New figures from the dating website SeekingArrangement show that the University of York has one of the highest populations of “sugar babies” in the UK.
With 460 students using the site, the University of York has been placed 7th on the universities with the most students registered on SeekingArrangement.
Typically, the way that SeekingArrangement works is by pairing younger, often female, people with older, typically male, people in a transactional relationship. The older person gives gifts (money, clothes, meals out etc.) that usually have a high value in return for the young person spending time with them.
SeekingArrangement determined the figures by looking at how many students used their university emails to sign up to the site, so there could potentially be even more students who use the site that were not picked up by the site’s analysis of their data.
According to SeekingArrangement, the number of university age sugar babies seeking sugar daddies rose by 5% from 2019. This may be due to the increased anxiety about student loan repayment. The UK owes a staggering £121 billion in student loans, and with interest rates on these loans increasing over time, it isn’t hard to understand why students use the site.
Steph Hayle, YUSU’s Community and Wellbeing Officer told Vision: “The often extortionate cost of living for students means many are seeking to find work alongside their studies.
“Given how expensive it is to live in York, seeing a rise in the number of students registering with a website like Seeking Arrangement doesn’t surprise me, and suggests that there is room for the University to do far more to financially support it’s students – through both cutting costs and increasing bursaries.
“YUSU will actively support any students choosing to work in this industry. We encourage any student that may be viewing this as an option to speak with our Advice and Support team if they need confidential and non-judgemental support about their situation”
Information and advice for student sex workers from YUSU can be found at https://yusu.org/advice-support/support-a-z/supporting-student-sex-workers
If you or anyone you know uses the site SeekingArrangements, and would like to have your story told, don’t hesitate to contact us at [email protected] or [email protected] Your identity will be kept secret, and we will do everything to make sure your story is told in a fair and honest way.