Students offered cash for sex for tuition

The Independent:

Undercover investigation reveals shocking ‘sponsorship’ deals being offered to cash-strapped students

Students are being offered up to £15,000 a year to cover their university studies in exchange for having sex with a stranger, an undercover investigation by The Independent has revealed.

The website SponsorAScholar.co.uk claims to have arranged for 1,400 women aged between 17 and 24 to be funded through their studies by wealthy businessmen seeking “discreet adventures”.

But in a secretly filmed encounter with an Independent reporter posing as a student, a male “assessor” from the website asked that she undertake a “practical assessment” with him at a nearby flat to prove “the level of intimacy” she was prepared to give before being permitted to find a sponsor online.

He said this was required for “quality control”. He told her that the more she was prepared to do, the more money she would get.

The website’s claims to have a roster of hundreds of students could not be verified. The reporter asked for evidence that scholarships had been awarded and was told that she would have to come back to the flat with the man.

But the requirement for potential “scholars” to submit to a “practical assessment” raises fears that young women students may have been exploited.

Young women facing financial hardship brought on by the rise in the cost of studying were urged tonight not to be tempted into using the website.

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