With tuition on the rise, some UF students have opted for a nontraditional method of funding their academic costs.
UF was ranked No. 21 by SeekingArrangement.com on its list of the fastest-growing sugar baby schools in the United States.
SeekingArrangement.com calls itself the world’s largest sugar daddy website, with college students making up the majority of its users.
The website invites “gentlemen” to date and financially sponsor “sugar babies,” who are described as “attractive, intelligent, ambitious and goal-oriented” by the website.
Recent increases in tuition have led to students using sugar daddies to cover those costs, said Angela Bermudo, public relations manager at SeekingArrangement.com.
“Students need to find ways to pay for their tuition,” Bermudo said. “It’s a good career move while you’re still in school.”
In 2012, UF had 186 students using the service, she said.
That number rose by about 57 percent in 2013.
Currently 292 students at UF have sugar daddies paying for their school expenses.
Bermudo said that increased popularity is due to “word of mouth between students.”
While the number of sugar babies is growing at UF and across the nation, not all students see the benefits of getting a sugar daddy.
Alexa Tsongranis, a 20-year-old UF psychology and advertising sophomore, said she was surprised that her school ranked No. 21 on this list.
“My father would kill me first,” said Tsongranis. “If I needed the money that bad, I would get a job.”
Rachel Reardon, a 22-year-old UF multimedia journalism graduate student, said she thinks that a website like this is useful.
“I feel like a lot of people would say its sexist, but it’s a woman exercising her own choice to take an option that is out there,” Reardon said.
Reardon said people are using this website because college is very expensive.
“I’m incredibly broke, so that sounds good,” Reardon said jokingly. “What’s the name of the website again?”
A version of this story ran on page 8 on 1/21/2014 under the headline "UF ranks No. 21 on list of fastest-growing sugar baby schools"
