Over 300,000 Canadian university students are using a sugar dating site, Seeking Arrangement, to fund their education, according to a recent report by the company.
Sugar daddies or sugar mamas are individuals who pay young people, called sugar babies, for companionship and romantic or sexual favours.
The University of Toronto had the largest number of Canadian students signed up as sugar babies with Seeking Arrangement with 1,170 students using the service by the end of 2018 and York University coming in second.
Carleton University has 615 students using the services by the end of last year and almost 150 new signups.
According to the report, university fees in Canada have risen 40 per cent in the last decade.
“With the average yearly tuition for undergraduate students costing more than $6,000, Canadian students are turning to wealthy benefactors to alleviate some of the financial burden,” the report said.
Brandon Wade, founder and CEO of Seeking Arrangement, said in the report that students should not be overwhelmed with the thought of drowning in debt upon graduation.
“Obtaining a great job, experiencing life and preparing for a bright future should be a university graduate’s main focus. While Canada does have one of the top university completion rates in the world, it also ranks fourth for most expensive country to attend university,” he said.
However, Cheryl Harasymchuk, a psychology professor at Carleton University, previously told the Charlatan that sugar relationships can involve a certain “dance of power” that can be attractive to its participants.
She said sugar babies might feel pressured to please their sugar parent in order to keep them.
“Research suggests we should strive for equality in relationships where both partners’ preferences are given equal weight,” she said. “Relationships where there isn’t a balance in power are more prone to relationship decay.”
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