Exploit poor students!

Emma Roberts reveals why students are actually hidden gold mines.

Mention the word ‘students’ and images of ludicrously loud parties, all night study sessions and cold baked beans on toast are likely to flash to  mind.

Yes, although students are the next generation of academically trained professionals, they’re sometimes seen as one big, intoxicated hassle.

But instead of tutting with disapproval when you next spot a group of today's, ahem, brightest young minds, you should consider the fact that you can actually save and make money by exploiting the needs of students. And they will even thank you for it!

Questioning my ethics? Trust me, there are plenty of perfectly nice, decent ways that 'helping out' students can boost your finances, so stock your fridge up with some Strongbow, set Dominos to speed dial and read on.

Hire a student workforce

Despite what many taxpayers believe, I think the majority of students are incredibly hard-working and most of them have specialist, professional skills that they’ve gained through their course.

And thanks to tuition fees, soaring food inflation and the high price of important necessities these days (have you seen how much an iPhone costs?), they’re often so hard up for cash, they’re more than willing to work for far less than a qualified professional.

The clever people at Student Gems put these two facts together and created a fantastic website where you can hire students with professional skills to work for you, at lower rates than a fully qualified professional would demand.

So if you need a professional service, including web design, translation, photography or admin work, you can sign up to the website and search for eager and hardworking students who have the necessary skills to do the job.

If you feel at bit sceptical about hiring a student though, the website offers assurance by featuring reviews on each student, so you can find out what other people thought of their work.

But you don’t have to stop at Student Gems.

If you need help around your home or garden, you could consider putting up an advert at your local University.

It’ll be a lot cheaper hiring a humble student than a gardener or a cleaner and student hours are much more flexible.

Just use your imagination - for every service that you need, be it a babysitter or a painter, there’s probably a student willing to do the job for cheaper.

Make sure you agree a price for the work that they are happy with in advance, and don't be afraid to tip.

Use your property

Here at lovemoney, we think renting out a room in your house to a lodger is a great way to make some money. So, if you happen to have a spare room, why not rent it out to a sensible student? (I'm not joking. They do exist.)

Check out the table below to see how much students typically pay for a week’s accommodation near some of the county’s popular universities so you can get an idea of how much you could charge.

If you’re tempted to hire out a room to a student, you have to update your home insurance policy and make sure you read this article to avoid the perils of picking a disastrous tenant.

If you’re certain you want to rent out your room to a student, visit your nearest university’s accommodation centre, where they can provide you with

guidance.

Alternatively, you could advertise your room on a student website such as, accommodation for students or student pad, just make sure you’re completely happy with your potential tenant before they sign on the dotted line.

And it’s not just British students who you can rent a room to, as there are many schemes that pay you to be a host family to foreign students.

Not only do you get paid, but you also get some interesting house guests for a while, so check out Hosts international or Host family to find out more.

Rent out your driveway/garage

If you don’t fancy sharing your home with a student, then there are plenty of other ways you can still make money through your property.

For instance, when I was at University it was always a nightmare to find any parking near the building and it was really expensive to park in the car park.

Fed up with clambering on the unreliable bus every day, my friend posted letters to homes near the University, asking if she could use their driveways to park her car.

She soon got a response and paid £20 a week to use someone’s otherwise unused driveway.

So if you have an unused parking space, driveway or garage, you should put an advert up in your local University and make some easy cash from it.

Do some research before hand and find out how much the University charges for parking on campus. Armed with this information, you can offer a competitive and appealing price to students.

Offer storage space

Another way you can use your property to generate cash from students, is to offer storage space.

Many students struggle to find storage space for all their belongings and often have to opt for expensive storage facilities.

If you have the spare room in your home or garage, you could offer storage space to students for a reduced price, just make sure you’re covered by your home insurance.

Three more ideas

The possibilities of ways to make or save money from students are as vast as your imagination. Here are a few other ideas that you could test out.

• Help them move: If you have a van or big car, you could offer to help students move their belongings when they move house within the area. Many students are forced to pay out for expensive van rental, so offer a cheaper price and you could make some easy cash.
• Ironing service: Most students only use irons in the form of hair straighteners, mostly because they haven’t got time to iron. You could offer a cheap ironing/laundry service to nearby students who are too lazy to do it themselves.
• Meals to go: Students, especially if they’re in the final year of their studies, have hectic timetables, so they often don’t have time to cook. If you know some students that live nearby, and you like to cook, you could always offer to cook meals for them to collect. Most students would be happy to pay a couple of quid for a hot, home cooked meal, just make sure you charge more than you spent making the meal.

The bottom line is, there are many ways you can save and make money through students, so if you live near a University, don’t delay - exploit a student today!

What do you think?

Are you shocked by our suggestion? Do you think it's wrong to pay students to work cheaply, if that's the price they set themselves? What if you couldn't afford it otherwise? Aren't you helping them - and the economy? Let us know your thoughts using the comments box below! 

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