Essay Sample: The University Students and Sugar Daddies Online

As noted in the recent past, there has been an increase in the number of university students who find the sugar daddies online in Canada. The survey conducted by Seeking Arrangement ranked post-secondary institutions in Alberta top in the list with the most significant annual increase in users among Canadian university students. The students at the online website of Seeking Arrangement user profiles show a majority of them claiming to attend university and looking for financial support ("Hundreds of University Students," 2017). The students have a different view; some are hopeful for building a relationship while others are only looking for a sexual relationship in exchange for financial support.

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It has been noted that the increased cost of living, and with the high rate of students facing debt, hundreds of Alberta post-secondary students are signing up and logging onto website dating sites in search of the ''sugar daddies'' who can aid them financially in the provision of monthly allowance and favors in exchange for a negotiated relationship. Students' advocates caution that such kind of relationships can be dangerous and that it may expose the students to abuse or mistreatment which can eventually affect their lives negatively. The University of Alberta emerged first among Canadian universities with 138 students on the dating site. Booming new members at Edmonton school totals the number of students on the site to 422, hence ranked seventh most of all Canadian post-secondary schools ("Hundreds of University Students," 2017).

This rising number of students opting for a negotiated relationship in an attempt to cover financial difficulties is troubling according to Rahim Rahman, president of University of Alberta's Students Union. The students are trying to satisfy the following financially: tuition fee, books, and other expenses. And as a result, they have to seek wealthy individuals who are willing to gather for their financial troubles with the hope of sexual relationships. More so, the cost of studying dentistry or medicine has skyrocketed, with fee tripling or even quadrupling with books and course materials adding up to $1000 on top of that. Furthermore, there is still housing, foods and other costs to be gathered for, hence, adding up to thousands more ("Hundreds of University Students," 2017).

According to Rahman, such relationships can be understandably a potential remedy to student's financial struggles though it can result in unintended consequences. To him, students are more vulnerable when it comes to power dynamics in such a relationship. The students mostly get involved with already established people in life and career, and thus student might be negatively affected ("Hundreds of University Students," 2017).

The clients average monthly ''allowance'' is about $2,700, gifts and other boons excluded as noted by Alexis German- a spokeswoman for Seeking Arrangement. That number differs, some sugar babies get a higher allowance than that, it is dependent on negotiated terms. According to German dating service, which has 631678 registered users in Canada. 412528 of which are ''sugar babies,'' has succeeded because it permits users to transparently and explicitly give their intentions before the start of any relationship hence facing out the unexpected ties in their lasting relationship in future. The sugar daddies can, therefore, get into a relationship bearing in mind that the student lady client is looking for financial support and not being chased by a gold digger ("Hundreds of University Students," 2017).

According to Seeking Arrangement's user profiles, some of the students hope of developing a meaningful and lasting relationship while other post lewd photographs and hoping to provide private ones too. Some of the women do not show their facial images on their public profiles, with a number of them suggesting they want to keep it hidden for fear of not wanting to harm their future employment endeavors ("Hundreds of University Students," 2017).

On the contrary, according to Rebecca Sullivan (director of women's studies program at the University of Calgary), the sugar daddy and sugar baby relationship, however, always end up being cash for sex which not only create a stigma for the women but also limit their prospects ("Hundreds of University Students", 2017). To her, the women signing up in search of sugar daddies are entering a business contract which does not have clearly defined rights and recourse should the terms be violated.

The economic recession has made it hard for students to find degree related jobs during summer time. Therefore, student leadership is always available to advise the students on their financial options, including scholarships and bursaries, access to loans, and even part-time employment, but decision making is up to the students ("Hundreds of University Students," 2017). This was noted by Tristan Bray who is the vice-president of the student union.

In conclusion, due financial difficulties faced by post-secondary students, more so when it comes to daily expenses, Sullivan advice those students looking at entering such financial arrangement to approach them as a business deal as opposed to an intimate relationship ("Hundreds of University Students," 2017).

References

Hundreds of university students find sugar daddies online, negotiate average $2,700 a month allowance. (2017). Retrieved from https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/hundreds-of-university-students-find-sugar-daddies-online-negotiate-average-2700-a-month-allowance