‘You have to give him anything’: Inside the life of a $75,000-a-year sugar baby

UNI student Lola is young, pretty, and dating a man old enough to be her dad. He paid her $75,000 last year. This is the life of a sugar baby.

“LOLA” is a 19-year-old uni student. Her “boyfriend” is a 51-year-old who runs a successful Perth consulting business. He paid her $75,000 last year.

Lola is one of a growing number of “sugar babies” — young women and students who date older, rich men, known as “sugar daddies”, in return for lavish gifts and allowances.

The Curtin University student told news.com.au she had been seeing the same sugar daddy for the past year after meeting through the popular SeekingArrangement website.

Lola says it’s a mutually beneficial setup. “You wouldn’t be in it if you didn’t want something out of it, so you can’t complain about a guy wanting something, because you’re also wanting something,” she said.

“You have to give him the love or companionship, anything he’s after.”

According to SeekingArrangement.com, Australian sugar babies earn an average of $3000 in monthly allowances — and a growing number of university students are signing up.

The controversial site has released its annual Fastest Growing Sugar Baby Schools ranking, with the University of Sydney topping the list with 90 new members joining in past 12 months. Three hundred University of Sydney students in total are registered on the site.

The University of Newcastle was close behind with 85 sign-ups, followed by the Queensland University of Technology with 81, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University with 78, and the University of Queensland with 75.

SeekingArrangement claims more than 80,000 “young, educated and broke” Australian students are now “easing the burden with help from sugar daddies”.

The site offers free premium memberships to students that register with their university email address or show proof of enrolment. It says nearly 2 million students are registered worldwide.

Lola, who also has a part-time job, is paid a weekly allowance — not including gifts, dinners, flights and other luxuries. She estimates her sugar daddy has paid her more than $75,000 — roughly $1450 a week.

Lola said she started by seeing him twice a week and it’s gradually evolved to become more like a traditional relationship. But she says it took a “couple of months” before they had sex.

“We were messaging each other for three months until we actually met,” she said. “It was really nice because we got to know each other. We met up and connected straight away.

“We usually go out for dinner, he takes me out to social things for work, and yeah — just do normal relationship things that normal couples do.”

Lola says only a few of her close friends know — she was introduced to the site by a friend — and “they think it’s cool”. Her parents only know she’s seeing an older man.

Do they think it’s inappropriate? “Of course,” she said.

“They know but they don’t know. They don’t really ask or like to talk about it. They just say, ‘Do you like him? Do you actually like him or are you doing this for money?’ But I think they just grew to understand.”

She argues it’s no different to being married. “If a wealthy married man wants to pamper his wife by paying her money or giving her gifts, I think that’s fine. It’s fine if both parties are OK with it.”

Curtin University student ‘Lola’ has made $75,000 from her sugar daddy.

Asked how long she intends to keep seeing him, she said: “I don’t know. I mean, I really like him a lot. After graduating I don’t know what’s going to happen then.

“I really want to keep seeing him as much as I can.”

“Samantha”, a former sugar baby, called the site “addictive”. “You have someone basically throwing money and materialistic things at you,” she said.

“Not so much me, but other girls — they like that. They like to be spoiled and taken care of.”

Samantha, who also lives in Perth, said while she never had sex with anyone on the site, she still made about $4000 just by meeting up with her two sugar daddies.

“I didn’t sleep with them. I made it very clear, I make my own rules,” she said.

“People who don’t know you just assume you’re a prostitute, you’re doing it because you’re a gold digger, but they don’t know me.”

But she said the majority of girls on the site were there for sex. “My friend did, that was the type of person she was. She wouldn’t admit it, but she liked being spoiled, everything paid for,” she said.

“You catch up with them, they might want someone for an event, that’s all you’re really doing to get payment, jewellery. Really, it is that easy.”

‘A GREAT ALTERNATIVE TO CRIPPLING DEBT’

Sugar babies, according to the site’s sign-up page, are “attractive people looking for the finer things in life”. “They appreciate exotic trips and gifts. Sugar babies get to experience a luxurious lifestyle, and meet wealthy people on a regular basis,” it says.

Sugar daddies, meanwhile, are “successful men and women who know what they want”. “They’re driven, and enjoy attractive company by their side. Money isn’t an issue, thus they are generous when it comes to supporting a sugar baby.”

Sugar babies are expected to keep the flings private as sugar daddies are often “respected community figures in high places that have other existing demands”.

“Revealing a sugar relationship could be harmful to their career and personal life,” prospective sugar babies are warned. “If you help your daddy maintain the fun, the rewards are great!”

SeekingArrangement argues proposed university deregulation, which could lead to an increase in tuition fees and debt, has prompted students to turn to sugar daddies to help them “bypass this unfortunate fate”.

University of Sydney has been named the top ‘sugar baby’ university.

Brandon Wade, founder and chief executive of SeekingArrangement, said a sugar daddy was a “great alternative to accumulating crippling debt, allowing sugar babies to graduate debt-free”.

“Australia is placing the burden of student debt on the country. Rather than repaying the favour, graduates are escaping to other countries,” Mr Wade said in a statement.

“Some see this as a controversial solution. In reality, SeekingArrangement.com has helped facilitate connections that will foster the futures of young women, and even some men. That’s more than anyone can say of the Commonwealth government.”

According to SeekingArrangement, 35 per cent of its university members came from upper-middle and high-income families, which has remained constant since last year.

Younger students are joining in increasing numbers, however, with the ratio of undergraduate students now making up 82 per cent versus 18 per cent.

In Australia, SeekingArrangement says it now has 130,000 female sugar babies, 56,000 sugar daddies, 11,600 male sugar babies, and 6000 sugar ‘mommies’.

FASTEST GROWING SUGAR BABY UNIS*

1. University of Sydney — 90

2. University of Newcastle — 85

3. Queensland University of Technology — 81

4. Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University — 78

5. University of Queensland — 75

6. University of New South Wales — 75

7. University of South Australia — 65

8. University of Wollongong — 63

9. Deakin University — 60

10. Victoria University — 55

11. Griffith University — 54

12. Macquarie University — 53

13. La Trobe University — 45

14. University of Melbourne — 37

15. Edith Cowan University — 36

16. Monash University — 35

17. University of Adelaide — 32

18. Southern Cross University — 31

19. Curtin University — 25

20. Australian Catholic University — 24

* Number of new sign-ups from university email accounts.

(Source: SeekingArrangement.com)

Originally published as ‘You have to give him anything’: Inside the life of a $75,000-a-year sugar baby