15+ Summer Side Hustles For College Students To Pay Off Student Loans

Looking for the best summer side hustle ideas to pay off your student loans quickly? This list of fun side jobs and side hustles are perfect for students such as yourself!

Whether it is online side hustles you can do in the comfort of your own home, or making some extra cash outdoors, these 15 summer side hustle ideas  are bound to help you manage your huge student loans.

Are you ready for some fun summer side hustles? Grab a cup of coffee and dig in to this list.


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Read this ultimate list of summer side hustle ideas to get started with paying off your student loans and debts!

15+ Summer Side Hustles Perfect For College Students Looking To Make Extra Cash

Contents

1. Dog Walker/Sitter

As college students looking to make some extra cash, consider being a dog walker or dog sitter. All you need is a love for dogs, some spare time and creating a dog walker or sitter profile. 

Summer time is also the best time to make extra cash, as most pet owners will be going on vacations. 

Where to apply

Rover offers dog boarding, walking and even dog daycare services to its customers.

Once you sign up here as a dog sitter for Rover, you'll have the potential of earning $15-30/hour! This is a great summer side hustle for pet and dog lovers looking to make some extra cash and pay off debt.

2. Get Paid To Work Out

This summer, you can kill two birds with one stone with apps that will pay you to work out. It's a great way for you to get in shape, lose some kilos AND make some extra cash!

Where to apply

Start your challenge today with Healthy Wage here.

It's a great summer side hustle that is not only limited to your summer break! You can pretty much pay off your student loans even after summer AND instil the habit of working out. Whoop, whoop!

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3. Get Paid to Drive for DoorDash

Make great money on your own schedule by driving for DoorDash! It's a great way to make some cash whenever you want, as well as build a consistent income stream.

If you already have a drivers' license and some spare time during your summer break, why not get paid to drive? This summer side hustle has the potential of making you up to $20 per hour.

Where to apply

Sign up here to start earning money delivering for DoorDash! You'll start making extra cash consistently and pay off your student loans much quicker.

4. Get paid to transcribe, write captions or translate

Do you have a great ear AND awesome typing skills? If you're a tech-savvy college student, this is probably the best summer side hustle idea for you! Using a laptop and a stable internet connection, you can start making some money in between your busy schedule without sacrificing study time.

With Rev.com, you can actually choose between audio and video transcription, writing English captions for videos, as well as translate documents into 35+ languages.

I myself have made about $250 in the past. Here's a screenshot of my earnings:

Side note: If you're looking for a part-time online side hustle, then transcribing with Rev will be great for you. However, it can be quite challenging to pass Rev's application exam.

Where to apply

Head on over to Rev.com to start your application as a transcriber, foreign subtitler, captioner or translator here.

5. Sell your stuff with Decluttr

Do you have lots of old clothes, shoes, tech accessories, DVDs and books you would like to get rid off and make some extra cash?

Why not sell your unused items with Decluttr as your summer side hustle!! You can declutter your space AND pay down your student loans at the same time.

Decluttr is the fastest way for you to sell your unwanted household items, as you'll get an instant valuation, ship for FREE and get paid. This is by far one of the most effortless summer side hustle to make extra cash!

Where to apply

Start selling with Decluttr right here! You can start by learning how Decluttr works with this video that explains exactly how.

6. Join focus groups

Instead of wasting time trying to make money from surveys, why not consider joining focus groups instead? Focus groups are a great way to make good money without expending lots of your time!

You can also customise your preferences in order to get the most suitable focus groups with the highest possible income. This is the most suitable summer side hustle for college students yet, as it does not require a college degree at all.

Where to apply

Start paying down your student loan with Respondent. You can apply for an account easily right here.

7. Start a blog and make money affiliate marketing

Starting a blog is one of the best thing I've ever done in my life! If you have some basic computer knowledge and able to write good English articles, you can give blogging a try.

However, I will NEVER claim that making money blogging and affiliate marketing is easy. Just like any other business, blogging is hard work.

Given that you're willing to invest in yourself and the appropriate skills to become a profitable blogger, it is one of the BEST side hustles for college students.

A perfect example is FITnancials' Alexis Schroeder who started her blog who paid off $40k of student loans within 5 months. Her sister, Michelle Schroeder-Gardner of Making Sense of Cents now makes $1.5M a year while living and traveling in her sailboat.

I highly recommend her course, Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing if you're a total beginner when it comes to affiliate marketing.

After completing the course, I've made about $1600+ in affiliate income in my first year blogging.

Next steps

Want 10 easy tips to increase your affiliate income? Grab the free cheat sheet here to start earning more $ doing affiliate marketing!

8. Run errands with TaskRabbit

Can't find a part time or even casual job to make money during your summer break? No worries! Why not just run errands with TaskRabbit!

If you have a car, bicycle or even motorcycle, you can make some cash helping people with their to-dos.

From fixing up the fence, mowing people's lawns to delivering flowers, you get to choose which projects you want to take on as well as decide how long you want to work.

You can even stand in queue for someone and make money from it!!

Where to apply

Sign up here to become a tasker today. Registration is super easy, you just need to provide your phone number and zip code, as well as basic details to get started.

9. Teach English Online with Premier TEFL

Do you want a summer side hustle that is flexible, fun AND makes you serious cash? Consider being an English as Foreign Language teacher online! Don't worry-you don't need to be an English professor to do this summer gig.

The best part about applying to become a teacher with Premier TEFL is their paid internships! You can choose which country you would like to travel to during your summer break WHILE making money with them.

Is this the perfect summer side hustle or what!

Where to apply

Head on over to this page to take a look at what paid internships are on offer. Otherwise, you can teach English abroad here.

Considering a career as a fully accredited Teacher of English as a Foreign Language after your summer break? Sign up here for up to 50% off fully Accredited TEFL/TESOL Courses!

10. Be a Pinterest virtual assistant/consultant

Ever since I discovered Pinterest in March 2018, my life has completely transformed!

I now work full time from home as a Pinterest virtual assistant. This is by far the most lucrative side hustle I have ever tried, and it still is my favourite way of making money online.

The perks of being a Pinterest VA include working within your own schedule, the freedom to travel and work as well as ultimate work satisfaction!

Since starting this new career, I've built so many connections with unique businesses and individuals. I'm now purposeful and feel like I'm making a difference in other people's business and lives. Why not you too??

Where to apply

Join this free Become A Pinterest VA 5-day e-course if you want to see whether being a Pinterest VA is a great fit for you.

Once you're done with that, I highly recommend getting on the wait list for THE online program that helped me launch my full time Pinterest VA business. Start this fun summer side hustle NOW!

11. Sell your photos with Deposit Photos

Are you a talented photographer with an eye for detail and sense of beauty? Whatever it is you love photographing, you should consider selling them with a stock photo vendor like Deposit Photos!

Don't think that you will need professional gear to do this-your smart phone is more than sufficient.

Where to apply

Register a contributor's account and sell your images or photos with Deposit Photos here. You will need to pass a brief test before you get started.

12. Open an online shop with Creative Market

Are you a creative at heart who loves designing graphics, website and social media creatives? Why not consider opening an online shop with Creative Market!

As a college student, it's important to keep costs low when considering an online side hustle.

With this summer side hustle, it does not require much start up costs at all. In fact, all you need is a stable internet connection, a reliable laptop or computer and your willingness to make this work.

Where to apply

As Creative Market has limited shop space, you will need to request an invite before you can start your unique online shop. Who knows? This might be another great side hustle you can continue on to do even after your summer break to pay off your student loans.

13. Promote products on Pinterest with Ultimate Bundles

Regardless of whether you own a website or not, you can promote affiliate products and make great money from it!

As an affiliate marketer with Ultimate Bundles myself, I LOVE their products as a consumer and as an affiliate marketer. Their products are not only great value, but their support for beginner affiliate marketers is also exceptional.

Where to apply

Become an affiliate with Ultimate Bundles and start promoting their products on Pinterest and other social media platforms you use, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Ultimate Bundles is a great affiliate network to be a part of, as they have products across various niches.

Grab this FREE affiliate marketing course by Christina Root to learn the basics of it. You can probably make your first affiliate income before summer ends, making it the BEST summer side hustle for college students.

14. House Sitting

Do you have a love for animals and pets alike? Why not become a house sitter? House sitting is becoming increasingly common for pet owners who need someone to look after their beloved pets when they go on vacation.

Where to apply

Sign up here to become a sitter. You are inching one step closer towards paying off your student loans!

15. Baby Sitting

Do you love children and would not mind doing some baby sitting for extra cash?

This summer side hustle is not only reserved for your summer break, but can also help you bring in the extra moolah to pay off student debt any time of the year. Not only is this side hustle idea highly lucrative during your summer break, you can also continue to offer your baby sitting services throughout the year by word-of-mouth.

Where to apply

Sign up here to become a baby sitter with Sitter City. This could be just the side gig you need this summer to start paying off that massive student loan of yours!

16. Do some music gigs

Are you a talented voice over artist, musician, actor or just interested to become a TV crew? Consider working with Mandy, the number one job platform for cast, crew and professionals!

You might even be able to make this into your full time gig once summer is over. Moreover, by using your creative talents to make extra money over your summer break, you'll also be inching closer towards paying off your student loans quickly.

Where to apply

Sign up here to start making extra money during your summer break as a creative. Out of all the summer side hustles on this list, I think this one is the most exciting!!

Final Takeaway: Summer Side Hustle Ideas For Students

Do you have a summer side hustle or side hustles? If you have tried any of the side hustle ideas above, comment below to share your experiences with me! I would definitely love to know all about it!