College Student Jobs You Can Work From Your Dorm Room

August 20, 2009

College students around the country will soon be traveling back to their respective colleges and universities, and many of them will have fatter wallets from summer jobs and internships. However, that money won’t last long when the price of textbooks, school supplies, and tailgate parties starts to take its toll.

One of the toughest things about being a college student when your parents don’t support you is juggling a job with school work. I had a job for the entire four years that I was in school. About half way through, I discovered eBay, and I started selling a lot of stuff on there and other people’s stuff for a commission.

It didn’t last forever, because I got sick of eBay policies and scammers, but for the year and a half that I did it, it was good extra income in addition to my food delivery job. The internet provides a lot of opportunity and your knowledge and hobbies can also provide a source of income while you are in school without working for someone else.

Here are some college student jobs you can do from your dorm room:

Tutoring. Are you great at Chemistry or Calculus? Then, you could make $20 to $40 an hour tutoring your peers! Pass out some fliers at the end of classes and start a Facebook page.

Selling on Craigslist. I used to do this on eBay, but they raised their fees and so many big retailers flooded the market, so the upside of selling on eBay diminished. I still like Craigslist in most markets.

Some markets are flooded with a bunch of junk, but many are not. Many college kids know how to sell something on Craigslist, but few of them want to deal with it. Tell them you’ll take a flat fee or a percentage of how much you get for it, and you’ll manage the entire deal.

Freelance Writing. Are you a good writer? Look for blogging jobs at job boards such as Pro Blogger and the writing jobs section of Craigslist.

Web Design and Application Development. If you know CSS, PHP, ASP .NET, or other web languages, then turn your knowledge into freelance work. Sites like eLance, goFreelance, an Guru.com allow freelance developers to start a profile and bid on contract work.

Virtual Assistant. Are you an organized person? Are you good at helping other people plan and organize?  With a computer and a phone you can have clients all around the country, check out the International Virtual Assistant Association for more info on what you can offer and how to find clients.

Being able to work from your dorm room is mostly about leveraging the skills you have or are in the process of learning. The biggest challenge is often finding people that need your expertise or your time but the Web helps make that possible. 

The great thing about many jobs like this is that you’re building up experience that will apply to your life after college, rather than just flipping burgers or waiting tables.  Not only that, they often come with a more flexible work schedule you can fit in between classes and college life.  Any other ideas for college student jobs you can work from your dorm room?

Erik

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Erik
Erik Folgate is a husband and father living in Orlando who's been writing about money online for 6 years. Digging himself out of $20k of debt after college and his former experience in the insurance industry give him some useful insights into personal finance issues.

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