Some North Carolina students using 'sugar daddies' site to pay tuition
CHAPEL HILL, NC -- Many students who don't have parents that can foot the bills often take on the cost of their own college education with part-time jobs. But for those needing an extra boost, they're turning to the SeekingArrangement.com website.
It pairs "sugar babies" - many of them college-age women - with "sugar daddies" - older, established men - for what the site calls "mutually beneficial relationships."
The website's easy to use. Women create profiles complete with pictures of themselves and personal statistics like body type, eye color, and what their expectations are for compensation.
One 18-year-old UNC student we found on the site said she's open to negotiating payment with the sugar daddy she's paired with and advertises she's looking for "companionship at first with respectable boundaries" but "open to discussing what works best for you."
Another profile for a 22-year-old college girl living in Chapel Hill say she's expecting $5,000 a month from her prospective sugar daddy and someone who can give her "the finer things in life."
Other students we spoke with said they were surprised to learn of the website.
"I've definitely worked a lot of real jobs to pay for my education and not had to go to those lengths. So I think there are other options," offered graduate student Tracy Spears.
UNC's Office of Scholarships and Student Aid says there's been a steady increase in the number of students needing financial aid since the beginning of the recession. But spokesman Eric Johnson pointed out the school handed out nearly $400 million in aid to nearly 21,000 students during the 2012-2013 school year.
In a statement, Johnson said: "paying for college can certainly require difficult decisions and sacrifices for students and families, but I strongly hope a student would come talk to us before taking any desperate measures to pay for college."
