College life is not as smooth sailing as it appears in the typical Bollywood movies that we have seen growing up. Nobody seems to worry about daily expenses in these movies. But we all know that this is just another case of expectations versus reality. 

Apart from the heavy fees that most private colleges have, there are the day-to-day expenses that you have to take care of. That double cheese pizza with extra toppings and a side of fries followed by brownie for dessert might be tempting for sure, but three of them a month and you're broke for sure. We know you don't like moderation when it comes to buying basic stuff and yes, online shopping is very tempting. 

Just saving money might not be enough, at some point, you might want to increase the influx of money. Not just for the sake of meeting expenditure requirements, but earning money comes with a lot of other essential life lessons which are better if learned earlier in life. There’s a sense of independence that gets instilled in you when you start earning.

Independence and responsibility go hand in hand. You learn how to keep track of expenses and savings suddenly start to look like a good option. It does drive you to become more hardworking and sincere because there is something you are getting at the end of it. These life skills will take you a long way. 

There are quite a few opportunities to start making money in college. Here's a list of money-making ideas you might find helpful :

• Start a blog or a website:
  Now this is a time-consuming process but it's a fun one. If you can pen down your thoughts then half of your job is done there and then. It doesn't specifically have to be of a certain genre or type. But for your content to be treated as a quality source, one needs to maintain ingenuity.
  
  Instead of writing about the age-old topics that everyone seems to be writing about, you can bring in something different. Maybe a more personalized view about social issues, college experiences, problems of entering adulthood and the list of relatable content goes on and on.
  
  Advertisement platforms like Google AdSense are the money makers here. Once your website gets approved by AdSense, it starts showing ads and you make money every time someone clicks on that ad. 

• Start tutoring:
  When you complete studying a class with an above-average grade, you acquire enough knowledge to help someone else. Tutoring is a great option to help others and improve your skills while making some bucks on the side. Now you could go for online or offline tutoring based on your comfort levels.
  
  If you stay with your parents in your house you could teach a few kids in your apartments or your colony; if you stay in a hostel, you could help some juniors with a few subjects you are confident with. But charge less than professional tutors, so that kids see some advantage in learning from you.
  
  Alternatively, you could sign up for online tutoring. Some websites offer live training classes, while some offer you to create learning resources where people can read your stuff or watch your videos by paying for your course. Some of these websites are Vedantu, Udemy, Italki and SkillShare.
  
  On similar lines, you could get paid for completing people's assignments. There are a lot of websites where students post their problems and assignments and you get paid for solving them. A website called School Solver helps people in doing so.

• Become a social media manager:
  This is a very trendy job. A lot of businesses are now coming up online and need someone to handle their websites, emails, social media accounts and to build their websites. This is where you could come in handy.
  
  You don’t even need to go looking far and beyond for this. You probably have an uncle or aunt nearby who needs help with this. This is a great way to earn money by doing something you are accustomed to doing. Plus, it is a good addition to your resume.

• Work as a driver or delivery partner:
  There is a standard set of apps that everybody has on their phones - Ola, Uber, Swiggy, Zomato, Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Dunzo and Rapido. Now, these companies offer delivery services and the jobs have become quite popular. Swiggy even came out with an ad campaign telling young people to work while studying. 
  
  By working as a driver or a delivery person part-time (4-5 hours), you could earn up to ₹30,000 and ₹12,000 monthly respectively, on average. All you would require is a vehicle and basic documents like your Aadhar card and you are good to go. 

• Start investing:
  If you have a knack for handling finances and keeping a check on the stock market, then you have probably tried your hand at investing already.
  
  Well, if you have not and you are confident enough, then you should definitely give it a try. You could either invest in shares or cryptocurrency. But it's very tricky and shouldn't be done in haste and without some prior knowledge. 

• Find paid internships:
  You get to learn something while getting paid for it and it looks great on your résumé. Is there anything else you could wish for? Though it might not be so easy to get a paid internship in the early years of your college life.
  
  But maybe with some hustle and a few “contacts” to help you out, you might have a good shot at landing yourself a paid internship.

• Freelancing:
  Freelancing isn't just about writing. A freelancer is someone who is self-employed and can work in any field such as journalism, photography, software development, building websites, debugging, event planning and so on.
  
  It's all about offering your services whenever you feel like it, so there’s that comfort. Again, it's a good addition to your résumé and even to your Instagram bio. You could look up Freelancer.com for help to find where your services could be required.

• Sell craft or handmade goodies:
  If you are good at arts and crafts, basically a creative mind with some free time, then this is perfect for you. A lot of students are finding ways to sell and advertise their artwork.
  
  Making personalized gifts and cards is a great gift idea and people do pay a good amount of money to get it done. You could find a good customer base in your college itself. College events like fests, Valentine’s Day and Prom Nights are days to look out for. 

• A startup:
  This is for someone who has a strong affinity for entrepreneurship. You have probably binge-watched the entire season of a TV show and whilst you are waiting for the next season to air, why not start something of your own with your buddies or find a group of people who are interested in your idea?
  
  A lot of startups started in college. It could either be a great success or an experience of a lifetime. There are a few programs in college that involve interactions between students and CEOs of startups. But it takes a great deal of patience, hard work, and determination to make a startup successful. 

• Do tasks on Amazon Mechanical Turk and Fiverr:
  Since freelancing requires a good level of skill, you complete micro-tasks on sites such as Fiverr or Amazon Mechanical Turk and get paid for it. These tasks could include anything such as singing, dancing, web development, data analyzing, making a PowerPoint and so on.
  
  For example, on Fiverr, you can sell whatever skills you have and create a gig and people will buy that gig. Being serious here, there are people who make money off singing 'Happy Birthday' or a funny dance video. So go on, give it a go. 

In today's day and age, it has become essential to make some more money on the side to fulfill or at least do justice to the needs, requirements, wants and cravings that students have whilst still in college.

It is a great way to not only build an extra income but also to learn new skills and potentially become a full-time business. Thus, we have discussed a few ways for students to increase their streams of income and take one more step towards their financial independence.