Is porn an option? Some young gay men turn to sex work to pay for school. Not all of them regret it.

Tom Stephenson, 21, doesn't fit the typical image of an amateur porn star. He's a junior at Miami University of Ohio, has been on the dean's list every semester, and was president of his high school class.

But doing porn was something he always had in the back of his mind, and he hasn't really worried that it could come back to haunt him someday.

"It allows me to be someone I'm not," says Stephenson. "It allows me to experience whole new things as a different persona." And he says that the money he makes is enough to pay for his schoolbooks and other expenses.

The number of opportunities for queer youths in the adult film industry is growing. The work offers a quick buck, and the exposure can lead to other types of work.

"Making films doesn't pay the bills," says Jeremy, 24, who declines to give his last name. "The other stuff like escorting does."

Jeremy comes from a small town in New Hampshire and lived in foster homes from age 10. He moved to Los Angeles on his own at 17 and eventually signed with a porn agent. Jeremy says that while the industry is "nasty," the money allowed him to pay for school and open up his own interior design firm.

"It's not that I wanted to do it," he says. "But $2,000 for four hours of work--it's hard to say no."

Andrew Nye, 20, also worked as an escort while doing gay porn. The money helped pay some bills, he says, but looking back, he is ashamed of what he did and has nothing to show for it. "The money's not that great, and the sex isn't enjoyable--it's work," says Nye, who has seen friends in the industry contract HIV and is "grossed out" when he sees himself on film. Nye has since changed his look to try to avoid being recognized.

Amateur porn producer Steven Shay says that each month he is contacted by more than 200 interested young men from the Midwest alone, many of whom come from troubled families. He claims to provide a "family-like" bond for his models in a porn market that he says is now saturated with the "twink" genre. "Anyone with a camera and editing software can be a producer," Shay says.

Indeed, getting a job in porn is easy, say Nye and Jeremy. What's difficult is knowing the long-term costs. Stephenson says he isn't worried that his porn work will affect his dream of becoming a college math professor. But Jeremy believes that his aspirations to act or model may never materialize due to his past.

"Once you do one film, you might as well do 100. It never leaves you," Jeremy says. "I don't wish anyone out there to do porn."