Getting through university can be a daunting experience, not just emotionally but financially. Fees are high, life is expensive and the bank of mum and dad isn't limitless.
While most people struggle through uni with a part-time job, some girls are attracted to some less than conventional, but extremely profitable, lines of work.
One of these lines of work involves being a 'sugar baby'. There are now websites to help girls gain employment from rich old men who want to entertain these undergrads for big bucks.
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An MBA student at Royal Holloway, called Lara, 27, has opened up to Times Magazine commissioning editor Monique Rivalland about her experiences as a sugar baby and how it actually ended up with her falling in love.
After signing up to Seeking Arrangements, Lara initially felt trepidation, fear and nervousness at becoming a sugar baby but with £40,000 worth of student debts, she had no choice.
"I've had around ten sugar daddies. My first was a forty-something Scottish divorcé. For our first date, I wore a dress with a scoop neck. It was modest - I didn't want to turn up all tits and arse," she told Rivalland.
Unsurprisingly, some of the men on the site are awkward and have no idea how to talk to girls (been there, bro) but all are generous with their sugar babies.
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Despite what some people think, Lara doesn't see it as a form of prostitution.
"You can avoid being seen as a gold-digger or a prostitute by making sure you see eye to eye on expectations. I think most of the men expect to have sex with the sugar babies eventually, but on the site it says you shouldn't sleep with someone until you have established ground rules."
Lara has since found love with one of her sugar daddies, a 36-year-old in finance who sends her £1,000 every month to cover her student loans. He also pays for her rent and day-to-day expenses as well as a yoga teacher-training course.
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"Meeting people online is normalised now. It's standard to use online dating and rightmove.com to find housemates, to use couchsurfing.com and Airbnb. Seeking Arrangement is just another way to meet someone. It's a dating site where you don't have to pay for anything - and you get a goody bag. It's no big deal."
Well, when you put it like that...
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