Most university or college students want to make more money and improve their personal finances but don’t have time to do so. So if they go the traditional route, for example, a student in the UK has no more than 20 hours per week to earn active income, here come passive income opportunities.
With passive income, your earning potential is not limited to the number of hours you put in.
Students can manage their time and make money to support themselves by earning passive income or extra income.
So, let’s talk about passive income streams and the 15 best passive income ideas for students.
Passive income is money earned in which the individual is not actively involved.
In recent years, “passive income” has come to mean money that a person earns with little or no effort after putting in some initial work. We will use this definition for this blog post.
For instance, you can write a book once and make easy money from it forever.
The main ways to make money are:
Passive income is different from active income because it is usually generated automatically. It gives you residual income with little time and effort, giving you the freedom to do other things.
Affiliate marketing is just telling people about products and services. You can do this if you have a platform and a following, such as through a social media page, podcast, YouTube channel, blog, etc.
All you have to do is tell your followers about a company’s products and get paid for each sale, which usually doesn’t cost your followers anything extra.
You get a commission on every sale through your affiliate links and don’t have to pay anything upfront. In addition, many affiliate programs are free to join.
You have to spend time getting people to buy using your link, which you can do through social media platforms.
Many people want to rent things for a short time for projects or events.
Check to see if you have anything you use only some days that could help someone else or other fellow students.
Some examples are cameras and camera equipment, music equipment, bikes, power tools, electronics, storage space, gaming systems, etc.
Selling photos to a website that sells stock photos is a simple way to make money while you sleep. Submit your photographs for sale to website owners that want to utilize them as stock photos.
Stock photo website like Pexels and Shutterstock will pay for good photos and videos.
Once you upload your photos to these sites, they will market and sell them for you.
This makes selling photos one of the best ways for students to make money while they sleep.
This means collaborating with suppliers to design white-label products such as t-shirts, posters, backpacks, and phone cases and selling them per order.
You only need to use design tools like Canva to develop your design, then upload it to a print-on-demand site where the company will manage the printing and shipping while you focus on marketing.
This is a great option, an easy and low-risk way for students, especially those with good graphic design skills, to make money on the side. Sites like printify and zazzle are worth looking at.
This is one of the easiest ways to make good money. When you shop online, cashback reward sites like Swagbucks, MyPoint, Topcashback, and Rakuten let you make money for shopping.
The same also applies to cashback accounts, credit cards, etc.
This is a win-win situation because you need to spend to meet your needs and wants. So why not make money at the same time?
Shop at your favourite stores through the app or website and earn extra cash.
Another great way for a student to make extra money is to put together a book on a subject they know a lot about.
Please choose a topic you know well, that people are interested in or with high demand and then write about it.
Once your eBook is ready, you can sell it in a number of ways, such as through social media, your website, an email list, Amazon’s KDP, and so on.
Housesitting is a terrific way to earn additional money during the school year, and while it’s not completely passive, it can help students a lot.
It usually means keeping an eye on someone’s house while they’re away.
If your notes or study guides are really good, you could make copies and sell them to other students in the class.
You can also sign up for a site like Study Soup and sell your notes and other study materials to make money.
YouTube is the second biggest search engine, which means that even your schoolwork is being looked up there.
Starting a YouTube channel is a lot of work at first with little to no payoff, but if you stick with it and learn quickly, it could be a major source of income even after you graduate.
You can also link your youtube channel to other income sources like an online course.
Your Youtube videos at the beginning might not be the best quality, but don’t let that stop you; start today with your mobile phone during your free time.
After you have posted a couple of videos without doing anything more, they have the potential to earn much money.
Ali Abdaal is always a source of inspiration. He started his YouTube channel in medical school, but is now a full-time Youtuber.
You can start a channel on anything and make money, for example playing video games. This is one of the best side hustle.
Consider purchasing a vending machine if you have some money to invest. Even though the business is not all passive, you can make extra money.
To start a vending machine business, you need to spend time and money at the beginning.
If you’re interested in starting a vending machine business, this book on Amazon is a fantastic resource.
Digital products are files that can be downloaded or streamed, like Kindle books, templates (for Word, Excel, and other programs), plug-ins, kits, printables, notes, planners, and so on.
You can make and sell many different kinds of digital products. Because of their huge profit margins, digital products are excellent passive income sources.
The item can be created once and then sold many times over through your online store or other online platforms. No inventory or storage is required.
All that’s required is to get people to buy your stuff.
In a dropshipping business model, you set up an online store where people can look at and buy products you don’t own or keep in stock.
When a customer orders, you send that information to the supplier, who takes care of everything else, from packaging to delivery.
You don’t have to pay the supplier until your customers have paid you.
You don’t have to see or handle the things you sell.
Dropshipping is a great way for students to make money on the side.
Websites are the online equivalent of real estate. Buying and selling websites can be a great way to make money, but the process can be challenging.
You’ll need to be able to tell the difference between a website that has potential and one that is going down.
