Earn Extra Cash to Help Pay Off Your Student Loans

While you can set out to plan strategies to pay off your student loans, you can also implement some creative tactics to make higher payments to pay down your debt.

These creative tactics can help you earn or save money to funnel toward your debt, so you can watch your total loan balance go all the way down to zero much sooner than you anticipated. Take a look at these eight creative and unconventional ways to pay down your student loan debt.

Move to Kansas

Are you dreaming of a life away from the hustle and bustle and around wide, open space instead? Move to Kansas. Through the Rural Opportunity Zone program, Kansas offers state income tax waivers for up to five years or student loan repayments up to $15,000 over five years in 77 of its counties.

Build a Tiny House

With a tiny home, you can embrace an environmentally friendly, energy efficient lifestyle and save a ton of money at the same time. After you make the investment to build the home, you won’t need to pay rent or mortgage and can transfer all the savings to your student loan payments. And think about it—smaller house means way less cleaning.
 

Rent out Your House or Car

Do you have an extra room in your house? Or a car that sits on your driveway all weekend? Apps and websites like Airbnb and Turo make it a breeze to offer a room in your house or your car for a day or two for extra cash. Take it a step further and earn even more cash by renting out your entire house while you’re on vacation.

Become a Dog Sitter

After dog sitting a furry friend for a few days, student loans might not seem so ruff. Rather than putting up flyers around your neighborhood or posting an ad online, websites and apps like DogVacay or  Rover do all the heavy lifting for you.

Offer Your Skills on the Side

Whether you’re good at photography, writing, tutoring, or crafting, you can take your skills and make some extra money on the side. If you enjoy photography, you can sell your images to stock websites. If you like writing, you can blog for companies or businesses in your area. Or if crafting is up your alley, you can make cards or jewelry and sell them online or at your local farmers market—and the list goes on.

Participate in Clinical Trials

If you don’t mind getting your blood drawn or trying experimental medications, you can become a medical guinea pig. The U.S. National Library of Medicine lists hundreds of thousands of research studies for people of all backgrounds. Just a few weeks of your time can earn you a pretty penny.

Volunteer in Your Community

SponsorChange created a unique program where you help your community and they help pay off your student loans. Volunteers, or Change Agents, earn a cash sum—sometimes as much as $1,000—to pay down student loan debt after they complete an assigned project.

Join Mock Juries

Experience a taste of Law & Order and participate in a mock jury in your city or town. Lawyers present their evidence and arguments to a practice jury panel to test out the effectiveness of their case. Legal teams typically pay $100 to $200 for your time. Search for mock juries in your area for a fun and interesting way to pay down debt.

Looking for traditional ways to pay down your debt quicker? Check out our blog on four simple ways to pay off debt faster.