Looking for a way to stretch your student loan that little bit further? In this article, Peter Watton, from matched betting and side hustle experts OddsMonkey, shares five weird but wonderful ways to make money as a student.

If you’re a student, you’ll know how important it is to make every penny count. Living on a student budget is always challenging, even if you have a part-time job, but it’s been even more difficult over the past year. The majority of job losses during the pandemic affected people aged 25 and under (ONS), and many students were expected to pay rent for properties that they weren’t even living in (The Guardian).

Although these challenges can make it seem impossible to live on a student budget, there are a number of ways to make more cash that don’t involve finding employment in this difficult job market. Our survey found that one in four Brits have a side hustle to make ends meet, with the average one bringing in £230 a month. If you’re looking for a bit of extra cash to help with the bills, here are five unusual but effective money-making ideas for students.

Test websites
Getting paid to browse the internet sounds too good to be true, but testing sites for bugs is actually a very important job. Companies need to make sure that their website is usable before releasing it to the public, and many want a fresh pair of eyes to check it out. You don’t need to be a computer whiz to succeed at this job — it’s quick, easy, and can be done in the comfort of your own home! All you need is a PC or laptop with a microphone, and a stable internet connection.

There are a range of jobs available, lasting anywhere from five minutes to an hour, although the average lasts for around 15–20 minutes. The pay you get usually depends on how long the test takes. Shorter tests will pay around £3.50, while the longer ones pay around £10–£15. There are plenty of sites that offer money for website testing, including UserTesting, Web Usability, and PingPong, to name just a few. Simply sign up to one of these sites, and choose from the available jobs to start earning straight away!

Become a mystery shopper
Go on an undercover mission and become a mystery shopper to assess the quality of services provided by companies. This is an incredibly flexible job as you choose your own gigs, making it ideal for students. It’s a pretty simple process, as precise rules will be given to you beforehand, such as what to buy, what to ask staff, what to keep an eye out for, and what to take pictures of.

There are plenty of different types of mystery shopping gigs to choose from, such as clothes shopping, doing your weekly food shop, or looking for new gadgets. You can even be paid to eat by taking a mystery shopping job in a restaurant! Whilst not every job is paid, you’ll always get the opportunity to take home freebies or get a free meal out of it, which will save you cash in the long run. If you do choose a paid gig, you’ll get between £5–£40, depending on the difficulty of the job.

Rent out your stuff
Have a few things that you don’t use that often? Make the most of them by renting them out to the people who need them. There are so many different things you can rent out — from expensive items like games consoles and bikes, to cheaper things like books and clothes. Not only will this earn you a good chunk of change, but it’s great for the environment too!

Hiring out your items has never been easier, as there plenty of sites dedicated to renting people’s belongings. Fat Llama is a popular site that allows you to list pretty much anything, big or small (although this site is only available in a few major cities). If you have designer gear in good condition, use My Wardrobe HQ to rent your clothes out at around 10%–20% of the RRP.

This is a quick and safe way to make some extra cash, as long as you make sure that whichever third-party site you rent your items through has a detailed damage protection policy in place.

Matched betting
Many people believe that placing a bet relies mostly on luck, and a little bit on knowledge. But matched betting is actually far more predictable and reliable than you may think. Matched betting uses the freebies offered by betting services to an advantage. Rather than winging it, you hedge your bets and use free bets to place money on all potential outcomes. This means that no matter what you bet on, you’ll always make a profit if you follow rules.

It may sound like you need a brain for maths to succeed, but anyone can do matched betting and make a profit. There is matched betting software out there that will do the calculations for you, so all you need are the numbers! We’ve found that on average, you end up with 80% of the free bet amount, so it’s easy to make a pretty decent profit! Of course, matched betting is not 100% risk-free, as there’s always a chance that human error will intervene. But if you use matched betting software and follow the rules, you’re likely to make a fair bit of cash!

Go on a game show
This is by far one of the most fun and exciting ways to earn cash as a student. Whilst you’re not guaranteed to make money with this method, you’re likely to earn big if you do — like the politics student who won £32,000 on ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire?'(The Tab). And fortunately, the UK loves a gameshow, so there are plenty of them to apply to!

You’ll have to do a lot of homework before you give this a whirl though. Watch past episodes of the show you want to apply to and see which topics come up most. You should also test yourself with a pub quiz to get an idea of how well you’ll do (plus, you might make money from this too!). When it comes to big cash prizes, ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire?’ is definitely the way to go. But if you think you’ll need some help in the hot seat, ‘Pointless’ and ‘The Chase’ let you confer with two or more people to increase your chance of bringing home the big bucks.

There you have it! Five fun ways you can make some extra cash as a student. Looking to boost your employability and find your dream job? Turn to Student Employment Services for some help in finding the perfect role for you in one of the UK’s leading companies.