Life Hacks

What to Do if You’re in College and Stuck at Home With No Job This Summer

Elizabeth
July 27, 2021

Recent studies show that 70% of college students work full-time at some point during their college career. And, while most college students do take on summer jobs to help offset the costs of attending university, this summer might look a little bit different.

With lockdowns closing many businesses and numerous internships moving to a remote structure, many college students find themselves out of a job this summer amid tough financial times for all of us. However, it doesn’t have to be that way! Here are four things you can do if you’re in college and stuck at home with no job this summer.

Apply for a Remote Summer Internship

If you planned on interning at your dream company this summer but have recently found out that your 2020 summer internship has been canceled, you might still be in luck! Numerous summer internship programs are still happening, just on a remote basis. Remote internships offer different ways to learn and connect with others in your industry by offering you the same opportunities to gain real-world experience, make valuable connections, and learn skills you need to advance in your career. 

Not sure where to look for a remote internship for summer 2020? Angel List has compiled a pretty great list of the best virtual startup internships for summer 2020 with positions in companies based all across the country and even abroad in places like Europe and Asia. And, Amazon, Facebook, and Google all still have open remote internship positions available for the summer, too. A cool work from home job for Google? Sounds fantastic. 

Sign Up for Free Educational Courses

If you’d like to improve certain skills that you can’t improve while working a remote internship or find that you don’t have enough experience for a work from home job just yet, sign up for free educational courses. They’ll help you learn everything from how to use Microsoft Office to learn how to code or even speak a new language.

The founder of Class Central recently compiled a list of over 400 classes from Ivy League schools such as Princeton, Yale, and Columbia. You can learn Gamification, The Science of Well-Being, and even learn coding to help make apps. edX is another great place for free college courses. From Yale and Harvard to universities in Australia, Asia, and beyond, you can access over 2,5000 courses on pretty much any topic. They offer courses from over 140 different higher education institutions.

Sell Your Skills on Fiverr

Want to make money this summer? Start freelancing! If you know you want to be a graphic designer, web designer, copywriter, or even a dance instructor, you can sell your services on freelance gig platforms such as Fiverr. All you have to do is create a free account and then create your gigs. You can sell anything (seriously, anything).

And, this is not only a great way to earn money this summer, but it’s also a great way to gain hands-on working experience. It’s less of a work from home job and more of an independent business. You decide what you sell and how often you work. As an added plus, it’s also a great way to build a portfolio before you even graduate if you want to eventually have a career in something like writing or design.

Get a Work From Home Job

There are actually tons of remote jobs for college students available. And, you can make a pretty decent living with a work from home job this summer. For example, did you know that as a social media manager, you can earn over $48,000 a year just for managing brands’ content online? Or, you can earn anywhere from $14 to $22 an hour teaching English to foreign students online.

To make the most out of a work from home job this summer, try to look for remote positions that will allow you to gain experience in industries that you actually want to work in. Make sure that whatever you’re doing, you’ll be able to leverage that experience on your resume in order to get a job once you graduate. Virtual assistant positions are always great for younger students while copywriting jobs, design jobs, and even jobs in online marketing are also fantastic work from home jobs for college students.

Get More Out of Your Summer Earnings

If you’re hustling this summer then you’ll want to make sure you’re saving most of your paycheck to put back into tuition and other college costs. But, of course, you definitely deserve to treat yourself every once in a while. 

When you spend your hard-earned money, make sure you’re spending with a card that’s fully optimized for savings. The Cheese Debit Card is one such card. Ourdebit card comes with $0 in fees on top of lots of great savings opportunities. In fact, you can earn a lot of cashback for simple spending. 

Getting a work from home job this summer is a great way to build experience for your future career, but you simply can’t beat these kinds of savings. Sign up today to access all of the super student savings.