Healthcare students turn to OnlyFans, prediction markets to pay tuition, living expenses.

• Healthcare students are facing financial hardship as bills mount up, and many turn to alternative revenue streams
• Among the suggested options are various content-creation platforms and prediction markets
• 70% of all respondents in a recent Clasp survey said they engage with platforms such as FanDuel or Kalshi

Studying medicine and adjacent disciplines is grueling in itself. The sheer responsibility, long hours, and stressful environment are not for everyone and require years of diligent training and getting accustomed to.

Yet, healthcare students have more than dealing with life and death situations daily, or at the very least - cramming for demanding exams. They similarly have to support themselves through the long, lengthy, and ultimately expensive period of tuition that has pushed many students to explore alternative revenue streams, according to Clasp, a workforce infrastructure company.

According to the company’s survey, 1,000 respondents have spoken about how they fund their tuition and other habits. For example, Clasp has found that more than 70% of healthcare students now use platforms such as Kalshi or FanDuel at least a few times a week, with respondents answering the questions between June 16 and 28.

Importantly, only half of those surveyed said that they have gained from their activity, with the other half posting losses. One healthcare student managed to win $50,000, but a peer lost just as much. The survey noted that 14 respondents collected more than $5,000, but at least two other students lost as much, with the average win or loss running in the range of between $100 and $1,000.

Clasp CEO Tess Michaels highlighted the worrying trend, noting that students were not betting for fun, but were actively turning to these platforms in a bid to try and turn a profit. Most of them, noted Michaels, are barely breaking even, the CEO noted.

"Time is really precious in healthcare, and there are different jobs that you can do to try and earn extra cash. And so the fastest routes to being able to get access to cash are probably going to win," Michaels said.

However, prediction platforms tend to be more popular with malestudents, whereas only a fifth of female students use these platforms instead. However, healthcare students also explore the alternatives, with revenue streams such as YouTube, TikTok, Substack, and OnlyFans some of the relevant options. These platforms are usually difficult to use to generate a consistent revenue stream.

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