Story by: Skye Hill
As reported by Fox News Digital, there is a growing population of U.S. college students who are utilizing a subscription-based platform known for its sexually explicit posts, called OnlyFans, as a source of income to aid in covering the escalating cost of college tuition.
OnlyFans is a platform that was introduced in 2016, where users create and sell explicit content to their monetary subscribers. OnlyFans experienced a growth spurt during the Covid-19 pandemic, as people quarantined in their homes used it as a remote source of income. Statista sourced data stating that OnlyFans rose from about 350,000 user creators in 2019, to over 4.1 million user creators in 2023, demonstrating how widespread the craze for OnlyFans has become.
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Rock Jacobs, a movie director, directed “Lonely Fans,” a documentary series about OnlyFans’ entrance and popularity on college campuses. He told Fox News Digital that this popularity has been created by shifts in societal social norms and feelings of economic pressure amongst college students.
Jacobs stated, “More and more people want to cut the line. And since the pandemic, there was this explosion of OnlyFans. The amount of money they’re making is more than Google, more than Intel, more than the NBA.”
The rise of tuition costs directly correlates to college students’ interest in OnlyFans. The Education Data Initiative states that as of 2025, the costly average to go to college in the United States is about $38,270 per year. Once student loans are added to this figure, a bachelor’s degree today can cost as much as $500,000 over a person’s lifetime.
OnlyFans offers students a way to earn income on a flexible schedule to pay for some tuition and living costs. However, experts warn that there are many long-term stigmas and downsides to using OnlyFans as a college student. Explicit content posted on OnlyFans can limit future employment opportunities, tarnish a person’s reputation, and cause negative attitudes towards them in their communities.
Jacobs describes the platform’s payment system, stating, “It’s a payroll system.” He explores further, “What creators have been able to do is use sex to prey on lonely people, and because of technology, anybody can have a payroll.”
Source: The Guardian Nigeria
