I’m a US citizen who’s been living in Spain on a student visa since October 2011.  That visa will expire in September 2012.

How can I stay legal in Spain after my student visa expires?

Financially the opportunity is there—I could live modestly working long-distance as an independent consultant with a small company in the USA.  However, if I’m not a student and I probably won’t find a job with a Spanish company, is there any way that I can get a visa to stay in Spain for more than 90 days out of 180 during the next year or two?

Thanks so much for any help you can offer.

There aren’t any really good options for you. The best thing you could do would be to get another student visa. It might be possible do a program that doesn’t require a lot of your time but still get a visa for it, which would allow you to work part time while you’re there. If the work is done online with a US company then it’s likely there wouldn’t be any scrutiny anyway.