Site helps coeds find "sugar daddies" to pay for college

This matchmaking website doesn't sugarcoat its intentions - it will pair college students with wealthier men willing to finance their education for companionship.

SeekingArrangement.com calls itself the "Elite Sugar Daddy Dating Site for those Seeking Mutually Beneficial Arrangements." As a free member one can either browse for "Sugar Babies" or "Gentlemen."

"I have disposable income," Joe Fazio explained to CBS Chicago affiliate WBBM-TV. "And I want your companionship. Financially, you're in a situation where you want more."

WBBM-TV's Dana Kozlov took a look at one these so-called "mutually beneficial" arrangements. Jessica - not her real name - is a 21-year-old college senior from Chicago's suburbs who says she doesn't consider it prostitution. (Fazio is not her sugar daddy.)

"I call it a beneficial relationship," she said.

She told the station the physical aspects of the relationship aren't discussed at first, but that comes later.

"It boosts up the price. It always gets more money," she said. The student, slated to graduate this year, said she's had three sugar daddies and has gotten anywhere between $500 and $5,000 a month.

Jessica is part of a growing number of college students who are turning to the site to help bay tuition and other expenses, according the website's founder, Brandon Wade.

Wade says that in the Chicago area alone, he sees a 46 percent growth in the number of students signing up from the year before. There are 99 students from the University of Illinois-Chicago now on the site, compared to 47 a year ago.

He insists, however, there is a clear line between SeekingArrangement.com and prostitution.

"We've drawn a very clear line by saying that if you're paying simply for sex, that is not clearly permitted."

Harold Krent, dean of the Kent College of Law, says the promise of financial gain is not against the law, but the site is "thinly veiled."

Watch the full report on CBSChicago.com