One in 20 students are selling their bodies for sex in order to pay their living costs while at university, major new research has claimed.
The "significant findings" revealed men are more likely to be involved than women, with nearly half of those involved in direct sex work saying they were scared of violence.
Dr Tracey Sagar, who co-authored the study which questioned 6,750 students, urged universities to make more efforts to understand student sex work issues.
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The research, part of the Student Sex Work Project, showed the work ranged from prostitution, stripping and erotic dancing to phone sex chat, glamour modelling and webcam work.
"Once you become a prostitute nothing else matters really. It doesn't matter I'm a student. It doesn't matter that I volunteer every week. It doesn't matter that the entire reason I am a prostitute is so I can afford to study, so that in a couple of years time I will be qualified to help you when you need help. What I've come to realise is that when you're a prostitute; you're just that - a prostitute.
"My name is Holly. I'm a student. I like baking, volunteering, running and well all of those every day things that people with normal jobs like to do."- Holly, a member of the project
The project questioned universities on their support policies for student sex workers but were met with numerous negative responses.
Two universities indicated that they would take action against a student found to be engaging in #studentsexwork
— StudentSexWorkProj. (@TSSWP) March 27, 2015
Sagar said: "We now have firm evidence that students are engaged in the sex industry across the UK. The majority of these students keep their occupations secret and this is because of social stigma and fears of being judged by family and friends.
"We have to keep in mind that not all students engaged in the industry are safe or feel safe. It is vital now that universities arm themselves with knowledge to better understand student sex work issues and that university services are able to support students where support is needed."
The negatives listed by students included keeping their work a secret, unpredictable earnings, judgement of family and friends and unpleasant customers. Among the positives were good money, flexible hours and sexual pleasure.
Rosie Inman, NUS Wales women's officer added: "The main priority must be to maintain the wellbeing of students involved in sex work, not to stigmatise them."
Useful websites and helplines:
Beyond Support offers confidential advice for sex workers: 0800 1337 870
The Many Faces Of Prostitution
Thailand(01 of08)
Open Image ModalIn this picture taken on August 18, 2009, a Thai bar girl waits for customers outside a bar in Sungai Kolok, in Thailand's southern province of Narathiwat. The sun hasn't set, but already the music is pumping and the disco ball is rolling in the Sumtime Bar, where Malaysian men are enjoying the drinks and women available on this side of the Thai border. (credit:Getty)
Kinshasa, Congo (02 of08)
Open Image ModalA 12 year-old prostitute cries in a medical center in Kinshasa on November 7, 2010 after she was stoned by an other child prostitute. Child prostitutes earn about 2000 Congolese Francs (2,2 USD) for a sexual intercourse. More than 20,000 children live in the street of Kinshasa, a city of about 10 million. About a third have been accused of witchcraft and rejected by their families; a recent development in a disintegrated Congolese society undermined by poverty. (credit:Getty)
Bangladesh(03 of08)
Open Image ModalA Bangladeshi sex worker takes an Oradexon tablet in a government-registered brothel in Faridpur, some 100 kilometres (60 miles) outside Dhaka on June 20, 2010. Whenever Bangladeshi brothel owner Rokeya, 50, signs up a new sex worker she gives them a course of steroid drugs often used to fatten cattle. For older sex workers, tablets work well, said Rokeya, but for younger girls of 12 to 14 -- who are normally sold to the brothel by their families -- injections are more effective. (credit:Getty)
England (04 of08)
Open Image ModalA newspaper advertising board outside a corner shop in the Lancashire town of Rochdale after nine men were arrested for child sexual exploitation on January 11, 2011 in Rochdale, England. Greater Manchester Police have arrested nine men as part of an investigation into sexual exploitation and questioned on suspicion of rape, inciting child prostitution, allowing a premises to be used for prostitution and sexual activity with a child. (credit:Getty)
China (05 of08)
Open Image ModalThis photo taken on June 21, 2011 shows Chinese police (L) watching over a group of massage girls suspected of prostitution during a raid on a parlour in Beijing in a vice crackdown ahead of the celebrations for the founding of the Chinese Communist Party 90 years ago. Rapid social and economic changes have made China 'prone to corruption' and the ruling Communist Party faces a major challenge stamping out deep-rooted official graft, an official said on June 22. (credit:Getty)
Paris (06 of08)
Open Image ModalA man wears a board with a slogan as he demonstrates with prostitutes and members of the Union of Sex Workers (Strass) on June 2, 2012 at the Pigalle square in Paris, to claim their rights to work in dignity and respect. (credit:Getty)
Guatemala City (07 of08)
Open Image ModalFirefighters help a prostitute get out after she got trapped in a tunnel where she remained hidden during an operation against human trafficking at the 'Super Frontera' bar, late on April 21, 2012 in Guatemala City. (credit:Getty)
Nicaragua (08 of08)
Open Image ModalNicaraguan sex worker and member of NGO Girasoles Nicaragua (Nicaragua Sunflowers), Wendy, waits for clients on a street in Managua on April 18, 2012. (credit:Getty)