A growing number of graduates and postgraduate students in the United Kingdom are entering the sex trade industry by taking such jobs as pole-dancing, stripping, lap-dancing, escorting and prostitution. Many are entering this field in order to finance their post-secondary education and keep up with both the costs of living and tuition.
New research conducted by Professor Ron Roberts at the Kingston University found that six percent of students are obtaining jobs in this sector and universities are receiving between £600,000 and £3 million from the sex industry.
The English Collective of Prostitutes said its total number of calls has doubled in the past year alone.
“Sadly, students are a financially vulnerable and heavily indebted financial sector and have become targets for people with money,” said the professor in an interview with the London Independent. “The economy of the sex industry is now heavily intertwined with higher education economy.”
At a time when tuition rates are reaching all-time highs and student debt is skyrocketing, the pay can be rather lucrative. Some students would earn £700 for a three to four-hour session that would involve dinner and a return back to the hotel room with wealthy clients. These students preferred not to work at shops or restaurants and were just average “clean-cut girl-next-door types.”
This isn’t just an isolated incident occurring in the UK. After Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and Human Resources Minister Diane Finley announced this past summer that businesses involved with strip clubs and escort agencies would be prohibited from hiring foreign workers, these companies began to turn to students.
It was reported that strip clubs were adapting to the ban and started to recruit at local high schools, colleges and universities in order to attract an influx of young women and avoid a labour shortage.
“If you are visually appealing and comfortable with your naked body and are comfortable about taking all your clothes off,” a brochure stated that was at the draft stages. “You can be working right now as an exotic dancer and earn your tuition fees for university or college.”
The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) did not comment on the initiative by strip clubs, massage parlors and escort agencies.
Two books published four years ago suggested that an increasing number of French students were becoming prostitutes to pay for tuition.
In 2008, Elle published a piece by a student who used to have sex for money in order to pay for her tuition at an “expensive private university in New York City.” She used the Craigslist Erotic Services section, received numerous responses, got paid well and had intercourse.
Although this became a sensational story in the U.S., the idea of prostitution to pay for school has not been ubiquitous and widespread throughout the country; at least it hasn’t been reported to be. Nonetheless, it is starting to take off as Huffington Post (via RollingOut.com) reported female college students that do not have enough money are creating profiles on websites seeking “sugar daddies” to pay for tuition.
Economic Collapse News reported last week that the total student loan balance rose by $42 billion in September and now stands at $956 billion. Federal Reserve Bank of New York figures showed that 11 percent of student loans were 90 days or more late in the third quarter. Half of the increase in student loan debt was due to newly issued loans and the other half was because of default.
The average university graduate with a Bachelor’s Degree leaves school with $28,700 in debt, which is up 31 percent from only five years ago. Research has shown that each post-secondary student graduates with between $3,000 and $55,250 in debt.
DollarCollapse.com noted Tuesday that this could be another sign we are entering the third world because when “the developed world runs out of money, our kids are finding out how the other half survives.”
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