extras! There are all sorts of ways that you can make this work for you!

9. Create a niche site and put up ads/Influencer marketing
This is a wonderful thing to do for truly passive income streams for college students. Design a basic, niched website (ie: a website that is for one specific thing like drones, dogs, photography, etc.) and then put up some ads.

For example, if you were doing something like listing your photos to sell, like tip #3 or course content like #4 or #8, you could put it all up in a niche-specific website and drive traffic to it to help them buy from you.

Once your traffic climbs, you can then allow ads on your page that will pay you for the virtual space to advertise.

Combine this with influencer marketing where you help recommend products and brands that you support (and that are connected to your niche), and you’ll be making some great passive income, to the point of where it’s a side hustle! Plus, it looks great on a resume.

10. Rent your old books and other assets
From literary books to textbooks to other assets such as guitars, winter gear, art supplies, etc, you can make some cash and get some of the stuff out of your home at the same time.

Look at short-term and long-term rentals and enjoy the regular payments. Since many students only need textbooks for one semester, you can earn weekly or monthly income and they can enjoy the cost savings.

Just be careful about the idea that whatever you lend out may not always come back in excellent shape. You’ll want to choose your assets carefully to protect yourself.

Related

11. Advertising on your car/Rent storage space
The best passive income ideas for students involve making use of what you already have, right?

So, offer advertising on your car through screening or even bumper stickers or signs. Since you drive around a lot, whoever you’re advertising for will really enjoy the advertising!

This will be great, too, for short-term or long-term advertising at different rates.

If you have space in your home, you can also look at renting storage space. Since most college students are always desperate for just a little bit more, it’ll be great to make sure of the space that you are willing to give up.

You’ll also want to consider this idea if you have a locker on campus that you don’t use!

A few reminders on your passive income ideas or choices

If you’re looking at these ideas for passive income and you’re not entirely sure just how you’re going to make them work for you, never fear. While these 11 options are helpful and tried-and-tested, not every single option is going to be just right for every student. When you are considering the list, here are some things to remember.

Some will appeal to you more than others: There’s nothing wrong if you find that one of these appeals to you more than the others! It’s okay if you like some of these more than the others, too. Whatever most suits your preferences, energy level, and access, will help you achieve great passive income. After all, if you hate driving, then tip #7 and #11 won’t make sense for you or sound appealing. Passive income is going to take a bit of work at first, but you shouldn’t hate it from the get-go!
This is intended as passive income, don’t stress about it: The whole point of this is to earn some money by putting in as little effort as possible. If you don’t get every detail right, don’t stress about it. These are not meant as career moves or even long-term things. Just earn some money by putting in the minimal effort possible to make it work, and just go from there! It won’t do you any good if you are getting too stressed or detail-oriented!
Don’t go into debt to make money: This is a big one! When looking at the points such as #8 or #9, don’t think that you need to make complex videos with top-of-the-line equipment, or have a super fancy website that is magical and modern. Just focus on working with what you have and don’t spend money unnecessarily. The whole point of this is to find easy ways to earn some cash. If you’re going into debt in order to get it working for you, it’s not going to be very passive or even rewarding!

In Conclusion

There are some great, fun, and cash-loaded ways for college students to make money without putting in 20 hours a week. Instead of flipping burgers look for passive income ideas for college students? All these are fantastic suggestions that will help you earn some pocket money and have some fun while you’re doing it!

Related