Save the Student - the UK's largest student money advice website - is here to help you explore online opportunities for making some extra money alongside your studies.
If you’re looking for new opportunities to earn a little money on the side while studying, Save the Student are here to share some ways to make money while studying for your degree, all with easy access via apps!
1. Surveys
One easy way to make money online is to take part in surveys. Many give points for answering questions about your opinions or personal habits, and points can then be swapped for cash, gift cards or competition entries.
Advantages: Very low effort - you can answer surveys whenever you have some spare time, for example, while waiting for the bus or on your lunch break.
Disadvantages: It can take anywhere from a few days to a few months to earn a gift card or cash pay-out.
There’s no shortage of survey apps out there, but it’s worth researching the best survey sites for students first, as some are better than others.
2. Receipt scanning
Receipt scanning apps let you earn back some of the money you spend on groceries and other shopping. Once you’ve opened an account, simply upload a photo of your latest receipt to earn cashback (usually a few pennies at a time).
As with survey apps, you’re being paid for sharing details about your personal habits.
Advantages: Some apps let you upload the same receipt to other apps as well, meaning more cashback for less effort!
Disadvantages: There’s usually a limit to how many receipts you can scan each day, plus a time limit on uploading older receipts.
Receipt scanning apps to try include Receipt Hog and CheckoutSmart.
3. Tasker apps
Tasker apps pay you for completing ‘micro jobs’ - i.e. one-off or quick tasks. These can include mystery shopping gigs, such as visiting and reporting on local stores. Others reward you for photographing job ads.
Advantages: It’s flexible work, plus you may find missions for locations you’re visiting anyway, like the supermarket.
Disadvantages: Can be a challenge to get local missions if you’re not in one of the bigger cities.
4. Trivia, games and TV
Want to be paid to play games? There’s an app for that! In fact, there are several, ranging from trivia apps that pay real cash if you beat the quizmaster, through to those that give rewards for installing the latest games on your phone.
Advantages: The fun factor!
Disadvantages: These apps can suck your time if you don’t restrict yourself – and your data allowance, so best done on WiFi!
If you’re good with trivia, check out the HQ app. Swagbucks have an app that rewards you for watching TV, while gamers may like to try out PlaySpot.
This round-up covers apps that don’t require a lot of effort, so they don’t eat into your time spent studying, and while rewards tend to be small and fairly infrequent, every little helps!
If you’ve got more time to spare, there are apps like Coople (for temp jobs and shift work) and Plum, an auto-savings app that makes light work of growing your savings.
Guest blog by Save the Student – the UK's largest student money advice site.
