It’s always been hard to pay for college: you either work a few jobs, get a few loans, or do the tango with both. It’s nearly impossible to ensure that millennials and rising generations can afford the education and tools they will need in order to keep up with this degree-focused workforce. With thousands of other candidates competing for the same position you are, at times, it’s hard not to think of your own classmates as potential threats. That being said, the necessity is overtaking the means to satisfy it. This 79.3 percent increase in tuition in the last 10 years has forced many young women to rethink the traditional employment route (according to USNEWS). What’s a girl to do?
The term “Sugar Daddy” has been around for years! Many associate it with the image in their head of an old guy slumping around with some 17-year-old: him, in an overly expensive suit and her, in a dress two sizes too small and heels two sizes too tall! Now, in this imaginary scenario, some common phrases that cross minds are “gold digger” or even “prostitute.” It is unsurprising that the connotation associated with them offends those who are labeled with terms such as these. Apparently, it was time to flip the script!
Photo courtesy of Pixabay
According to VanityFair.com’s article, Daddies, “Dates,” and the Girlfriend Experience: Welcome to the New Prostitution Economy, sex is not always in the picture. Older men are looking for companionship, which is now referred to as ‘the girlfriend experience’. Women are getting paid anywhere between a few hundred to a few thousand dollars per hour in order to devote their constant attention to their “employer.” That will make a dent in your federal loans!
I know what you’re thinking: how many men are actually willing to pay that much for a date? Based on an Austin, Texas survey done by CNBC, there are 9000 active ‘Sugar Daddies’ looking for a woman to spoil; one in 50 men! In this same article, they associated the boom in University of Texas at Austin ‘Sugar Baby’ sign-ups to the increase in ‘Sugar Daddy’ sign-ups for 2015. These numbers come from one of the most popular sign-up sites, SeekingArrangement.com. TheAtlantic.com reports that there are more than 1.4 million students signed up to be a “baby” for the site; it’s clear that college expenses and sign-ups are related.
What does all this mean for the evolving college woman? With the control in her hands as to how much she works, makes, and agrees to, there is no shame in seeking an arrangement. As a woman, all you can do when in distress is: be safe, put on mascara, and #handleit.