Elena is intelligent, articulate, attractive and knows what she wants in life.
And, according to the online dating service SeekingArrangement.com, she is one of 544 "sugar babies" at the University of Guelph - students who date older, richer "sugar daddies" in exchange for money, gifts and trips.
According to the Las Vegas-based web site, Guelph ranks third in the country when it comes to the number of sugar babies on campus, behind Ryerson and the University of Toronto. Ten of the 544 are male.
Elena, 21, is currently seeing five different men who reciprocate by taking her shopping for clothes and shoes, pay for text books and occasionally pay one of her bills.
"It's just like dating for me, that's how I see it," says Elena, who asked that her real name not be used.
"I'm not doing it out of necessity. My parents give me money for school ... it's just a way of graduating without debt."
And that's how the dating website markets its sugar baby "scholarship" program: as a way of helping pay for the rising cost of post-secondary education.
"Wealthy benefactors" who enter "arrangements" with attractive university students for "mutually beneficial relationships," says the website.
They say the average Sugar Baby gets $2,440 a month in money and gifts.
The site operates like many other dating sites: men register and pay a premium for full access to the women. Registration is free for women.
The women must be 18 and registered in school.
There is also an established ground rule that the women are going to be rewarded with gifts and/or cash by spending time with the men.
Both sides are expected to be up front about expectations - including physical contact - at the beginning.
Alexis Germany, spokesperson for SeekingArrangement.com, says a sugar daddy is typically a successful male around 37 years of age.
"They're looking for a companion that isn't asking why they're not calling back and why they're not texting back," Germany says. "They don't want that added baggage."
"It's set up like a traditional dating site, except that the expectations are laid out in the beginning," Germany says.
Prostitution is prohibited and interactions on the site are monitored, but where the sugar baby and sugar daddy take their relationship physically is up to them, Germany says.
"Just like any other site or dating in real life. Sex is pretty much always an aspiration, however it's not an expectation. You don't have to have sex. If two consenting adults want their relationship to become sexual, then it can," Germany says.
Requests for comment from University of Guelph administration and the Central Student Association were not returned.
University of Guelph philosophy professor Karen Wendling, whose research and teachings focus on feminism, says that there are different ways of looking at the sugar baby/sugar daddy dynamic.
On the one hand, she says, it's "nothing crazy" and the "free will" of a usually "smart, intelligent women who know what they want."
"But as a feminist I find it problematic: older, financially successful men have more power," Wendling says.
There is the potential for abuse, but that exists in all relationships, she says.
"Is it morally wrong? Not unless there's harm," she says.
"A lot of feminists would ask, 'is this harming women?' The answer is, it's a case-by-case basis," Wendling says.
Elena says that she has had no negative interactions since she registered on the site last August.
In addition to the gifts and shopping trips, she sees it as a way to date interesting men on a different, emotionally-safe level.
"That's what drew me towards it: everyone goes into it with their eyes wide open," Elena says.
She was looking for friendship and companionship, not sex or a serious relationship.
"I had just got out of a long-term relationship and didn't want to get into the traditional dating pool," Elena says.
"I got to live the lifestyle I wanted, on my own, maintaining my independence. I also got to meet some really interesting men and go to some really interesting places."
Everyone, she says, takes a clear stance.
"These men want open communication," Elena says.
They are "quite a bit older" which allows Elena, who describes herself as "more of an intellectual/academic type," to have "very insightful and fulfilling conversations."
