Sugar Babies, Sugar Daddies, and Sugar Coating Student Debt
I’m sure that many of you have heard by now about the new site called Seeking Arrangement; if not, let me brief you: it is a site that puts Sugar Daddies in touch with Sugar Babies. Not really anything new, but there is one big thing that makes this site different from many others.
The majority of Sugar Babies that have signed up on the site are college students. Not only are these girls students, but they’re from some of the top colleges in America, like UCLA, NYU, Harvard, and Tulane.
What would make these well-educated, intelligent and beautiful women feel the need the sign on with a company like Seeking Arrangement? Well, it appears as though the amount of debt they have acquired is so overwhelming that they felt they had no other choice but to enter into a Sugar Daddy-Sugar Baby relationship. The Sugar Daddies are usually older and more established men who have a certain level of income that allows for them to live a comfortable lifestyle. Once they meet the Sugar Babies, they may take them to dinner, the movies, or other events, and will pay them at the end of the date. Some women would receive $300-$400 for an afternoon, and others would receive up to $5000 as a monthly allowance from Sugar Daddies with whom they have a more established relationship. Although Seeking Arrangement does not explicitly say that sex must be involved, many of the women have admitted that it is expected, and they tend to comply with the expectations.
All of this just to pay off their student debt/loans.
I understand wanting to receive a stellar education from a top college, but is it really worth the cost? Several of the women interview stated that what drove them to enter into a professional relationship with a Sugar Daddy was indeed their college debt and I can’t help but wonder if they would have been on the same path if they had decided to go to a less expensive or less well-known college than the ones that they attended. I suppose I see that they did have other options, so why suffer with such a heavy debt-load to the point that they may (or may not) have had to break some of their own moral codes in order to pay off the debt?
I believe that many of these young girls may not have had all of the information pertaining to their student loans before they took them on, and so, wound up in the position where they may have been desperate to pay it off by any means necessary. Here in Ontario, many students take on several thousands of dollars of debt through the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP) and don’t really have all of the information needed either, and may wind up in the same boat.
You should be aware of the debt that may accumulate over the years while you complete your diploma/degree; it can be frightening. It’s important to take into account how much has been loaned to you over the years, and what the interest rate will be; it is usually prime+2.5% from the Federal side of the loan and Prime + 1.0% from the Provincial side (of which both sides must be paid back before your debt is eliminated).
With the skyrocketing cost of tuition, the average cost to study at a public institution is just over $6000 per year, and that excludes books, transportation, and living costs, which will easily total up to over $13,000 per academic year. There are several other options that perhaps you may not have thought of, such as private colleges, where the total tuition is much lower (total of $15,000 or less to complete your education versus the $52,000 at a public institution). Once you add the interest rate for student loans, an education may cost as much as $89,000 at a public institution!
With the economy going the way that it is and with soaring tuition rates, please look into all of your options before deciding which school to attend. Since so many of the Sugar Babies from Seeking Arrangement have cited student debt as their main reason for joining the site, I can’t help but encourage you to seek other more viable and economic options for your education.
After all, a Sugar Daddy is not your only option.
Filed under: College, Education | 12 Comments
Tags: Education, Huffington Post, OSAP, school, Seeking Arrangement, Student, student debt, Sugar Baby, Sugar Daddy
PCC Advantage
I am a university graduate, and I now work for a private college. I began writing this blog as a means to inform people about issues pertaining to higher education, both publicly and privately funded.
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Unfortunately we still have the proclivity to make women feel inferior in this society. As long as that phenomenon exists, there will be those who feel inferior enough to think that clutching on to “successful male” is their only hope for success. The sad truth is that for some, it is gospel. There is no difference between being a whore and a “trophy wife.” You end up being paid for sex.
What we need to do is empower people, regardless of gender, from birth. Not to brag, but my daughters are both in university, paid for, and tremendously independent. No one told my eldest that she couldn’t be valedictorian so she was. My youngest was given a major scholarship at an amazing prep school (where Robin Williams sent his kid Cody).
It all starts with the parents. If you are one BE ONE!
Wow…very well said, Steve. I agree that women are often made to feel inferior in society, and, unfortunately, such feelings can cause behaviour such as these college students have been exhibiting. It can be rather shocking to hear some of these girls’ stories as they are in or once attended very prestigious schools, and are willing to pay the cost to do so. I think what hit me most was that they would rather have a “designer education” rather than explore other options. I think that there is a certain lifestyle that these girls want to maintain but are unable to do so because they are saddled with debt. If they were better informed about their choices and ran the numbers before enrolling, perhaps they would not be in the situation that they’re in now.
Or maybe they would. I don’t know.
Kudos to you for raising your daughters to be strong, well-educated, independent, and capable women.
Ughhhhh this phenomenon kind of makes me sick
For me, I feel like this would have been hard to write.
Yes, it was a little hard to digest the story when I first read it because I had never imagined that girls would feel so desperate to pay off their student loans as to flirt with the idea of engaging in a relationship with a Sugar Daddy. I think that the more that I read the story, the more I couldn’t understand why they didn’t look into other options for their education. I couldn’t understand why the girls needed to receive an education from one of the top colleges in the country at this expense when there are so many other options out there.
Just to reiterate my early reply, I think that if these girls were a little more informed about the other schools they could have attended and about student debt itself (i.e. interest rates, the fact that it’s not just tuition but books, living expenses, etc.), I think that they could have been a little more prepared.
I also wonder if they would have made a different decision.
I hadn’t heard about this site at all. Really sad. It must be right on that line between legit dating service and illegal escort deal. True what you say about debt though. It’s a killer.
Yes, it is quite sad that any college student would be so strapped for cash to pay off their student loans that they feel the need to resort to questionable behaviour. It’s actually quite shocking that a site like this even exists; the founder of it considers himself somewhat of a philanthropist by helping out college students in need, so to speak.
Thanks for reading and commenting again, Clay.
And I remember when Sugar Daddies and Sugar Babies were candy.
Have a great day!
Mr Bricks
Haha! Yes, I think they still sell those candies here in Canada! It’s too bad, though, that they’re not the first things that people think of when they hear the terms, huh?
Thanks for stopping in and commenting, Mr Bricks! 🙂
I’m glad you’ve made us aware of this. It seems like it may be a good idea for parents to explain all of the pros and cons of college life rather than simply demand that “You’re going!”
(I’ve just erased an entire paragraph of boring, off topic drivel from this very spot. Thank me later :^)
I disagree with Steve Ulrich in method (not ideologically). I don’t see any indication that women are being belittled here. Men think women are hot, thus (if they have no scruples or self control) they throw the bait. If women are foolish enough to take it, then they are belittling themselves. When a man makes a foolish sexual or relational choice no one says, “Oh well, we must’ve made him feel inferior”; instead, we simply call his behavior idiotic and learn from it.
So I say, girls learn from this. Don’t behave foolishly, but when you do, don’t try to blame society or “the other gender” for giving you a complex. We all make our own decisions, and we all need to own them.
Haha…well, thanks for erasing the long, boring paragraph. 😉 Actually, I would have liked to know what you thought on the matter, in all honesty.
You make a very valid point about women belittling themselves as opposed to the men who “employ” them as their sugar babies. You’re right; they know the difference between right or wrong. I also think, however, that these women are just far too immature to understand the nature and the gravity of their decisions, and how it will affect them in the long run. I think that the reason why this behaviour is so deplorable is because the sugar daddies are much older than the young and inexperienced female college students; it’s not so much about gender as it is about age (in my opinion, anyway).
Thanks again for dropping by and putting in your 2 cents! 😉
Of course, wouldn’t you agree that women seem to be most cunning during their college years? Immature yes, but cunning – one would think – enough to avoid these types of things. I think I’m alluding to the idea that these college students may be walking in to this with their eyes wide open. Perhaps, even thinking that they have the upper hand.
Now, I know that I’m dancing close to the line of being completely off topic, so I’ll leave it at that. Good talking to you :^)
Yes, I agree with you in that I believe that these women know what they’re doing and are foolishly believing that they have the upper hand, but I don’t believe that they will understand the repercussions of their actions later in life, thus the immaturity aspect. When you’re only 18-21 years old, you haven’t had enough life experience to rationalize each decision and look at it logically, therefore, you tend to make decisions that may gratify you and suit your needs in the moment, but you are unable to understand what that decision may cause a little further down the road.
By the way, it’s okay if you go off-topic…it’s good to get discussions going no matter what the subject matter! Good talking to you too, Dinkerson! 🙂