You need to make some more money for college but struggle with managing school, activities, and a job? If yes, online jobs are the perfect way to go! I will now share 12 websites that pay $20/hour to students for online jobs.
Related: 15+ Creative Ways to Make Money as a Student
The pay can vary of course and depends on how much you work, but generally speaking, these sites do pay about $20 an hour and are student-friendly, meaning that I picked these based on them not needing college degrees.
To make it a little clearer, I will first state the job and then the websites offering those jobs. Let’s get started!
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Description
Being a website tester means that you will be giving feedback on websites and apps online, by recording your screen and voice.
Websites that pay $20/hour to students for website testing
- TryMyUi: This website connects you to companies and people who need feedback on their sites or apps, after filling out your profile and sending a test audit. You can reject or accept offers as you like.
PAYMENT
The pay is $10 per test, which lasts 20 minutes. So yes, $20 an hour is totally possible. Keep in mind that there won’t be enough open jobs to cover an 8 hour day though.
is it worth it?
I signed up for it to test TryMyUi and will let you know about my first paycheck! I do think it’s a great way to make extra money online, but using only this site won’t pay all your bills. So stick with me!
RELATED: 15+ Creative Ways to Make Money as a Student
DESCRIPTION
A virtual assistant is like a real-life assistant, but online. You will complete tasks such as organizing files, answering emails or arranging meetings. It can also be part of the job to manage financial information of your employer or complete online tasks they need you for.
Websites that pay $20/hour to students for being a virtual assistant
There are several websites that connect freelancers to clients, but the best way to find them is through Facebook groups. There are several groups dedicated to freelancers where you can easily find people looking for virtual assistants.
2. UpWork: UpWork is a website that connects freelancers and clients, for various jobs, not only virtual assistants. There are other websites as well, but many require degrees.
3. Fiverr: You may now this website already, but it’s one of the largest and easiest to use for freelancers and finding freelancers.
Payment
You can set your own rates, but keep in mind that UpWork takes 20% off of that. The normal wage for virtual assistants is between $15 and $40 and up, depending on your expertise and experience. Sometimes people pay per project which you complete, and not hourly, but that varies.
Investment
It can be very helpful to create a website for your Virtual Assistant service, you can look at some examples here.
And here is a step-by-step guide on building your own website!
Is it worth it?
If you like working online and earn some good money, this job is perfect for you. You can have more than one client if you can keep yourself organized. That way, you can earn more.
description
A freelance writer writes articles and posts for companies and clients.
websites to check out for this job
4. Craiglist: You can find all kinds of online jobs here.
5. ProBlogger.com: If you go on “jobs”, you will find a list of hiring companies and clients who need all kinds of writers.
6. Freelancer.com This is another website that connects freelancers to job opportunities. You can select between hundreds of job areas, including various writing jobs.
Payment
Many companies pay per word count, which starts at $20 per 1000 words and up. It’s hard to set an average wage rate since projects and job offers are so diverse.
Investment
Being a paid writer means that you really need to perfect your writing and grammar. Even if you know you are good, sometimes we overlook simple mistakes. If writing for money is something you would like to do, I would recommend getting Grammarly to check your spelling and grammar mistakes automatically.
Is it worth it?
The mentioned websites are legit and definitely good choices for being a freelance writer. If you like to write and have good grammar, this job is perfect for you.
Description
The name reveals it all: A social media manager manages social media accounts like Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest (even though it isn’t actually a social media). The job consists of creating, planning, and marketing content for the accounts.
Websites that pay $20/hour to students managing social media
7. Flexjobs: Flexjobs is a website that allows you to either look for offered jobs or offer your services. You pay a small monthly fee to use the site, but if you really do, it is so worth that.
It is worth checking out all the sites I’ve mentioned for any of these online jobs for students. They usually offer all kinds of freelancing jobs, not only in the category where I mentioned the website.
Payment
There are so many social media manager positions open out there, if one isn’t enough, you can work for multiple clients, considering you’re organized enough.
Check out these 10 organization hacks for freelancers!
Depending on your experience and how good you are in what you do, you can earn between $15 and $40 per hour as a social media manager, the average being about $25 per hour.
Investment
You will earn more money if you not only manage social media accounts but actually contribute to its growth, leading to more sales or traffic of your employer.
For that, you might want to consider learning more about the social media algorithm you will be managing in and invest in some education in that area. It’s also good if your account has good results or you have a test account to show them your work on.
Is it worth it?
If you like being on social media anyway, why not get paid for it? I do this job myself, managing a company’s Pinterest account, and love to see how it grows with my managing.
Description
As a blogger, you can either have your own blog and be a freelancer for yourself or write for other blogs online. We will talk about the second option in another online job idea.
As a blogger, you create content for your website, where you either make money with your reach, such as ads or affiliate marketing or through selling your own digital or physical products through the website/blog.
If you do it all by yourself, you will also need to market your blog on social media, design your website, etc.
How to get started
I have a whole guide on starting a blog- on a budget, so it’s perfect for students too. I also launched a free 5-day email course named make money blogging as a student! You can check it out here.
Payment
You get paid for what you achieve! I know that can be scary, but the potential of how much money you can make with blogging are endless! Many bloggers make a good living from it, it takes time to get there though.
If you are interested in my monthly online income reports, subscribe to my email list to receive them! I started sharing them, but with my subscribers only, so if you’re interested, sign up!
Investment
As you can see in my How to Start a Blog on a Budget post, the investment into blogging is really not as high as people think. All you need is a hosting plan which you can get for as low as $4 a month, and a blog theme to customize, which you can get for even less than $10.
Check out my post with 10 gorgeous themes for less than $50!
Other than that, all you need is patience AND work on your content and marketing!
Is it worth it?
IF you start your website professionally and with the right mindset, it is TOTALLY worth it! Your blog belongs to you and it isn’t depending on social media networks functioning.
description
Transcriptionists type out audio or video files into text documents.
Websites that pay $20/hour to students transcribing
8. TranscribeMe: A website that offers transcription jobs, which you can do without a degree.
9. GoTranscript: Another website like TranscribeMe, with about the same payment-rates.
Payment
Payment from both these websites is a little lower than the other jobs, with $15-$22 per hour. With experience, you will transcribe faster from time to time and get it done in less time.
Payment is for “audio-hour”, and how long you take to finish it is based on your abilities and of course the deadline.
Is it worth it?
Being a transcriptionist as a student is a really good online job, I signed up to the sites myself and only need to find some time to get started.
Description
A proofreader proofreads (wow.) websites, books, online documents, and everything that needs to be corrected and read over.
Websites for proofreaders
10. Proofreadingservices.com: This website lets you take a quick test first to review your application.
Payment
The average pay for proofreaders is around $20/hour.
Investment
To really become successful and get jobs, I recommend you to watch this free webinar from Caitlin Pyle, who has built her own proofreading business and has helped more than 4000 students become successful proofreaders (and yes, there is still demand).
You can sign up for the free training here.
Is it worth it?
If you really want it to work for you, you will! I recommend you to watch Caitlin’s free workshop to figure out if proofreading is something for you. If it is, hell yes it’s worth it!
Description
I didn’t really know how to call this job, but you can sell your academic papers and essays online! That is pretty cool if you have lots of papers already, or if you like writing them.
Websites that pay for your academic papers
11. Studybay: Studybay is a website where you can sell your essays and other papers.
Payment
That can range between $5 and up to $30 per page.
Investment
Since you are probably still in school and hand in essays regularly, I would suggest waiting to sell an essay you used in school for a few months, if not years. You don’t want to get accused of plagiarism when they find your exact essay online! If you have High School essays and you’re in college, then this is great for you.
Is it worth it?
Well, if you have lots of papers from years ago which you know are good, why not sell them instead of throwing them away? If only one essay is good and keeps making sales, you can make good passive income from it.
Description
As a Youtuber, you can have your own channel or produce, edit or manage content for a channel of a client, which would then be called a videographer or editor though, so we will focus on the first option this time.
Building up a following and ranking high in YouTube search takes time, but is totally possible and a good side hustle for college students.
How you get paid as a Youtuber
12. Google. Google Adsense is where your ads will come from which you’ll be paid for. As soon as you reach 1,000 subscribers and get 4,000 views within 12 months, you are eligible to apply for monetizing your channel.
You can also work with brands or sell your products to make money through Youtube.
Payment
Normally, your revenue increases as your channel grows, so because of that, you may not earn $20/hour of the work you do from the beginning.
Different components play a role in how much a video earns you, such as demographics, video topic, season, and of course the views and watch time.
On average, the CPM (revenue per thousand views) is between $2 and $6, so it really isn’t a normal “wage” you would get when choosing Youtube as your online job, but if you do it right and over time, you can earn way more than a 9-5 with a $20/hr rate would make you. Just stay focused!
Investment
You don’t need much to start a successful Youtube channel, but a good camera quality, even if it’s just your phone, should be in. Getting a tripod was one of my best “investments” since it makes your life so much easier if you don’t have to constantly stack books for your camera or phone to hold.
You will also need video editing software, but iMovie, for example, works really good and is free. You can watch Youtube videos that show you how to do it step by step.
Is it worth it?
If you enjoy being creative with filming and editing and are ready to be seen by others, this is so for you! I have a channel myself (check it out here) and love to talk to you guys and be creative with my ideas and in my edits.
Those were 12 websites that pay $20/hour to students! I hope it helped you pick a few you’re interested in and you find one or two that fits you well. We should all enjoy what we do, even if we do it (mainly) for the money.
Don’t forget to check out my 15+ unique ideas to make money as a student, to find some more tips for making money, those aren’t online jobs specifically, but I love them!
Until soon,
Students can really go for these jobs. It’s very manageable and they could definitely balance it with their acads. For jobs involving transcription, I think it’d be a huge help too for students who are into transcription work to make use of transcription tools like izitext.io that simplify the process. They coud do the job in a faster and easier way if they use it.