Varsity's investigation last week into how far Cambridge students will go to make money has provoked a concerned response from the University and a storm of interest from the international press.

The investigation found that almost one in twenty Cambridge students write for Oxbridge essays, 350 are members of a website through which students offer dates for cash, and a very small group go much further, working as exotic dancers and prostitutes.

The story has received coverage from the BBC and national newspapers such as the Sun, the Telegraph and the Guardian, as well as newspapers from Italy, India and Mexico. A photograph of a scantily clad "vice girl", with nothing but the Cambridge crest to preserve her modesty appeared alongside a sensationalised account on the Sun's website.

The Cambridge Evening News has published extensive coverage over the past two days. One of the students profiled in the investigation told Varsity that it was after responding to an escort agency advert in the back of the CEN that she first got involved in prostitution. Despite Varsity's repeated attempts to discover whether this claim could be true, the newspaper has refused to comment.

CUSU president Mark Fletcher is worried that the press have misunderstood the services offered by students working for Take Me To Dinner, formerly known as Oxbridge Escorts. "This has led to the ridiculous suggestion that hundreds of Cambridge students could be working as prostitutes. This is so far from the truth it is obscene."

"We have no way of knowing whether various aspects of the article in Varsity are indeed true," said Dr Rob Wallach, Secretary of the Senior Tutors' Committee. "The claim that ‘hundreds' of students are involved is highly unlikely and the result of pure speculation."

In a statement released on Wednesday, Dr Wallach described the University as being "most concerned by the report". He maintained that the generous financial help offered by the University means students should not find themselves in a position where they are forced to cash in on their brains or bodies. "There is no reason why students should find themselves in such severe financial difficulty that they would have to resort to prostitution," he said.

Mark Phippen, head of Cambridge University's counselling service, is worried that the ban on term time jobs and the unusual ways in which students are dealing with debt could have an adverse effect on students' mental health. "Certainly the areas of work that students are getting into - exotic dancing, Oxbridge Essays and so on, are better paid from a financial point of view, but I wonder if they leave students feeling good about themselves. Things like one's confidence and respect for oneself are difficult to put a monetary value on."

The University has also voiced concern in response to our claim that 500 Cambridge students sell bespoke essays to companies such as Oxbridge Essays. Dr Wallach stated that colleges "strongly discourage" students from working for such companies, and questioned Oxbridge Essays' assertion that the buyers of essays do not submit them as their own work.

Oxbridge Essays' John Foster responded to the criticism yesterday. "Our website makes explicit that the intended purpose of our research is to serve as a model answer from which the client is inspired to improve his own work. All clients are required, before receiving work, to sign a legal agreement acknowledging that they understand this to be the purpose of the written materials we supply."

Katy Lee, News Editor

UNIVERSITY STATEMENT

Rob Wallach, secretary of the Senior Tutors' Committee

"There is no reason why students should find themselves in such severe financial difficulty that they would have to resort to prostitution. However the University and Colleges are aware that students can find themselves in financial difficulty and give support where they can. There is a range of support mechanisms, including hardship fund allowances and, as in all UK universities, a bursary scheme for students from lower income families which has just been extended substantially by the University.

"We have no way of knowing whether various aspects of the article in Varsity are in fact true. The claim that ‘hundreds' of students are involved is highly unlikely and the result of pure speculation. We are most concerned by the report and College Senior Tutors would do everything they could to give support to students well before any found themselves in such a situation.

"Oxbridge Essays claim that students pay hundreds of pounds for model answers which they then do not submit as their own work. We think that claim, along with similar claims made by other essay websites, is very surprising and would question its accuracy.

"Plagiarism devalues the efforts of students who work hard to achieve their degrees. It also damages students who commit plagiarism, as they will not benefit from the teaching and learning experience which universities offer.

"The University and Colleges strongly discourage students from writing essays for companies such as Oxbridge Essays."