I'm on the same road as you. I'm attending my second year at my uni and I only need ~200-300 per month to manage transportation to and from each month. I'm a programmer/designer/philosopher/bioinformatics nerd. My schedule varies too much to get a regular part time job.

I started down the path of niche sites. Devoting a ridiculous amount of time into writing articles for them. A quick glance of webmaster tools has me ranked 1-4 on some 200-1.4k+ searched keywords each day. Generally, I went whitehat on the Adsense to assure my account stays alive. Generally, I receive a click every 4000-9000 views because I try not to fool/force people into clicking ads. This hope doesn't even cover the cost of my linode. I strayed away in Feb and venture back to check in on it every once in a while.

I figured I would write an ebook and sell it through ClickBank and self advertising (twitter/facebook). My ebook was too much like a real book. The information was too specific, required too much non-general knowledge, and users strayed away once they saw the preview. Looking back: the price was too low too (gasp). I wrote nearly 300 pgs and ended up with maybe enough to cover the coffees I inhaled while writing it.

So, recently, I joined the Fiverr community. I offer up a few shady SEO techniques. I've completed 3 offers and made a whopping $12. After those initial 3, all positive feedback, I've received 0 interest.

I considered offering tutoring of some type, but that's really not my field. I'm not social enough for that nonsense. My patience with what appears obvious is also described as a short fuse.

I ended up just craigslisting most of what was important for me to make it through Aug/Sep. It really hurt to sell my server, my hedgehog, and my world of warcraft account.

What I'm trying to say is this: there are many roads to achieve money. Not all paths will work out. Most will flop, or we would all be doing it. Even if you build a webapp of some type, you still need users. Even if you write a book, you need readers. Even if you build a niche site, people ignore ads for the most part (except the people who have used Adsense and realize its somewhat beneficial). Find a basic need, fill it, they will come (if they can find it); and if your product/service is worth it: you will profit. Otherwise, prepare to sell yourself to survive for now. As in Amazon turk, some kind of free lancing, craigslist, ebay, etc.