Students at several university halls of residence have devised creative ways of earning a living.

Apart from their studying, many students do part-time jobs to support themselves

At-home working

Nguyen Thi Thuy Huong, who lives at Hanoi University of Technology’s halls of residence, has earned money from offering laundry services in recent months.

She often gathers clothes from friends in the afternoon and washes them with the help of a washing machine at her room.

“My parents love me so much that they bought me some modern home furnishings such as washing machine and water heater in my room. It’s a bit of a waste of energy if I only use it to wash my own clothes. Initially I helped wash clothes for some friends in nearby rooms on rainy days. Now many pay me to have their clothes washed.”

She doesn’t charge her friends based on the amount of clothes but on time of spent washing.

“I find it affordable to pay Huong to wash my clothes. Such a service is very convenient as it helps save our time,” Lam, a third-year student at the university said.

According to Huong, thanks to her clients, she earns around VND1.5 million (USD71.9) per month and even VND2 million (USD95.9) in the winter.

Selling snacks to friends

Several other students have opted to sell snacks including sticky rice and bread to friends.

“Initially, we had qualms about doing such a job. We didn’t sell the snacks to our acquaintances. However, we’ve overcome that thanks to ours friends’ support. They often help buy something when we came back with lots of unsold goods,” said Minh Huyen, a third-year student at the People's Police Academy.

She said when they started the job they weren’t good at estimating their sales.

Huyen can now support herself and share her parents’ financial burdens.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Quoc Tuan, also from People's Police Academy said, “I often carry bottled water from our school’s canteen to my friends’ rooms. I can earn some money if I do it often.”

Many students said that in order to do part-time jobs, they master their time management in order not to affect their academic results.