seeking arrangement

University of Toronto lands first on list of top sugar baby schools in Canada

The University of Toronto is one of the top post-secondary instutitions in the world, not only for its academics, but also when it comes to more salacious rankings.

Moonlighting as a "sugar baby" to help pay for pricey tuition or the exorbitant cost of living in a city like Toronto in general is not exactly uncommon among Millennials and Gen Zers these days.

And, new numbers just realeased by SeekingArrangement, the platform that advertises itself as a way for students in particular to "date successful benefactors who help them avoid student debt and secure a better future," show that U of T still has more young people partaking in the practice than any university in the country.

According to the data, approximately 257 U of T students newly registered with Seeking last year as a way to make some extra cash by going on dates with older members who are happy to pay young people for their time and attention. This is in addition to the 1,170 existing users at the school, per 2019 numbers.

Next up on the list was University of Alberta (231 students), followed by Queens University (222 students) and Ryerson University (179 students).

Toronto is among the top cities in the world for the site, which says that its student user base in Canada — which itself ranks third in the world for number of students using the site — continues to grow steadily at a rate of about three per cent per year.

"As the cost of living continues to increase and job availability is at an all time low in Canada, it makes sense that students are finding these elevated relationships beneficial," reads a release on the subject.

The numbers are, quite predictably, skewed drastically toward older male "benefactors" with younger females, with the site estimating that a total of 698,456 Canadian women are currently signed up as "sugar babies," compared to only 125,165 men. 

There are also nearly eight times as many "sugar daddies" on the site than "sugar mommas" (and yes, the terminology is admittedly cringeworthy).

The average age of a "sugar baby" on Seeking is only 24, while the average age of those providing their financial support in exchange for a relationship is 42.

Apparently the lucrative practice earns an average allowance of $2,400 per month, among "other benefits" that can include networking and business advantages — if you can grin and bear the company and get over the concept in the first place.

Lead photo by

Howard Yang Photography


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