The 15 Best Part Time Jobs for Nursing Students In 2022 (2024)

There are quite a few lists out there with ideas regarding what are the best part time jobs for nursing students. However, many articles are just not keeping in mind the unique and busy lifestyle of a nursing student.

Jump to our table in the conclusion for a quick reference of this list if you’re in a hurry, and if anything sounds interesting, jump back to read the key benefits we wrote on that job, and its salary information.

Not only do you have a busy week of classes, but you have clinical rotations, a mountain of homework, and constantly creeping up exams to study for.

Not just any job is going to work. Jobs that work for most college students are just not going to work for a nursing student.

Nursing students probably have more expenses than the typical college student as well. Nursing school requires a lot of extra books, nursing supplies, scrubs… I know, it’s a lot.

So we have developed this list with not only the lifestyle of a nursing student in mind but also their financial requirements as well. Nursing students have bills to pay, sometimes many bills depending on their unique circ*mstances. The good news is that when you are done with nursing school, you will have a high-paying position waiting for you, pretty much guaranteed.

If you would like to read about the average nursing salaries in your state so you know what to expect when you graduate, you can read the article we wrote here that keeps it super simple.

The Best Part Time Jobs For Nursing Students In 2022

1. Babysitting and Nannying

As a parent, I can testify… It is extremely hard to find a babysitter. My husband and I don’t like to burden family, but we also aren’t going to trust just anyone. If you marketed yourself as a current nursing student, and are BLS certified, this gives you a HUGE advantage when people are “babysitter shopping”.

We recommend diversifying the marketing of your services. Therefore you should probably create accounts at Sittercity, UrbanSitter, and care.com. So yes, market yourself on all three to increase your chances of finding the right fit for you. This is number one on our list of best part time jobs for nursing students because of the flexibility, and good pay. You will also likely make amazing memories with these families that will last the rest of your life. Not to mention if you plan on working in pediatrics or the NICU, a nannying job on your resume can look very appealing.

Here is the national average hourly wage for babysitters: $18.68

2. Waiting Tables

Many nurses talk about how the best way they were able to put themselves through nursing school was by waiting tables on weekends. If you do your research, you can figure out which restaurants in your town offer the highest tipping potential. It’s no secret that wait-staff hourly wage is quite low, however, those tips really bring up what you earn for the night.

You don’t have to work at a fancy restaurant either. I have been amazed by what some of my friends make at local dives, and even places like Buffalo Wild Wings. So if you are strapped for cash, don’t forget about the restaurant industry. It also offers a great opportunity to learn time management, how to work with the public and how to deal with complicated situations quickly.

Here is the average hourly wage for waitstaff: $15.72

3. Grocery Delivery

This is a super flexible way for a nursing student to make money as an independent contractor. Being employed, and having a set schedule, can get super tough during nursing school. It seems like every other week you have a super important exam to study for. So, this is one of our best part time jobs for nursing students because you get to make your own schedule.

If you have a big exam one week, you can simply work less. If you have a slightly easier week, you can work more. Another plus, if you enjoy grocery shopping, this can be a fun job too. You get to grocery shop but someone else is paying. Obviously, you don’t get to keep the groceries, but it still satisfies the love of shopping for some people. Check out the most popular grocery delivery services: Instacart and Shipt.

Check out salary information from Instacart here as it varies widely.

4. Social Media Management

Are you savvy with social media? Do you enjoy creating content like videos, posters’ on Canva, and creating catchy headlines and posts? If you have a knack for this, you could start your own social media managing business for a very low start-up cost. Here is a great article explaining what this all entails.

You would have to market yourself, and this would likely involve going to businesses in person. You can make business cards very cheap on Vistaprint, and just start getting the word out. Also, you would be surprised how many businesses have no idea where to start with the new age of social media marketing. They also don’t have the time to learn it.

Many businesses would be super grateful for someone to come to them and offer to solve this problem that so many businesses are experiencing. So set your weekly rate, take pictures and videos during the week when you can, and create content for them between your studies. This is a great side hustle for college students and one I am sure is going to only get more popular over the years.

Check out the freelance social media marketing salaries here. Top earners are earning $80K!

5. Coaching Sports

Did you play sports in high school? Were you a dancer? Gymnast? If you did anything in high school where you were coached, you then have skills that you can give back to those younger than you too. You can start by reaching out to your school’s independent district, and see if there are any part-time coaching positions available.

Practices will likely be when you are out of nursing school for the day, and games and meets are on weekends, and evenings. So basically when you should be off school too. Because the schedule usually works around nursing school schedules, this is why it made our best part time jobs for nursing students list.

Ziprecruiter says that part time coaches are earning $47K a year.

6. CNA or PCT

When it comes to side hustles and part time jobs for nursing students, this is probably at the top of most students’ lists. However, many also like to stay away from it to avoid burnout in the medical field. CNA and PCT work is very tough, and often “thankless” work sadly.

However, it is an experience that will make your life so much easier when you are an RN. You will have your caretaking foundations down to a science when you get your RN license. You can also work part-time or “PRN” which is even less than part time. So depending on the facility, it can be a pretty flexible job as well. Many administrators know how tough nursing school is so they will usually give you a weekend off when you have a super hard test to study for.

Many facilities will also train you on the job to qualify you for your CNA license. PCT (patient care techs) often don’t need a license in many states and are also known as unlicensed personnel.

Here is the average CNA hourly wage by state.

7. Dog Sitting and/or House Sitting

Did you know that nursing is the most trusted profession in the United States? This kind of ties into the babysitting/nannying side gig. People need to have trust when it comes to letting someone watch their children, dogs, and homes. If you market yourself as a nursing student, you will likely get the job over many other applicants.

Visit House Sitters America to get started in looking for your next house-sitting gig. You can also go on Nextdoor to market your services as well. This is a great addition to our best part time jobs for nursing students list because it is again a flexible position where you call the shots if and when you are able to work or not. Plus, you might get to stay in some pretty cool places.

I was shocked to learn that housesitters can make a ton of money too! Like a lot! I am assuming these salaries are for people who do it full time, but even part-time it should pay very well.

Here is the average salary information for house sitters.

8. Uber or Lyft Driver

This is another great part-time job for nursing students because again, you are an independent contractor. You work as much as you want, when you can. Being in college can also be an advantage for an Uber or Lyft driver. Why? Because you know where the sorority and fraternity parties are, and if you don’t, you can easily find out. So if it works with your schedule, you can make yourself available at those times.

I have personally known a few Uber drivers and they both have told me it can get addicting. It is pretty easy money if you like driving and having small talk with people. If you don’t like driving, and you don’t like small talk, then this is one I would probably stay away from. You also have to have a reliable vehicle and these companies have pretty strict requirements for cars, and also if you have any kind of criminal record.

The average salary for an Uber driver in the US is $37K and for Lyft, it is about $53K

9. Plasma Donation

It was actually surprising to learn the average salary for people who are committed to donating plasma regularly. If you have a CSL Plasma donation center near you, they are a pretty well-known company to go through. If you don’t, just google “plasma donation near me” and see what types of companies are in your area.

Now, if you have a fear of blood, needles, and medical environments, this is not the path for you. However, since you are a nursing student, I doubt this is the case. This is why this is a great part time side hustle for nursing students. Plasma donation is known as a critically important activity that actively saves lives. So it really is a highly rewarding way to make money.

The average salary for a person who donates plasma regularly is $44K

10. Doula

If you are interested in going into labor and delivery, pediatrics, and/or NICU nursing, this would be a great side hustle for a nursing student. There is an upfront cost if you want to have a certification to help market yourself professionally. But technically there are no regulations for Doulas. You could start your business today. However, most doulas do get certified so it would be difficult to market yourself competitively unless you have a large contact list.

Also for ethical reasons, it is best to have specialized doula training. There are a lot of nuances in this business and as a nursing student, I am sure you would want to do things right. The best certification company for Doulas we have found is ProDoula. Not only do they train you on how to be the absolute best possible doula in your community, but they also teach you how to be an excellent business owner.

So being a doula just made sense to add to our best part time jobs for nursing students because having this type of experience can really help you when applying for a position in L&D or nursery one day.

The average salary for a doula is $37K

11. Food Delivery

If you are familiar with Dave Ramsey, he has a go-to solution for making extra cash fast. Deliver pizzas. Now you don’t really have to work for Dominos but there is nothing wrong with that either. Food delivery was an easy option to add to our best part time jobs for nursing students list because of the flexibility with working evenings and weekends. You can also make great tips.

If delivering pizza is just not something you can see yourself doing, there are so many food delivery services now. For example, Grubhub, Doordash, Uber Eats, and Postmates just to name a few of the most popular. This is a great side gig for the nursing student who again doesn’t want a boss, and wants to make money, when they can, between studying for exams.

The average salary for an Uber Eats driver is $60K

12. Fiverr Freelancer

If you have experience with website design, graphic design, and logos, Fiverr could be a great side hustle for nursing students. Many students change their majors from something else to nursing for various reasons. So if this is you, and you have experience with computer graphics, we would look into this.

Fiverr is another platform that could help you make money when you are able to around tough exams. Independent contractor work is an excellent vehicle to use to make money for nursing students. Around final exams and ATI’s and HESIs, it is helpful to have control over your schedule.

Fiverr salaries widely vary across the different specialties, you can take a look here.

13. Sell On Poshmark and eBay

Do you have a closet full of nice clothes, but you ignore them now because you are bored of them? Can you tell we can relate? What about shoes, and purses? You probably have hundreds of dollars in your closet just sitting there collecting dust, when some person out there would love to have them in their home at this very moment.

Therefore, you could start selling things on Poshmark and eBay today and start making money. To increase earnings, you could even offer to sell some of your family and friends’ items and make a cut. This had to make our best part time jobs for nursing students list due to the flexibility and earning potential. If you only need to make a couple of hundred bucks a month, this could be a great route to go.

The average salary selling on eBay is $34K

14. Start an Etsy Business

Are you crafty? It’s actually okay if you aren’t. Are you a good student? You could sell your nursing school study guides on Etsy, assuming they helped you score a high grade on your exam of course. You can use a website like Canva to create really nice and neat study guides and sell them on Etsy. If you need fast cash now, we wouldn’t recommend starting here, but it is something that could take off with some hard work and dedication.

If study guides and art aren’t your thing, maybe you are into making jewelry or candles? Search around on Etsy and see if there is something that you are good at that you could offer on the site too.

The average salary people are making on Etsy is $23K

15. Personal Training

Are you super into fitness? If so, you might want to start thinking about turning it from a hobby to a job that actually makes you money. Even when you are a nurse, you could still work your business into your schedule. This seemed like a great fit for our list of best part time jobs for nursing students because health and wellness is such a big part of our profession, and it also is in the fitness industry.

As a nursing student, you can work your career path into your marketing strategy for personal training. Again, nursing is the most trusted profession. So I would definitely leverage that information. Many gyms are always looking for personal trainers to bring on so after you get certified, you should be able to get right to work. NASM is one of the most reputable certification programs for personal trainers. This is a job you can work in before classes, and into the evenings. This is when most professionals like to get their work outs in anyway.

The average salary for a personal trainer is $64K.

Let’s Conclude Our Best Part Time Jobs For Nursing Students:

Here is a table we made for quick reference:

We understand from personal experience that nursing school requires more time, and money than most college majors. Therefore, we hope this list can get you started in finding a good fit to get you through school. But again, don’t forget, there is light at the end of the tunnel. When you are finished with school, you will get a great job out of it.