At what point do you decide college isn’t worth it? Hopefully, sometime before you start selling sex.

Michael McKenna of the Mirror UK reports.

Struggling students sell sex to pay their way through university and avoid being saddled with debt

Struggling university students are turning to the sex trade to fund their education.

The numbers of students working as so-called ‘escorts’ has boomed – with dozens selling their menu of sex services on grubby online adults-only websites.

Some escorts can earn up to £1,000 a week – and collect as much in one hour as they can in 12 on a minimum wage job.

An investigation carried out by the Liverpool Echo has revealed that girls as young as 18 and 19 are selling sex to help them pay their college fees.

Annie (not her real name), 22 turned to escorting as a means to fulfil her dream of qualifying as a psychologist and offers her services in Liverpool, charging rates between £40 for 15 minutes to £450 for an overnight stay.

“I want to be a psychologist or a doctor and this is how I plan to pay for it,” she told the Echo.

The English Collective of Prostitutes, which campaigns for sex workers’ rights, told how a paucity of jobs and high tuition fees meant more and more students had turned to prostitution to avoid becoming saddled with debt.

Calls to their helpline have trebled since 2011.

Sarah Walker, from the ECP, said: “Most are actually working for themselves or through agencies. It’s not that they are being coerced by force – it’s the economic climate that’s forcing women to weigh up their options.

“Traditional high-street jobs are scarce – we heard of one bar job that had 800 applicants – and these women know that they can earn 500 times more than stacking shelves in a Tesco supermarket.