I signed up for a sugar daddy site

I’m officially one semester into being a college student, and I’m already feeling the pressure of paying off my University bills. On top of that, I need to begin thinking about how I’ll pay rent for an apartment next year. Many fellow students feel the same way, and in combination with our general tendency to blow money we do not have, our bank accounts are really suffering.

Truthfully, at this point in time, I would do a lot of things for some extra cash (except actually get a job). So, when one of my classmates told me there was a site where you could find a sugar daddy, I immediately decided I needed to try it out. Talking to old men for money? Seems simple enough.

Me, perfect sugar baby material

There are only a small handful of sugar daddy sites, but the most reputable one is Seeking Arrangement. It seems pretty legitimate – the New York Times, Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, CNN, The Huffington Post, and Vanity Fair can vouch for its credibility. On the front page, the CEO and founder Brandon Wade says, “Unlike other dating websites, it’s my commitment to operate our business ethically. This means caring about your privacy, encrypting identifiable data, and never employing fake profiles or software bots. When we say there are more men than women, we guarantee it.”

Although the ones giving or receiving the money are not limited to a single gender, clearly the site is geared toward an older-male-paying-younger-female audience.

Potential babies should also consider becoming intellectually stimulating and physically attractive

When you actually create a account, you are asked not to use your real name but are given the option to upload photos. There is a public album that all users can see, as well as a private one. There is no way to prove if a daddy/momma is lying about their income unless they pay to get background verified, but you can request more than $10,000 per month. Theoretically, I could have my college experience paid for in less than six months.

I knew I was up to try this, but did other Iowa students feel the same? I asked a few of my peers if they would give the website a shot.

Initially, most of the people I asked said they would try it. “I mean, what do I have to lose?” one of them said, “unless I was in a relationship, I would do it.” Although the proposition seemed like easy money, there were a few objections. After pressing the issue on my hesitant best friend, she said: “I would pick the right sugar daddy for the right sugar price.” There is always the chance that I could get stuck with the infamous “Splenda Daddy” a daddy without the money, or “sugar”, for the job.

Within a twenty-five mile radius of Iowa City’s zip code, there are only 89 potential daddies. Okay, so I have a limited selection, but I’ll take what I can get. What really concerns me is the fact that only 19 of them have visible pictures. I can’t even tell what over half of these people look like, and some of them don’t even want to pay. On top of that, only 36 of them have been active within the last month. Better opportunities only appear as soon as I search within a 250 mile radius. Now I’m seeing men from Minneapolis, Kansas City, Des Moines and especially Chicago with larger amounts of money. Of course, then travel becomes a problem.

I began to feel uneasy after reading a few profiles. This ended up being another sex for money platform, just for a different demographic. I’m not really into BDSM, foreign business trips interfere with my class schedule and some of these guys “prefer not to say” if they have any children. I have to ask myself: Am I really willing to sleep with a guy who could be my grandpa in exchange for some financial peace of mind?

I ended up deleting my profile after that. Will there come a time where I become so desperate for money I return to SeekingArrangement.com? Perhaps after next semester. Until then, I’ll continue to curse the Regents and scrounge for Panch money.

Was it a mistake to pass at the opportunity for “sugar”? I’ll never know.