The Student Christian Movement (SCM) said it was "extraordinarily commonplace" that students were working alongside their studies over fears about debt or to cover their living costs.
It also said students who choose to work in the sex industry shouldn't be condemned or judged, and that there's still a stigma attached to it.
SCM was speaking after research from Swansea University found up to 1 in 20 students have worked in the sex industry to fund their studies and help pay off their debts, equalling up to 100,000 students in the UK.
It also found male university students were more likely to work in the sex industry than female ones.
Paul Parker, from SCM, told Premier's News Hour: "It's extraordinarily commonplace that students aren't able to meet their living costs and are worried so much about their student debt that more of my friends than not turned to some form of employment to help fund their costs.
"People go into the sex industry for a whole bunch of reasons, I think, but they don't do so lightly. I'm aware that anecdotally lots of sex workers do still fear coming out about the work that they do.
"Certainly in some situations it is to cover really basic things like living costs, like food, like rent. I know a lot of students who feel that their rent is almost prohibitively expensive.
"As that [financial] support's been chipped away, more and more students have turned to employment in a whole number of different forms to support themselves."
Listen to Paul Parker speaking to Premier's Des Busteed on the News Hour: