College: An endless saga of being broke and stressed. Whether it’s being stressed with studying, stressed with paying the bills, or especially a mix of both, managing a part-time job in addition to school is a struggle many college students have to deal with. After going to class all day and working all night, you are left with no time for those major projects, papers, or time to study for that big exam. Not to fear! We have compiled several ideas for jobs targeted at college students that are flexible with class schedules and assignments that will also pay those bills and bar tabs.
As the economy is still recovering from the 2020 pandemic, the search for jobs is in high demand. Since many businesses weren’t able to financially recover from the world shut-down, the supply for jobs declined as costs for labor increased, leaving the US with an unemployment rate of 14.7% in April 2020. In November 2022, the unemployment rate went down 3.6% on average, but is still up to 11.4% among the demographic of teenagers and young adults. With this shift in the economy, many companies integrated a virtual aspect to their business models to maintain operations and prevent a further loss of jobs within the industry. Nearly all companies now offer the option to solely work remote, or a hybrid of in-person and remote. This shift in global operations has forever altered the way companies accommodate their employees, giving a huge advantage to college students.
If you’re looking for a way to get your foot in the door for a career after college, paid internships are the way to go! For University of Alabama students, there are tons of opportunities through the university, in addition to organizations affiliated with the school. Personally, I searched high-and-low through LinkedIn to find a paid internship, and eventually found one in my field for accounting that works with the sororities and fraternities at Alabama! UA offers opportunities such as marketing, athletic, and research paid internships for undergraduate students, which allows for a flexible work schedule to accommodate for classes. Especially with the shift in the economy, most, if not all, companies offer a hybrid of remote and in-person opportunities. Aramark is the primary company affiliated with UA that offers these type of internships (Don’t hesitate to take advantage of searching through their job postings on LinkedIn!) In addition to internships, working on campus for tutoring, administration, or even in the library offers the same type of benefits, all of which pay at least minimum wage or higher.
If you’re the type of person looking for an opportunity in a more relaxing environment and just need some extra pocket cash, don’t worry, we found several opportunities for you. Another opportunity for earning money with flexible hours exclusively for those in the Tuscaloosa area is working for Joyride. Joyride is just like Uber, except instead of cars, they drive people in the area in golf carts. Similarly, DoorDashing, UberEats, and InstaCart are also high demand and easy jobs to manage in the Tuscaloosa area. Since there are hundreds to thousands of students either in the dorms or off-campus without a reliable source of transportation, these companies need drivers or personal shoppers to deliver the necessities to that target demographic. On the other hand, if you’re someone with a creative side looking to be your own boss and work at your own pace, look into starting an Etsy shop! A lot of people steer away from this idea due to fears of time and effort, however, it’s much simpler than one might think. All you have to do is create your design of choice (Photoshop or Canva are the most popular software to use), connect your Etsy shop to a third-party vendor such as Printify, send your design to be printed on your product of choice, then post your products to your Etsy shop! Custom designs targeting Greek life are a huge market, especially at UA.
All of these are great options for college students needing to earn some money, and could potentially even turn into full-time careers!
