Amid soaring college tuition and a persistently terrible job market, college co-eds are increasingly turning to a thinly-veiled version of the world's oldest profession to get the bills and loans paid, reports the Huffington Post. Websites such as SeekingArrangement.com allow women to advertise themselves as "sugar babies" seeking a "sugar daddy" to dote on them, pay for dates, and most importantly, offer cash in exchange for, er, company. But college women now make up as much as 35% of all sugar babies, the website's founder estimates.
"These college women didn't see themselves as sex workers, but women doing straight-up prostitution often don't see themselves that way, either," a Las Vegas sociology professor says. These websites operate lawfully since simply advertising for a sugar daddy or sugar baby is within the realm of legality, a second sociology professor says. It's a set-up many men find to their liking—as young, educated women are a cross-section of the female population older suitors feel is often inaccessible. "I only go out with girls 25 and under," says "Jack," who claims to be 67 on his profile. "But I can't walk into a bar and go up to a 25-year-old. They'd think I'm a pervert. So, this is how I go about meeting them." (More college costs stories.)
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