A rising number of college students have turned to OnlyFans to earn money, a trend that has drawn concern from educators, mental-health professionals and documentarians who say the platform’s growth on campuses is reshaping student priorities and exposing creators to new risks.
OnlyFans, a subscription website that allows adults to sell sexually explicit content, has seen creator numbers surge since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Statista data cited in reporting shows the site had about 350,000 creators worldwide in 2019 and grew to more than 4.1 million by 2023. At the same time, the rising cost of higher education is cited by students and observers as a major driver: the Education Data Initiative puts the average annual cost of college in the United States at roughly $38,270 in 2025.
Documentary filmmaker Rock Jacobs, director of a series titled "Lonely Fans," said the platform has become "a payroll system" for some creators and that the normalization of selling explicit content has accelerated since he began filming in 2023. "What [creators] have been able to do is use sex to prey on lonely people, and because of technology anybody can have a payroll," Jacobs told Fox News Digital. He said students who initially kept their accounts secret are increasingly open about their work and, in some cases, proud of it.
Jacobs and others point to a mix of economic pressure and the platform’s ability to provide immediate income as key reasons students join. "There's some people that really need money," he said. "And this is such an easy way to do it. It comes quick, and you know [that] you will make money." Jacobs also recounted that some young people express plans to join OnlyFans as soon as they reach the legal age, describing an interaction he said occurred outside a California high school.
While some creators report substantial earnings — Jacobs cited a woman who told him she had made millions and used the income to change her life — experts warn about the nonfinancial costs. New York City psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert said the platform’s rewards "can create dependency and affect self-worth," producing attention and income that may lead students to tie self-esteem to likes, clicks and subscribers.
Legal and career consequences are a concern among educators and advisors. Posting explicit material can affect future employment prospects and relationships with family and community, professionals say. Jacobs warned that normalization of the behavior could have broader cultural implications, saying, "If we keep moving and normalizing this type of behavior, then family values are going to be diminished." He added that what some frame as independence can mask vulnerability.
Safety concerns are a recurring theme in accounts from creators and filmmakers. Jacobs described incidents documented for his series in which online attention escalated to real-world danger, saying one man "literally drove five hours to a girl's house," broke into it and lived in the attic. Another creator Jacobs interviewed said she lives with a persistent fear that someone may try to kill her because of her online visibility.
Those accounts reflect a pattern reported across online-content communities: digital harassment can transition into stalking and physical threats. Experts caution that the permanence and shareability of online content can amplify those dangers, creating sustained risk for creators.
Universities have felt the effects of the trend in different ways. Reporting notes that the practice has reached high-ranking institutions and that some campuses have seen related programming and student groups. The financial strain of tuition and student debt — costs that have risen substantially over the past two decades — is frequently cited by students explaining their decisions to monetize online content.
Platform operators and college administrators face competing pressures: the need to protect students and campus communities while recognizing the autonomy of adults who choose to sell content. Researchers and clinicians urge campus health and counseling services to prepare for issues tied to online sex work, including mental-health support, safety planning and guidance on privacy and reputational management.
The OnlyFans expansion on campuses has prompted renewed debate among parents, educators and policymakers about how to respond. Advocates for students’ safety emphasize criminal protections and stronger campus reporting systems for harassment and stalking. Others point to broader economic drivers — tuition costs and limited part-time job opportunities — as underlying causes that will require policy and institutional responses beyond individual choices.
Reporting on the trend has highlighted the spectrum of outcomes for student creators: some say they find financial relief and new independence, while others describe ongoing fear, reputational damage and barriers to traditional career paths. As the practice becomes more visible, colleges, mental-health professionals and law-enforcement officials are weighing how best to address the intersecting issues of safety, economic need and personal autonomy raised by the rise in campus-based creators on subscription platforms.