18. Where the Sugar Babies Are

     The rising cost of student debt has given birth to the phenomenon of older men offering money in exchange of dates with students. These men are called "sugar daddies", and even though this idea is nothing new it certainly has been expanding quite rapidly in the United States. This spike of "daddies" and "babies" are seen especially in the southern states, according to data from SeekingArrangement. SeekingArrangement is a website in which those women with student debts can turn to "sugar daddies." More than one million students have already signed up as members. The website then does a background check on members and also prohibits the exchange of money on the website. But not everyone agrees with this trend. One New York Post contributer accused the industry of promoting prostitution. However this introduction to the sugar-daddy-baby industry is old news. The new data is that this is starting to gain tremendous popularity in some specific regions. Schools in Texas, especially The University of Texas, have had a massive growth in memberships. Another college who surprised with its number of "sugar babies" is New York University, a private institution. But the worst part of all of this is that against the images that this industry transmit, many students depend on it to live debt free.

     This article is written by Terrance F. Ross to The Atlantic. Ross starts out his article with a introduction of the sugar-daddy-baby industry. But his article does not focus on what it is, but how it has affected specific regions in the United States. Ross utilizes various examples of colleges that are deep within this trend. He aso uses direct and primary quotations of sources related to the subject.

http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/01/where-the-sugar-babies-are/384547/