College is expensive.
Student loan debt is immense.
And, for some, the way to help pay those costs – or just earn some extra pocket money – is to be a sugar baby.
A what, you may ask?
Yes, a sugar baby.
And maybe it might not surprise you, but Las Vegas has more sugar babies – and sugar daddies – than most American cities, according to the website Seeking Arrangement, which is dedicated to this kind of relationship.
The site offers a deal for sugar babies who use their college email address. That's how they know there are a lot of people using it from both UNLV and the College of Southern Nevada.
Brook Urick is a spokesperson for Seeking Arrangement. She said the definition of sugar baby and sugar daddy is pretty simple.
"As for sugar babies, a lot of them are in college," she said. "Usually they're just looking for a relationship in which they are spoiled and taken care of. A sugar daddy is someone who is willing to gift and spoil the person they're with. Most of them are CEOs -- businessmen and women who really don't have time for traditional relationships."
Urick said the website is really a dating site, but a lot more honest.
"The difference here is people are little more open and honest about their expectations," she said.
Urick said when people sign up for the site, they list income and overall relationship expectations, so both sides are clear about what they bring to the table and what needs they want met.
"I think that more people should go into relationships asking questions like that because a lot of times one person isn't fulfilled," she said.
Urick was clear to point out that the site is not an escort service and people are kicked off the site if they are using it as an escort service. She also believes there is a difference between the idea of "sugaring" and prostitution.
"I think that with any sort of relationship, long-term or short-term, there is money involved and there is sometimes sex involved," she said. "If it is an exchange, then, yeah it is prostitution. But, there is a lot of gray in between. It's not to say that this type of relationship on Seeking Arrangement is the type of gray that's illegal."
Brook Urick, spokesperson, Seeking Arrangement
