Some Texas Students Using 'Sugar Daddies' To Pay For College Tuition
Follow KRLD: Facebook | Twitter
In an age of rising college tuition and debt the website SeekingArragement.com boasts it offers a way for students to tackle the problem: Sugar Daddies.
According to 'Seeking Arrangement' spokeswoman Brook Urick, over two million students are currently members of the site. Texas State University ranks 5th on the list of highest participating students, the University of Texas at Austin ranks 11th.
Urick said it's a dating website for "like minded people."
"So when you join it's basically like any other dating site only there is a section for what we call 'lifestyle expectations.' And in a sugar baby's case that's the amount of money you expect to be spent on you in a relationship, and for a guy or a sugar daddy or mommy that's the amount of money you expect to spend on that relationship," Urick said.
"So if someone is in school and they're looking to date someone who can not only offer them companionship but also help them pay for school then this is a great place to start and meet someone like that," she said.
"So if she is looking for someone to help her pay for tuition maybe she would send him a link for a tuition payment and he can help with that payment."
But is sex involved? It's not out of the question. But Urick said that is completely up to the participants. "What their relationship consists of is up to them," Urick said. "What we do is facilitate relationships. So what happens between them is up to them. We don't track any type of gifts that are given to sugar babies or or given by sugar daddies. That's not something we support."
Dallas attorney Chris Lewis said technically the site is not an escort service.
"Well prostitution is very specific. You have to offer payment for some sort of sexual service," Lewis said.
"What they're going to argue is what they're doing is actually paying for these to go on dates. There's nothing inherently sexual, improper or criminal about that. Their argument would simply be if sex comes out of it it does."
Urick said there are several messages on seekingarrangemnt.com noting it is not an escort service.