Best Part-Time Jobs for College Students in 2023

Are you in school and looking for the best part-time jobs for college students? For many students, college is your first real taste of independence, and that means you might be dealing with the financial realities of being an adult.

Finding a good part-time job can help you with extra spending money, travel funds, and avoiding or paying down student debt. Because we know you’re busy, we want you to find a part-time job that pays well for the work you're doing and has flexible hours.

DoorDash Disclaimer: Actual earnings may differ and depend on factors like number of deliveries completed, time of day, location, and expenses. Hourly pay is calculated using average Dasher payouts while on a delivery (from the time you accept an order until the time you drop it off) over a 90 day period and includes compensation from peak pay, tips, and other incentives.

1. Proofread in your spare time

Get paid $15-$40/hour

Proofreaders put the finishing touches on essays, web copy, sales pages, emails, blog posts, tweets, and a lot more. Because errors can make written content stand out as unprofessional, this is an in-demand skill. 

This is one of the best jobs for college students if you’re the kind of person who is meticulous with grammar and punctuation. It’s also incredibly flexible because it’s based online, so you pick when and where you work.

For more on working as a proofreader, check out the article Proofreading Jobs: Make Money Pointing Out Mistakes. You’ll learn:

• What exactly proofreaders do
• How to start working as a proofreader
• How much you can expect to make
• Where to find jobs

2. Take online surveys

Make $1-$3/hour

Online surveys don’t pay very well compared to other part-time jobs on this list, but they’re incredibly simple and flexible, meaning they’ll definitely fit in with your class schedule. Most surveys take 5 to 30 minutes, and you can take online surveys in between classes, before you head out to a party, while you’re watching TV, and so on. 

Brands pay survey companies to collect market research data that helps them create better products and more effective marketing campaigns. This is why survey companies are willing to pay you for your time.

Here are our top recommendations for paid online surveys:

• Branded Surveys: Surveys pay $1 to $3 on average, and you can get paid via bank transfer, PayPal, check, or gift card.
• Survey Junkie: Earn $1-$3 per survey, and Survey Junkie pays via PayPal cash, bank transfer, or gift card.

3. Deliver for DoorDash

Get paid $15-$25/hour while on delivery

Working as a Doordash driver can be one of the best part-time jobs for college students who have access to a car, bike, or scooter. Dashers (those who deliver for DoorDash) set their own hours and deliver food from local and chain restaurants. 

You’re paid for each delivery, not a set hourly rate, and you can expect to make $15-$25/hour.

Assuming you’re taking classes during the day, DoorDash can work well with your class schedule because some of the busiest hours are from 4:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Busy hours extend even later in the evening near college campuses.

If you’re interested in signing up, here are the DoorDash driver requirements:

• Must be 18 or older
• Have access to a car, motorcycle, scooter, or bicycle in some cities
• Have a driver’s license and auto insurance (if delivering with car or motorcycle)
• Social Security number if delivering in the U.S. 
• Consent to a criminal background check
• Have no major driving violation in the past 7 years

4. Walk dogs or pet sit with Rover

Get paid $15-$20/hour walking dogs and $25-$60/day for pet sitting

Rover is an online platform that connects pet owners with dog walkers and pet sitters in their area. This is an excellent part-time job for college students because it’s incredibly flexible, and you set your own rates. And of course — getting to hang out with animals can be a great destresser.

The way Rover works is that you pay a one-time fee of $35 to sign up and create a profile. You set your rates, availability, and the types of animals you are comfortable with. When you create your profile, you need photos of you playing with pets because it shows that you’re comfortable being around animals.

Pet owners will start contacting you almost immediately, and you can message in the app or meet up in person to hash out the details. 

5. Start a blog

Make $500-$10,000/month

Blogging easily has the highest earning potential on this list of college jobs, but it’s a slow business model overall. Take this blog: what started as $3 in display ad income has grown into a 7-figure business in less than 5 years. It can take weeks or months to earn anything from your blog, but you can easily grow it on your own time. 

What we love so much about blogging is that you can blog about anything — food, style, travel, being a college student, personal finance, and so much more. 

If you’re interested in learning more, here’s what we recommend:

• Start your blog on Bluehost. This is the exact hosting service we use, and you can start a professional looking blog for less than $3/month with our exclusive pricing.
• Read our How to Start a Blog guide. This guide walks you through each step of starting a blog, from how to pick a niche to growing your following.

6. Shop for Instacart

Make $15-$20/hour

Instacart is an incredibly popular grocery delivery service, and it’s a good part-time job for college students who go to school in busy urban or suburban areas. The busiest hours in Instacart are Monday through Friday from 4p.m. to 8p.m., and all day on Saturday and Sunday, so it probably won’t conflict with your class schedule.

Instacart hires two different types of shoppers, and here’s the job description for each:

• In-store shopper: You work in stores only and are considered a part-time employee of Instacart. In-store shoppers can work no more than 29 hours a week and make around $14/hour
• Full-service shopper: You will be considered an independent contractor, so you can work as many or as few hours a week as you want. Full-service shoppers make $15-$20/hour on average, and you will need access to a vehicle.

The requirements to work for Instacart are nearly identical to DoorDash, so if you’re thinking about DoorDash, Instacart may also be worth checking out. 

7. Shipt

Make $15-$20/hour

Since we’re talking about food delivery as some of the best part-time jobs for college students, we have to talk about Shipt. This is another grocery delivery service that’s blown up since the start of the pandemic, and Shipt is now owned by Target.

Shipt shoppers make $15-$20/hour and can work in over 5,000 cities throughout the U.S. You can deliver between the hours of 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., so there are definitely hours that fit with your class schedule.

8. Work as a babysitter or nanny

Make $10-$30/hour

College students are prime candidates to work as babysitters or nannies. Parents love the energy you’ll bring, and they know you’re responsible enough to care for their kids.

For those who are interested, you can easily find babysitting and nanny gigs that work with your class schedule because late afternoons and evenings are the most in-demand times for parents. You can make around $10-$30/hour, and some families even pay nannies to travel with them during the summer.

You can check our Care.com to list your services and find families near you. 

9. Sell printables on Etsy

Make $50-$500/month

If you’re creative and have some graphic design skills, then this is an excellent college job, and it can become a fairly passive source of income. See, printables are digital files that you create once and can sell over and over again without having to create or ship individual products.

Selling printables involves creating digital files for things like:

• Invitations
• Party decor
• Printable home decor
• Signs with inspirational quotes
• Stickers
• Planner pages
• Stationery
• Party games

You are designing and listing them on Etsy on your own schedule, so it’s one of the most flexible jobs for college students. Whenever you have time in your class schedule and feel inspired, you can sit down and design something.

M$M tip: There’s a fantastic FREE ebook called Seasonal Products Secrets that explains what kinds of products sell best over the year on Etsy. It’s a great resource to get your creative juices flowing.

10. Become a digital marketing manager

Make $1,000-$1,500/month

When we say digital marketing manager, we’re talking about running Facebook and Instagram ads for small businesses. 

Running Facebook ads is creating highly targeted ad campaigns that drive traffic to your client’s business. As the largest social media community, Facebook is a great place for small businesses to grow, but very few have fully tapped into the market. That’s because many business owners lack the time or energy to learn how to create and execute an effective ad strategy.

That’s where you come in! College students are known for having excellent social media skills, so your age can be a huge asset.

BTW: This kind of work experience would look amazing on resumes after graduation. And because this college job can be done remotely, you can keep your business going while you’re on breaks.

11. Become a Pinterest virtual assistant

Make ~$500/month per client

You’re probably familiar with Pinterest as a place for finding DIYs, recipes, workouts, style boards, and much more. But online business owners leverage Pinterest’s wide reach to grow their online traffic.

For example, if you found the M$M site from Pinterest, there’s a reason — we have someone who creates pins and boards, keeps a pinning schedule, and optimizes the M$M Pinterest account.

Pinterest virtual assistants (VAs) are a valuable asset for business owners in the same way digital marketing managers are. Business owners lack the time to learn and take advantage of all of the available traffic-building strategies. 

12. Work as a sports referee

Earn $25/hour

Did you know that referees can make around $25/hour refereeing soccer games or working as a Little League umpire? Surprisingly, many sports don’t require that you have any experience playing the sport, but you will need to know the rules really well.

This is a great job for high school students and college students. Because sports run seasonally, you will make the most money by signing up to ref more than one sport. For example, you could ref outdoor soccer in the fall, indoor soccer in the winter, and baseball in the spring.

You can find these jobs through local community centers or sports clubs. If there’s a sport you really love, you can even look into finding some coaching positions, too!

13. Participate in research studies

Pay varies from $75-$1,000+

Research studies and clinical trials are used by universities, drug companies, and medical companies to study diseases, medicines, and treatments. There are studies for individuals with certain diseases or conditions, but lots of studies simply need healthy adults to participate.

You may stay overnight at a research facility for a couple of nights and go back in for regular blood draws after the study is completed. College students should look for studies that don’t conflict with your class schedule, and the trial description will clearly outline dates.

If you’re at a university with a medical school, you can try there first. There’s also ClinicalTrials.gov, a massive database of over 300,000 different research studies around the world to find studies you might be eligible for. The site is run by the United States National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health, so you know it's legit.

14. Find on campus jobs

College campuses always have jobs designed specifically for college students. These jobs are created with a student’s schedule in mind, so it’s not like working as a server at a restaurant that won’t care about finals week or that massive paper that’s due in two days but you still haven’t started.

Another thing that’s nice about these jobs is that if you’re living on campus, getting to and from work will be super easy. 

Here are several on-campus jobs:

• Peer tutor: You can work as a tutor for your school’s educational resource center or post flyers around campus to advertise your services. You can tutor academic coursework, but don’t forget about any musical or language skills you might have, too!
• Brand ambassador: Big brands (like Coca-Cola, RedBull, PINK, Amazon Prime, Bumble, and Southern Tide) pay students to promote their brands on campus. You can find these opportunities through your campus services offices or by contacting brands directly to see if there are openings.
• Research assistant: Departments ranging from psychology, history, and biology offer hourly or stipend jobs for students to help with research duties. This can also be a great way to build relationships in the field you’re interested in pursuing after graduation. You can contact individual departments for more information.
• Library attendant: You can be checking books and other materials in and out or helping students find research materials. It’s a quiet job, and you might even get a chance to get some homework done — possibly the perfect job for those with intense course loads.
• Campus tour guide: This is a great job for high-energy, enthusiastic students who know their school really well. You may be leading large groups or doing one-on-one tours and answering questions from potential students and their parents. Just be prepared to memorize a lot of information!
• Social media assistant: As colleges become more media savvy, they need students with social media skills to manage their accounts. Your college’s marketing department is a good place to look for these job listings.

Those are just a few options, and most colleges have on-campus job boards that you can check for listings. And some of these are eligible jobs if FAFSA qualifies you for work-study. The only real downside is that these jobs pay closer to minimum wage than a lot of our other options.

How to pick the best part-time job while you’re in college

Between keeping up with your courses, your social life, extracurriculars, and the ever-elusive full night of sleep, you have a lot on your hands. Here are a few tips for picking a part-time job that fits well with your busy class schedule:

Tip #1: Think about the location

If you don’t have a car, your campus isn’t walkable or bikeable, or there’s a lack of good public transportation, your job possibilities might be more limited. Focusing on campus jobs or remote work might be your best option. The benefit of online jobs is that you can keep working when you go back home during school breaks.

Tip #2: Take a good look at your workload and class schedule

Many of the jobs on this list let you set your own schedule, and we listed those for a reason — you get to pick a schedule that works for you. More traditional jobs like working as a restaurant server or working in retail won’t always keep your courses in mind when scheduling your hours.

Tip #3: Be realistic about how much you’ll make with different part-time jobs

Out of all of the jobs for college students we’ve listed, paid surveys and on-campus jobs pay the least. You might find that they’re the easiest, but there are definitely higher paying options. Take a look at your budget and figure out how much money you want to make with your part-time job.

Tip #4: Think about the careers you might want to explore

While your life right now is focused on getting through college, the end goal is always to find a career you love. If you can find something like a paid internship in a field you’re interested in exploring, that work experience will look great on your resume, though those jobs are limited and highly competitive. 

Good part-time jobs for college students: The final word

Burnout is a real threat to college students, and that’s why we recommend jobs like Doordash or Instacart. The pay is decent, and you can work as much or as little as you’d like.

Working in college can be a serious help if you want spending money or to start paying off your loans, but don’t forget to take care of yourself. Take a break when you need one. Get a full night of sleep every once in a while. Take time for self-care. And don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it.

Remember, you’ve got this.