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Being a student isn’t all about dedicating your whole day or years simply studying. There is so much you can choose to do that can help you earn money in the best manner possible. Not everyone talks about earning, especially when you are a student in India. But here I am listing down all the different ways you can start earning money while studying.
No, this isn’t anything like shortcuts or the Pyramid Scheme marketing that promises you guaranteed money in the end. I will be talking about the real deal that I have tried and tested as well as others did too in my connection. Am I a student now? Well, not actually but we all have been there and only going to talk from experience.
Let’s not waste any more time and directly get on with it.
Ways to Earn Money Online as a Student
Here are all the ways you can try to earn money online as a student. All of these are tried and tested in multiple ways and have actually proved to be quite helpful in my student life. Hopefully, it will help you as well to bring you some good along with your academics.
1. Freelance Content Writing
The first one that I will begin with has to be Content Writing. It is one of my favorites and also something that I have turned it into as my sole way of living. One of the basic skills that you need to learn before you can begin with this is a good grasp of a particular language. It does not matter whether you are good at English or not, since we know that it isn’t the only language in the world.

If you are in India, there are multiple languages spoken here such as Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, etc. You can start with anything and look for internships or jobs in this. It might cover only a limited set of people, but can be a great way to start off things. Other than that, no matter where you are residing in the world, simply pick your language. Now, another important aspect here is to start off with reading more blogs online and other articles that will help you learn how one creates a structure of the article.
Coming to the point on how you can get started. You can simply start off by taking any small internship through multiple platforms such as Internshala, LinkedIn, etc. This will help you grow your portfolio which will further bring your value higher in taking up high-end projects.
You can easily earn 10,000 INR a month by simply doing content writing and this is only for starters. Once you grow and have to build up a good understanding of how things work out, you can earn a lot more than a mere part-time income.
2. Virtual Assistant
Next up, we have to work as Virtual Assistant. This might require a particular number of hours for you to spend each week that can earn you a pretty good amount of money. Well, there aren’t any particular skills you need to learn here. The most important of them all is to simply learn to or have good communication skills and are able to manage multiple tasks with ease. If you feel you are someone who is good at it and surely gets things started.

Not only can you apply to work with Indian Clients but also you can apply on multiple freelancing platforms for international clients as well. People who tend to have a lot of work and do earn good money need someone to manage their work while they can work on growing. This is where a Virtual Assistant comes into place.
You can manage to choose your time each week and work. It will also help you learn and grow as well working with professionals and learn a thing or not while you are at it. Other than the simple basic work, here is what a Virtual Assistant is required to do.
- Basic Data Entry
- Managing Schedules and Appointments
- Organizing to-do-lists
- Creating Content for more reach
- Social Media Management
- Managing Small Finances
These are only the most basic forms of tasks that you will be required to do. If not all of them but some of them on a pretty minimal level. Other than this, you will be simply asked to be good at communication and keeping everything organized and in check.
3. Become A Tutor
Well, if you are good at your academics or any subject that you feel can help others as well to learn and grow, this might be just the best way to use your skills and earn money. I am not simply talking about Academics here. You can also teach other people or any student looking to learn art, any musical instrument that you might excel in, or anything else.

Since everything these days can be found online, whether it is your college classes or learning any extra skill set. There are multiple platforms that you can get started with. Or else, you can make the best use of Social Media Platforms such as Instagram that might help you earn a good number of audiences. Once done, the next step is simply starting off a YouTube channel to upload videos of the lessons.
Other than this, there are some other ways as well that you can think of using your skill set to earn money. Supposedly if you are good at any subject, such as Maths, Accounts, etc. It is better to spread the word that you will be starting off as a part-time tutor and will be available to take classes soon on these subjects.
There are options as well to apply on multiple Platforms such as Udemy, and multiple others where you can upload your courses as well. Furthermore, you will need a specific number of hours to work on preparing what you will be teaching and how you will be taking it forward along with working on your college classes as well to make everything work. Make sure you have everything planned before you can start off things.
4. Start A Blog
Although I did speak about how you can earn money writing content, another brilliant example to add to our list here is by starting your own Blog. Now, this might require dedication and above all patience. I too have been working on my Blog and it surely is an incredible experience. The sooner you get started with it, the more you learn and you have nothing too loose in the process.
Well, you can get started with any niche to begin with that might interest you the most. It does not need to be a lot of research like other professional Bloggers need to do. Simply choose what you might love writing on such as Tech, Lifestyle, Food, Travel, etc, and that is all. Here are a few aspects that you will need to start with your own Blog from Scratch.
- A Niche that might Interest you
- Create a List of Keywords/Topics you wish to Write on.
- Select a Domain Name
- Create a WordPress Site (Free or Paid)
- Get Hosting (Free or Paid)
- Set up a Theme
This is a basic kit to get started with. Now, here we are only looking at a little complicated version that may not be an easy go-to option for many. Hence you can also choose to Start your Blog with Medium where all you need to do is write what you wish to. It does not require setting anything up and you are good to go with it. But for earning money, you will need to follow the steps and methods we have mentioned above.
Once everything is set up and you are able to get decent traffic, you can apply your blog for Adsense approval and even add Affiliate Links to earn money. To get what you need, the entire process might simply take around 5-6 months of posting good enough quality content and things might fall into place. Until then, you can also continue with Content Writing Services on the side to keep earning money.
5. Start a YouTube Channel
Here is another option that I guess you can give a go to get things started while you are in your college. Well, this particular method might take a little time, similar to what I have mentioned while starting a Blog, but it is worth it. There is no doubt in the fact that Video content gains a lot more traction in this digital era than any written content you will find.
The real question is what can get started with or make a channel on YouTube. So, if you have any talent or skill that hasn’t been known to people yet and you are good at it. For example, cooking, playing an Instrument, Singing, comedy, etc. You might find a lot of similar skills already on the platform, however, people are never tired of looking at more and more they can put their eyes on. Hence, you can record a short video on your smartphone such as a Guitar lesson from scratch, and create your YouTube Channel.
Other than these, you can also pick out any niche that can help you earn money. Some of them that you can start off with are listed here.
- Meditation
- Animal Compilations
- Tech Products
- Reviews
- Vlogging
Well, these are only a few of the ones I guess might work out for you. If you are one of those or someone like me who might be too shy for the camera, you can check out these video-creating niches that might be perfect for you. It will take a few months to gain traction but it will surely work out well.
6. Print-on-Demand
Well, you may not have heard of it quite a lot. Print-on-Demand is basically known to be the platforms such as Redbubble, Teespring, Printful, etc. These platforms allow you to bring your own designs and set up on multiple products such as T-shirts, Mugs, Bags, Clocks, etc. All you need to do is simply have your designs ready and create an account on any of these popular platforms.

Once done, set them up on multiple products and launch the design. That is all you are required to work on initially. So, if you are a student and good at graphics designing, you can give this a go. All the products are printed and shipped from the Redbubble warehouse itself and then shipped to the customers.
To increase your reach, you can create your own Instagram profiles and promote your designs and products. Even if you are not a great digital designer, you can simply use Canva and create some good-to-go and trending captions for the same. It requires no investment but only time and effort.
7. Data Entry Jobs
You can easily find multiple data-entry jobs online from small or large-scale organizations. It only requires a small amount of time each day to earn a decent amount of money. If you have a laptop and a good internet connection, you can do this job better than anyone. The best part about this job is that it does not require any qualifications or special skills.
You can try finding such jobs on Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. In fact, a lot of small-scale companies spread out about these jobs through multiple freelancing platforms as well such as Fiverr, Upwork, and others. You can earn from 10,000 INR to 25,000 INR with these data entry jobs or even more. If you ask what all work does one needs to do in Data Entry, well it entirely depends on the requirements of the company itself. It could be either related to the segregation of data from a form to excel sheets, collecting emails and other info about companies or other individuals from the web, etc.
8. Other Freelancing Work
Lastly, we have something that a lot of people are already working on around you as their full-time job. I started off as a freelance content Writer while I was in my 2nd year of college and since then have been growing and learning. As of now, this is my full-time job and I have been working with multiple clients in multiple niches. Well, when we speak of Freelancing it does not only mean Content creation.
Rather it includes everything such as website design, social media marketing, graphics designing, photography, and much more. Freelancing basically implies working on projects, not bound by any company. You are your own boss here and it gives you flexible timing. You can simply create a good online presence on your multiple social media accounts and offer services for those in need.
The best platform to get professional clients is surely LinkedIn. Other than that, you can create accounts on other freelancing sites such as Upwork, Fiverr, Freelancer.com, etc. These will help you create your portfolio and thus you can earn a good amount of money by working part-time from your home.
Final Verdict
Well, here we go with everything you need to know about earning money online as a student. Well, you can find a lot of other ways that can earn you money but all the ones mentioned above are tried and tested. Some are easier to get on with while others may require time and effort but will surely get you started with things.
For example, we have Data entry, freelancing, virtual assistant, etc that might not require as much time as you would think of. Next up, we have started a blog, YouTube Channel, etc that might take a few months to get you started with earning money. Hence, it all comes down to you whichever option you are willing to get started with and start earning money online.