College Debt? Where is your Sugar Daddy?
College students graduated to one of the highest unemployment rates for grads in US history this year. They are on average burdened with over 25,000 dollars in debt.
With a dire job market, trying to find new ways to pay off that debt can get very tricky.Who is your Sugar Daddy?“Seekingarrangement.com is a dating website for wealthy guys whom we term sugar daddies, or women – sugar mummies – for them to meet beautiful, younger women and men whom we term as sugar babies,” said CEO of Seeking Arrangement, Brandon Wade.College debt and dim job prospects are pushing more janitors with PHDs into membership than ever before.“Back in 2006, when the website first started, 25 percent of the sugar babies were college students, we have seen that number increase to about 35-40 percent just in the last few years alone,” said Wade.Online searches combined with mingling parties like these promise more luck with finding that “perfect” sugar-sweet relationship.An anonymous Ivy League college grad RT spoke with, is facing tens of thousands of dollars worth of debt. With no job and financial aid, she wants a sugar daddy.“Prostitution should be legal. I am not looking for love. I am looking for someone who I can casually date who might be able to provide some kind of financial support for myself,” she said.The former student believes relationships for money are on their way to becoming a trend.“Given hikes in tuition, and the current state of the economy, more and more people are looking for alternative ways to finance their educations. There are plenty of young men looking to date older women,” she explained. Men like Joseph. Also burdened by college debt, he is looking for a rich lady to take care of him.“Different people find themselves in different situations, so you never know who is going to bring it – you put yourself out there and see what happens,” he said.Organizers say they’ve found the golden ticket.“Whether it be a student, whether it be a single mother, who may have difficulty with their own finances. In this economy, a people of need – to the people that have, it’s a nice bridge,” said party host and sugar daddy Allan SchneiderCritics call dating for money prostitution.“There are websites where people can find each other and engage in any kind of mutually beneficial sexual relationship they want, but wherever money is involved – it’s a problem,” said editorial columnist and author Ted Rall. Actor Gianni Russo has 10 mothers to his 11 children. He says money saves time. “I know who I am. I know how old I am. Where else can you go on a Monday night and meet 200 women in New York City?” explained the 68-year-old. Most of the women he has met so far have turned out to be prostitutes, however.“Most of these kids, if they truly need an education and whatever, I am a person who has a lot of extra rooms – and so, if I could be helpful, that would be marvelous, but most of them are just working girls,” said Gianni Russo.Author and journalist Melanie Berliet had more luck with the seeking arrangement dating service.“I needed money. I was stuck in a rough spot. As I imagine a lot of college-age girls are these days. It is a method of tampering financial problems. The fact that girls, some girls, choose this option, is not upsetting to me. It’s been done for ages,” she said. Tough economic times call for tough measures. Claiming to be helping thousands find “ideal arrangements,” could services like www.seekingarrangement.com be on their way to creating debtless grads and financially secure jobless in the US?
