Student loan debt is a frightening fact of life for many young 20-somethings in the U.S. As a potential escape, some women and men are taking a questionable turn at a kind of online dating. Through websites like Seeking Arrangement, increasing numbers of female college students have taken the plunge and become sugar babies, reports the Huffington Post. Paying off short term installment loans is simpler with a sugar daddy.
Pay off education loans with a sugar daddy
In the last 10 years, there was a 40 percent increase in the number of learners that will move home after graduation. Of the class of 2011, as much as 85 percent will move back home. Over $27,000 is what learners are paying right now on average in student loan debt. Before even starting, many students feel the deck is stacked against them. The Post spoke with Hunter College Student “Taylor.” She said that a Google search with the terms “money for school,” “tuition,” and “debt” is all that is needed. SeekingArrangement.com, a place where women can discover a “college tuition sugar daddy,” appears high in the rankings. This Taylor character is only 22 and got $1,000 to $3,000 a month to have a sugar daddy twice her age after forming a profile. Such men could pay $500 per night or additional to further the “humanitarian” work of helping young university learners in financial need. Sometimes, all the men require is companionship in exchange for their cash. Sex is something that often takes place. This leads several to believe that “sugar babies” is just a term second hand rather than prostitution for several.
Sugar babies a growing trend
There has been a large increase in the number of sugar babies around, as reported by Brandon Wade who is a Seeking Arrangement founder and MIT graduate. At SeekingArrangement.com, there are over 800,000 profiles. About 35 percent of them are students on the site. ArrangementSeekers.com, EstablishedMen.com, SugarDaddyMeet.com and SeekingTuition.com are all sites used. “Hundreds of thousands” of female’s college pupils will get debt paid off through them.
“College students are one of the biggest segments of our sugar babies, and the numbers are growing all the time,” said Wade.
Wade notes that university sugar baby members have increased approximately 350 percent over the past four years. Learners can mark their online profile with a “college sugar baby” stamp to be able to make the intent very clear. He states it is just part of life now.
“(Seeking Arrangement) provides a unique service, a chance for men and women living through tough economic times to afford college,” he said. He also noted that SeekingArrangement.com promotes “mutually beneficial relationships,” rather than prostitution.
A particular need to be filled
Sociologist Dr. Barb Brents of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, sees the reasons behind the growing sugar babies’ phenomenon as quite similar to why young women choose to work in Nevada’s legal brothels.
“These college women didn’t see themselves as sex workers, but women doing straight-up prostitution often don’t see themselves that way either,” says Brents. “Drawing that line and making that distinction may be necessary psychologically, but in material facts it’s quite a blurry line.”
Information from
Huffington Post, New York Times, SeekingArrangement.com, SugarDaddie.com