Did Duke porn star really need money for college?

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Did Duke porn star have other options?

Did Belle Knox really need to do porn to pay for college. Our experts weigh in.

A Duke student recently admitted she was a porn star, claiming she’s experienced harassment and death threats since a fellow student first revealed her double life. Was Belle Knox treated unfairly by her peers? And is porn life really the only way to pay for college? Our FOX411 experts weigh in.

“I don’t think the Duke porn star is being treated unfairly because she seems to be capitalizing on all of the attention and the fame. I think she said, ‘Do I get to be on Ellen?’ I think she’s going to ride this to get more publicity, and hopefully for her more money,” said Peter Davis, editor-in-chief of Scene Magazine.

And more money couldn’t hurt given the recent Duke tuition hike, explained Kathryn Vasel, an editor for FoxBusiness.com.

“Duke’s Board of Trustees recently approved a tuition hike for 2014-2015 school year.  So, now students are going to be paying about $46,000 a year for tuition; when you add in room and board that goes to $60,000 a year multiple that by four, sometimes five years that’s a big chunk of change that we’re asking students and their families to pick up,“ she said.

But porn isn’t really her only option, Vasel argued.

“Students are taking to complete strangers asking for crowd-funding. You also have the option of a two-year community college for your first two years you take the basic classes that every college requires, and you get it at 50 percent off, and then you go to the school you want to get your degree from then you’re only paying for two years,” said Vasel.

Belle Knox’s choice may not have been a wise one, given that her porn personality will likely be hard to ditch down the road, Vasel added.

“Employers are really Googling their candidates when they’re applying, and if they run across something they don’t like online that could take them out of the pool candidates,” she said.

But if she decides to become a women’s rights lawyer, as she has indicated she plans to do, her porny past could work in her favor, Bonnie Fuller, editor-in-chief of HollywoodLife.com, said.

“I think she will find sympathetic law firms that also have the same beliefs that she holds.”

In the meantime, Davis said Belle Knox should use the free publicity she’s been getting to her advantage.

“She should ride the media attention all the way to Oprah if she can.”