'Sugar Daddy' Dating Website Says A Lot More College Girls Are Signing Up To Help Pay For School

ShutterstockCollege tuition is expensive, and more and more women are turning to "sugar daddies" for a leg up, claims Brandon Wade, founder of "sugar daddy" dating website SeekingArrangement.com.

The sometimes controversial, always entertaining online dating guru just released a list of the 20 universities with the most "sugar baby" signups in 2012. Both Columbia and NYU made the list — perhaps not surprising considering they are some of the most expensive colleges in America.

According to Wade, the website saw a 58 percent increase in co-ed signups in 2012, and 44 percent of the "sugar babies" on the website are now college students. The site seems to be encouraging the trend: anyone who signs up for the website with a college ".edu" email address gets a free membership upgrade.

In a press release, Wade blamed colleges and their ever-increasing tuition rates for the rise of co-eds on his "sugar daddy" site.

"College should be an opportunity to expand the mind and experience new things," Wade said in the release. "Unfortunately, because of the of recent tuition hikes, the college experience has become greatly unbalanced."

The average cost of tuition and fees at a private, 4-year university were $29,056 in 2012, a 4.2 percent increase over the previous year, according to CNN Money.

The site, which claims to have over 2 million members worldwide, is based on the concept that it's perfectly OK to pay for relationships. It works by pairing "sugar babies" — cash-strapped women looking for companionship and cash — with "sugar daddies," benefactors who are willing to pay for their company.

Here are the universities with the most signups last year, according to the company. Southern schools dominate the list.

1. Georgia State University — 292 (#11 in 2011)

2. New York University — 285 (#1 in 2011)

3. Temple University — 268 (#5 in 2011)

4. University of Central Florida — 221 (#14 in 2011)

5. University of Southern Florida — 212 (#7 in 2011)

6. Arizona State University — 204 (#8 in 2011)

7. Florida International University — 187 (#20 in 2011)

8. University of Georgia — 148 (#2 in 2011)

9. Indiana University — 131 (#17 in 2011)

10. Texas State — 128

11. Kent State University — 123 (#15 in 2011)

12. Penn State — 121 (#13 in 2011)

13. University of North Texas — 112

14. Florida State University — 111

15. Tulane University — 109 (#4 in 2011)

16. Michigan State University — 108 (#9 in 2011)

17. University of Ohio — 103

18. Columbia University — 100

19. University of Alabama — 96

20. University of California Los Angeles — 91