Hard-up students turn to lap dancing

Students resort to lap dancing to pay the bills

An increasing number of students in Yorkshire are working as strippers and lap dancers to pay for their university education.

A BBC investigation has found that one in four women working in lap dancing clubs in Leeds and Sheffield are full-time students

The extra income helps them get out of debt and pay for their university education.

The women said they chose stripping over other part time jobs because they could earn two weeks worth of wages in just one night of dancing.

'Love dancing'

Leeds fashion student, Kine, from Norway, told the BBCs Inside Out programme that working as a pole-dancer is a financial lifeline for her.

"I work when I want to. I make the amount of money I want to, and if I don't feel like it I can quit. No-one is pushing me to do it.

The bottom line is that no-one should have to take their clothes off to get an education.

Lucy MacNab, women's officer

"I needed some money and student jobs in England are so badly paid.

"I have always loved dancing and went for the audition, and loved it."

But a student advisor said women should not have to resort to lap dancing and stripping to pay the bills.

Lucy MacNab, women's officer at Leeds University, said: "The bottom line is that no-one should have to take their clothes off to get an education.

"There is a real risk of people being driven to this kind of work through fear of debt and not being able to support themselves."

Inside Out is on BBC One at 1930 GMT on 20 January