What are the Best Jobs for College Students?

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by Aidan Kang, CFA

Senior Writer

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UPDATED: July 26, 2021

If you’re still in college, did you know that you can still find a job that leverages your skills and allows you to have fun at the same time? 

In this article, we’ve put together a list of high-paying, part time jobs for college students that are suitable for any major. We’ve also included the average pay for each job to help in your salary negotiations! 

We promise that you won’t need a degree or a wealth of experience to pursue any of these jobs. 

We hope this list of the best jobs for college students will help you on your job search!

1. Internships

2. Campus Tour Guide

Best if you’re familiar with your campus

Salary: $7.75 to $14.50 per hour

You likely already know your campus inside and out. So why not show prospective students around campus? Doing campus tours is seasonal work, which is a great job for a busy college student who can’t commit to regular working hours. 

At some schools, this is one of those jobs for college students that doesn’t pay at all (you’ll be working for free), so keep that in mind!

3. College Admission or Career Advice Coach

Best for Ivy League Students

Salary: $70-$100 per hour

Did you get into a good college because of your amazing ACT or SAT scores? Share that knowledge with prospective students and get paid an average of $70 to $100 per hour. 

If you’re in an Ivy League school, there are parents who will be willing to pay more for you to mentor their kids.

4. Sales Associate

Best for go-getters that want flexibility

Salary: Commission-based

If you’re the competitive sort that likes to be paid for performance, consider being a sales associate. Often you’ll be compensated based on how many sales you make and the hours are flexible. This means you can work around your own class schedule and still make a lot of money if you’re good.

5. Research Assistant

Best for science or sociology students

Salary: $16 per hour

Studying science or sociology? Being a research assistant is one of the best positions for you to expand your knowledge on your field of study. As universities are always conducting research, such jobs should be easily accessible if you speak to your professor. 

6. Tutor

Best if you’re good at a subject

Salary: $10 – $40 an hour

Being a tutor is a great college job, especially if you’re teaching a subject that you’re studying. This is a great way for a college student to refresh your memory on things that you’ve studied recently. Also, you can build a network of friends that are studying the same major as you. 

Check your school’s job board, or Facebook groups to see if there are any open positions for a tutor. 

7. Virtual Assistant

Best for generalists

Salary: $15.80 per hour

Being a virtual assistant is one of the best paying jobs for college students that does not even require you to leave your dorm room.  

And it doesn’t matter what course you’re taking,  as long as you are someone who is organized, reliable, can multi-task and has decent computer skills, then you can try your hand as a virtual assistant. 

Common duties for a virtual assistant include: transcribing audio, publishing blog posts, managing facebook or instagram accounts, scheduling meetings… the list goes on, really.

Where can you land such a position? You can apply at microjob sites like FancyHands for a flexible setup or you can also check Upwork for jobs that allow you to work directly with clients.

8. Coffee Shop Barista

Salary: $11.65 per hour and $17 tips per day

If you love the smell of freshly brewed coffee and take pride in making excellent cups of coffee, then you should try your hand at being a barista at your local coffee shop! These quintessential part-time jobs actually pay decently well and flexible hours make it one of the best jobs for college. 

While most people associate barista jobs with minimum wage, you can look forward to tips and a flexible work schedule. 

Some other perks include getting to know the regulars and also getting employee discounts on your orders!

9.Outdoor Adventure Guide

Best for Outdoor Lovers/ Tourism Majors

Salary: $50-$75 per day

Most tour companies look to hire a part time tour guide during the summer and weekends, making it perfect for college students who love the outdoors. 

While getting $50 to $75 per day may not be megabucks, this job makes it to the list because you can get paid showing people around the great outdoors instead of being tied down at an office!

10. Rideshare Driver

Best if you already own a car

Salary: $12-$15 per hour

It’s a goal of many college students to own a car to go for parties, zip around campus or go on road trips. But why not make it an asset

If you already like visiting places around your local town, you may want to consider taking passengers along with you for some extra cash!

These days, you can also deliver food from restaurants to customers. 

It’s easy to find a job that makes use of your car, just use an app like Lyft or Uber. This could pay you up to $15 per hour on average.

11. Social Media Assistant

Best for Communications Major

Salary: $16.91 per hour

Get paid by helping small businesses manage their social media pages. Duties include creating posts, Facebook ads, answering comments, and checking messages. 

A good tip is to take free  Facebook Blueprint courses to strengthen your credibility and standout from other applicants. 

This is a great part time job that can work around your school schedule, and many people can make careers out of it these days. 

12. Dog Walker

Best for Outdoor and Dog Lovers

Salary: $15-$20 per walk

While this might seem like something you’d do as a kid to earn extra cash in the summer, it turns out that this is a very lucrative gig. 

Dog lovers will pay good money to have someone take their pets for daily walks – about $15 – $20 per walk on average. If you can find multiple dogs, walking them at the same time can double or triple your earning potential. 

13. Bookkeeper

Best for Finance and Accounting Students

Salary: $14.79 per hour

You may not have an accounting degree yet, but it just so happens that you don’t need one to become a bookkeeper! The duties of a bookkeeper usually include recording, updating, and checking finance records.

It’s a great way to make extra money outside of school, while supplementing your accounting knowledge!

14. Writer, Journalist or Blogger

Best for Literary Students

Salary: $14.68 per hour

Are your writing skills above average? Are you great at doing research on a topic? There is a huge demand for English-language content writers not only in America but in different parts of the world. 

For Journalism, Communication, Media, and English Majors, you can find freelance remote writing positions on ProBlogger, LinkedIn, Upwork and Constant Content. 

Your school might also have a student magazine or research journals that require writing and proof-reading. This would really help because you don’t have to leave your local campus during your job search!

Alternatively, you can also start your own blog and make money through affiliate marketing.

15. App or Product Tester

Best if you want to become a product manager

Salary: $10-$60 per hour

Testing apps and websites from the POV of a consumer is one of the best jobs for college students majoring in IT, especially if they want to become a product manager. 

Your duties in this role are simple, but very important to improving the apps that you are testing. You’ll note any bugs or usability issues that you come across and inform the development team. 

You’ll get a first hand look at the common user experience issues that come up in app development, and get exposure to working with product developers. 

At UserTesting, you can get paid a minimum of $10 for a 20-minute test and up to $50 for more complex test tasks.

16. Influencer

Best for Mass Communications Majors

Salary:  $800-$1500 per post

According to a Forbes article, college campuses are a hotspot for social media influencers. That’s no surprise. Over 70% of social media users are between 18 to 29 years old. 

Of course you’ll need to build up a following: Instagram influencers with at  least 25,000 followers can charge $800 to $1,500 per post. 

If you have more followers, you can charge more and even be hired as a brand ambassador, which would give you a more stable income. 

17. Headshot Photographer

Best for Arts or Film Majors

Salary: $150-$200 per session

If you’re studying media, film, fine arts, or photography, you might have a DSLR camera on hand and already know basic Photoshop. 

While it’s not easy to get hired to do event photography or photojournalism jobs as a college student, you can offer your services as a headshot photographer. 

Headshot photographers on Thumbtack.com charge an average of $150- $200 per session which usually last for one to two hours. 

While you can list your services online, you can also offer your services to graduating students who need professional headshots for their resumes and LinkedIn profiles, social media influencers, and bloggers on campus. 

18. Makeup Artist​

Best for Fashion Majors or Beauty Students

Salary: $110-$150 per person

If your makeup skills are always on fleek, start a gig as a freelance makeup artist and you can charge around $100+ per person by doing makeup artistry.

Most events happen on nights and weekends so this can be a suitable job to do outside of school hours. 

Another route is to first apply for a job as a makeup assistant to a professional makeup artist to jumpstart your career after college. As an assistant, you will be paid much less but you will get the training you need on how to pursue clients and handle jobs.

19. Business Plan Writer

Best for Business Majors

Salary: $50-$100+ per plan

If you’re a business major who can roll out business plans in your sleep then you can make extra cash by offering this service to customers on Fiverr.

The rate varies on how complex the business plan is. You can offer different packages with higher rates if a client needs a more detailed plan.

This can be a great addition to your resume when you’re looking for a job in consulting or at a start-up, which often requires the same business planning and research skills.

20. Handyman

Best if you are training to become a Tradesperson

Salary: $55 per hour

Are you an expert in doing odd jobs at home like installing equipment, assembling furniture, moving items, mounting TVs, basic carpentry or electrical work? 

If you’re studying to be a tradesperson and are waiting for your apprenticeship to start, you may want to consider this job. 

Starting rates usually start at $35 but on average, handymen in the U.S. are paid $55 per hour. The great thing is that you can do this part time, and fit it around your class schedule.

21. Voice Coach

Best for Theatre, Music or Performance Art Majors

Salary: $50-$60 per hour

If you take part in theatre performances as part of your studies, you can offer voice coaching services to kids and adults. 

Singing lessons are priced depending on the length of the session which can be 30, 45 or 60 minutes. Even if you don’t feel like an expert yet, there are plenty of beginners looking to learn from college students with performance backgrounds.

22. Sports Coach

Best for Student Athletes

Salary: $50-$60 per hour

Student athletes can be a private sports coach to kids and teens. If you want to find a job doing what you’re good at and help inspire young athletes at the same time, then this job is for you. 

For swimming lessons, the average cost coaches charge is $50 – $60 per hour. Other sports like tennis, horseback riding, and martial arts lessons could earn you even more.

23. Foreign Language Teacher

Best for Language Majors

Salary: $30-$40 per hour

Perhaps you are majoring in languages or you’re a native speaker of a foreign language. Find a job where you can run a class teaching others who want to learn that language.

Depending on your skill level, you can charge your customers more for advanced classes and less for basic conversational classes.

24. WordPress Website Builder

Best for Graphic Design Major / Web Designers

Salary: $25-$150 per website

What makes WordPress a popular website platform is its user-friendly interface. Even non-techie newbies can now build a WordPress site but there are still people who would rather pay someone else to do this for them. 

If you’re savvy with online platforms or know your way around WordPress, offer this service on Fiverr. A basic 4-page website that will take you less than an hour to set-up can get you at least $25 to $50.

25. Personal Trainer

Best for Sports Science Majors/Fitness Enthusiasts

Salary: $25.56 per hour

Being a fitness instructor is another great option for college athletes and students who take their fitness very seriously. 

Aside from the usual personal fitness training, you can also offer other classes depending on your speciality like yoga, Zumba, calisthenics, pilates, and more.

26. Tech Support or Computer Repair

Best for IT majors

Salary: $20 per hour

It seems like job opportunities abound for IT majors. I’ve personally known of college students that had no trouble finding a job even before they graduated. 

If you would rather have a flexible position that you can do in your free time, try offering remote repair services to small businesses, or even fellow students. 

Some computer-related issues that can be resolved remotely include slow running computers, malware attacks, printer issues, and data retrieval.

27. Mock Juror

Best for Law Majors

Salary: $20-$60 per case

Law students can practice their legal knowledge and get paid by being a mock juror. By signing up at Onlineverdict.com, you can get paid $20 – $60 per case which will typically take 20 minutes to an hour of your time.

28. Graphic Designer

Best for Design Students

Salary:  $15- $25 per post

With most businesses shifting their marketing online, the demand for graphic designers is increasing. 

Companies need graphic designers for their advertisements, blog posts, social media posts, products. You’ll find no shortage of jobs here, and you could even start your career early if you land a position while you’re still in college!

Scoring the Best Job While Still in College

Getting a job while you’re still in college does not mean that you have to be stuck in a routine job doing mundane duties. 

Before you start your search, write down what you’d like to achieve in the job. Some ideas include:

• Flexibility
• High pay
• Something that complements your study
• Something that will help with landing a full time role

We hope this has been a valuable resource for you to begin to find jobs that will fill your experience and monetary bank!

Aidan Kang, CFA

Aidan has been writing about personal finance for over 6 years. Prior to this, he worked as a Corporate Finance Analyst where he specialized in Due Diligence, Company Valuations and more. He is a CFA charterholder.