High Paying Jobs for College Students
Updated August 7, 2023
Many employers and job markets are actually wide open to potential employees who have not yet earned their college degrees on both a part- or even full-time basis. A college student seeking employment will likely be considering employment with a schedule and workload that is less likely to interfere with their educations. College students who want or need to work while they are in school can find a variety of jobs that offer experience, skill development and a solid income. In this article, we list 30 jobs you can pursue while also attending college.
Related: How To Find Jobs While in College (Plus Tips)
Good jobs for college students
Here is a list of high paying jobs available to college students in ascending order from lowest to highest paid. We've also included general job duties and the average salaries linked to and recorded from Indeed Salaries:
1. Barista
National average salary: $14.72 per hour
Primary duties: A barista works in a coffee shop, taking requests, making drinks, receiving payment and handing out completed orders. Other duties include welcoming new customers, informing them of specials, promotions and discounts, cleaning the dining area, restocking supplies and updating the indoor or outdoor signage to attract new customers.
Related: What Is a Barista? (With Training Requirements and FAQs)
2. Teaching assistant
National average salary: $15.26 per hour
Primary duties: A teaching assistant helps professors with giving lessons in a class, preparing lesson notes and setting up classroom equipment. Other primary duties include assisting with taking attendance, keeping class records, calculating grades, supervising students during tests and enforcing rules. Students who are studying in related departments are likely to be given hiring preference.
Related: How To Become a Teaching Assistant With No Experience
3. Library assistant
National average salary: $15.61 per hour
Primary duties: A library assistant helps a librarian in managing a library. They are responsible for cataloging, sorting and shelving books according to category, helping readers to locate books, checking books in and out of the library, registering new readers and responding to requests and inquiries.
Related: What Does A Library Assistant Do? How To Become One
4. Bartender
National average salary: $15.89 per hour
Primary duties: A bartender works at a bar or restaurant, serving drinks to customers. Their primary duties include interacting with patrons, taking their orders and preparing and serving the orders. Bartenders may also serve food, restock bar supplies and make cocktails. Since bars serve alcoholic drinks, bartenders are responsible for checking IDs to verify that patrons are of legal drinking age and being able to determine levels of intoxication. Many states prohibit individuals under the age of 21 from serving open containers of alcohol.
Related: How To Become a Bartender (With No Experience)
5. Teller
National average salary: $16.83 per hour
Primary duties: A teller works in a bank and is responsible for cash and check transactions such as withdrawals, deposits, transfers, money orders and more. Their duties involve collecting cash from customers, filing paperwork, resolving any customer issues and verifying information provided at the counter.
Related: Learn About Being a Bank Teller
6. Campus Representative
National average salary: $17.41 per hour
Primary duties: A campus representative is responsible for creating awareness about the organization they work for on a college campus. Their duties include creating content for flyers and posters about their company's products and services to hand out on campus, distributing samples, organizing campus events and other marketing activities. Campus representatives may also be required to manage the product's website and social media communities.
Find campus representative jobs
7. Resident advisor
National average salary: $17.44 per hour
Primary duties: A resident advisor oversees the activities in a dormitory and ensures that all its residents are safe. Their responsibilities include making sure that residents abide by the rules and regulations of the building, providing updates of new housing policies and acting as a liaison between residents and housing officials. Resident advisors also welcome new residents, check them in and provide advice where necessary.
8. Research assistant
National average salary: $17.38 per hour
Primary duties: A research assistant works in a university, lab or any other institution where research projects are conducted. Their responsibilities include conducting research and preparing a summary of the findings, preparing progress reports, preparing interview questions and summarizing results. Research assistants may also prepare research budgets. This position will likely be appropriate for students studying in related sciences.
Related: How to Become a Research Assistant (With Tips)
9. Dog walker
National average salary: $17.93 per hour
Primary duties: A dog walker picks up dogs from their owners' homes and takes them out for exercise and socialization. They are responsible for strict schedules, keeping the dogs safe, feeding and providing water to the dogs and cleaning up after them.
Related: How To Become a Dog Walker
10. Delivery service driver
National average salary: $18.41 per hour
Primary duties: A delivery service driver picks up and delivers packages to customers. This may include food or retail orders. They are responsible for reviewing orders before and after delivery, accepting payments, providing good customer service, handling complaints and maintaining documentation related to the delivery, such as receipts and delivery notes. Most driving jobs will require a clean driving record.
Find delivery service driver jobs
Related: What Are the Pros and Cons of Being a Delivery Driver?
11. Administrative assistant
National average salary: $18.56 per hour
Primary duties: An administrative assistant manages general office tasks, such as booking meetings and appointments, setting up meeting rooms, filing documents, making business travel arrangements and answering phones. They are also responsible for carrying out research, taking notes during meetings and transcribing minutes.
Find administrative assistant jobs
Related: How To Get an Administrative Assistant Job in 7 Steps
12. Blogger
National average salary: $19.37 per hour
Primary duties: A blogger creates and posts content on blogs. They are responsible for carrying out research on the topics they write, editing and proofreading their work and uploading the content to the blog. They also moderate comments, respond to comments and perform search engine optimization for the site.
Related: How To Start a Blog and Make Money
13. Brand ambassador
National average salary: $19.77 per hour
Primary duties: A brand ambassador promotes a brand to increase awareness and sales revenue. Their primary duties include creating marketing campaigns and strategies, educating retailers and customers about the brand's products, attending product launches and other publicity events and collecting customer feedback. Brand ambassadors also create content for social media and brand websites.
Related: How To Become a Brand Ambassador in 7 Steps
14. Transcriptionist
National average salary: $19.92 per hour
Primary duties: A transcriptionist listens to recorded files and writes them down. Also known as a transcriber, they may work for doctors, journalists and other professionals who need audio material transformed into text format. Other duties include typing up documents and maintaining records. Remote transcriptionist jobs are available online.
15. Driver (Independent Contractor)
National average salary: $20.53 per hour
Primary duties: A driver working under an independent contractor agreement is responsible for taking riders from their pick-up location to their destination. They partner with ride-share platforms to accept ride requests, use maps and GPS tools to locate places and collect cash payments where necessary. A valid driver's license, insured vehicle in approved working condition and a clean driving record will typically be conditions for this contract of employment.
Find independent contractor driver jobs
16. Babysitter
National average salary: $20.92 per hour
Primary duties: A babysitter or nanny looks after babies, toddlers or young children while their parents are away. Their primary duties include bathing and dressing the kids, preparing meals and feeding them, helping out with homework where necessary and keeping the children occupied and safe. Babysitters are also responsible for keeping the play area and dining area clean and possibly putting the children to bed during the evening.
Related: Learn About Being a Babysitter
17. Bookkeeper
National average salary: $21.29 per hour
Primary duties: A bookkeeper is in charge of the basic accounting practices at an establishment. They are responsible for maintaining the records of inward and outward financial transactions, reconciling ledger entries and preparing financial reports.
Related: How To Become a Part-Time Bookkeeper in 7 Steps (With Tips)
18. Freelance writer
National average salary: $22.50 per hour
Primary duties: Freelance writers create content for both digital and print mediums. Their duties include carrying out research on writing assignments, writing articles based on a client's style preferences and formatting requirements, taking editorial feedback and using it to refine the content and proofreading the work. Freelance writers are not tied to one company, so they can work on multiple projects at once.
Related: How To Become a Freelance Writer: A Guide To Getting Started
19. Tutor
National average salary: $24.19 per hour
Primary duties: A tutor is responsible for teaching and aiding students with their coursework outside regular school hours. As a tutor, you must prepare a tutoring schedule that will help your students succeed academically. You are also responsible for reviewing their performance in class, creating helpful assignments, pointing out any trouble areas and devising strategies to work on them.
Related: How To Become a Tutor
20. Fitness instructor
National average salary: $25.44 per hour
Primary duties: A fitness instructor provides physical training to clients to help them reach their fitness goals. This can be done in a gym or clients' homes. Their duties and responsibilities include providing step-by-step guidance on various fitness drills and routines, advising on proper exercise form, motivating clients and ensuring their safety.
Related: What Does a Fitness Instructor Do?
21. Virtual assistant
National average salary: $27.43 per hour
Primary duties: A virtual assistant works remotely and is responsible for taking phone calls and messages, responding to emails, setting up meetings, making travel arrangements and managing social media accounts. Their duties also involve managing schedules and issuing invoices and receipts.
Related: How To Become a Virtual Assistant (With Little to No Experience)
22. Social media community manager
National average salary: $26.34 per hour
Primary duties: A social media community manager is responsible for managing an organization's social media platforms. Their primary duties include creating content for social media posts including captions, images and posters; engaging with fans and followers by responding to requests and comments, tracking engagement metrics and implementing communication strategies.
Find social media community manager jobs
Related: How To Become a Social Media Manager With No Experience
23. Massage therapist
National average salary: $37.47 per hour
Primary duties: A massage therapist relieves stress and pain and promotes circulation in their clients through therapeutic massages. Their duties include explaining available massage options, including benefits and pricing, helping clients select the most suitable type of massage for their needs, setting up the spa and cleaning after each session. Massage therapists also maintain records and documentation related to their clients and sterilize any massage equipment. Working as a massage therapist typically requires a certification process.
Related: How To Become a Massage Therapist in 5 Steps: A Guide
24. App tester
National average salary: $35.51 per hour
Primary duties: An app tester performs manual and automated tests on a software application to ensure that it functions exactly as it should. This involves analyzing use cases and executing tests to validate them. An app tester is also responsible for detecting any bugs and errors, documenting them and giving feedback to the development team.
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