Recently I’ve seen some girls in the news showcasing how they make money to pay for their tuition. I initially thought the video was promoting an online opportunity to gain money until these girls completely through me for a loop. They are "sugar babies."

Now if you don’t know what a sugar baby is, it’s essentially a girl who is paid to keep an older man company. She is not required to engage in any sexual activity with him; he literally just pays her bills and tuition in exchange for her time. The crazy thing about this is not that the opportunity exists, but that these girls love it! The way they talked about being sugar babies was the same way a proud parent talks about their child. It's almost like an addiction. When asked why they started in the industry, many of the girls said they only took up this job to pay for college. So it’s okay, right? The girls are just trying to pay for an education, people! Wrong.

Now you can’t judge these girls for choosing this path to earn some quick cash to pay for school. What you can judge, though, is the government’s investment in our education if us girls feel like we have to turn to unfavorable ways just to pay for it? If girls genuinely wanted to be a part of this industry, then more power to them, but these girls don’t. The women in the video explicitly stated that they agree to be indebted to these strange men for the purpose of being able to afford their tuition. Did you read that right? Indebted. To. Strange. Men. To. Afford. Tuition.

What this basically says to me is that women need to sacrifice their self-worth in order to potentially meet success, which in this case is attain a degree. How could a woman ever feel empowered if the only way to get to where she wants to be in life is to degrade herself just so she can afford to get there? These men pay the way for these young women to have very average or extremely luxurious lifestyles, which on the surface may sound appealing. But think about how at any moment if the girl does not cooperate or engage in activities that the men choose, she's cut off. That's it. No more electricity. No more car. No more college. No more future. Is that really a way to live?

Several sources have reported that since 1970, the cost of tuition has increased by 150%. So when adults tell a young girl, “Get a job and work for it, I did," they are wrong. Sure, you may have worked your butt off to afford schooling, no one is discrediting that, but this is a different time, whether or not you want to hear it.How can we work towards a goal that relatively unattainable for the average student without relying on loans and financial aid from outside sources. The minimum wage is laughable for a student in high school that is trying to save up for college. Even worse, it’s extremely difficult to find a job that pays well and requires little experience, not to mention when applying without a college degree. These girls aren’t lazy and looking for some quick cash for personal interest. They want to have a reputable level of education and while this isn't the ideal way to do it, their intentions are admirable. So really think, what options are a girl left with when there is more focus on short-term goals than investment in her future? The dollar doesn't go such a long way anymore.

I don’t have an alternative. I don’t have a plausible plan of action. But apparently the government would rather have us uneducated and working minimum wage jobs that are “legitimate” than help us afford an education. Apparently it’s the most logical idea to have us struggling college students sell our bodies and our time to someone that can afford the life we choose to lead. Apparently all this talk of empowerment of women is just that, all talk. How frustrating is it that we try so hard to achieve our goals but get frowned upon when we turn to the only means available to us? So don’t sit here and shun these girls for the lifestyle they have resorted to. In a country that prioritizes everything else before the education of its students, this is all these girls have; no one is rooting for them. So before you judge them for getting involved in this industry, think about the position that society has forced them into and how we, now more than ever, need to do something about it.

So no, having a sugar daddy might not be so bad. What's bad is living in a country that doesn't put forth the effort to invest in our education. What's bad is that these girls feel like the only way to achieve their goals is to degrade themselves. What's bad -- and I mean really bad -- is the fact that we care more about how these girls get their money to pay for school and not the fact that they don't have enough.