After taking her on a shopping spree at Cherry Creek mall, the 62-year-old man sporting a gray suit bought a Starbucks cake pop for Vanessa, 23, and left the mall alone.

Vanessa, who did not want her full name used for privacy reasons, describes herself as a “sugar baby” — part of a growing population of primarily college women who are turning to men of means to make ends meet amid soaring expenses. The arrangement is nothing new, but increasing tuition and student-loan debt paired with the ease of joining a site that facilitates these relationships are contributing to an increase of Colorado sugar baby relationships.

“I was picking up shifts left and right,” said Vanessa, whose two steady sugar daddies ensure her nursing school externships don’t overwhelm her. “With the sugar daddies’ help, I’ve been able to cut down on that to focus on school.”

“They make sure I focus on things that are important. They take care of the rest.”

Vanessa meets her sugar daddies on the website seekingarrangement.com, dedicated since 2006 to setting up relationships between well-to-do older men and women and young adults who are looking to be supported.

How the transaction plays out — up to and including sex — is up to the participants. The website and its mission seemed to fly under the radar of local law enforcement — who all agreed on the site’s legality but said they’d never heard of it — and alarmed experts concerned about the young adults’ possible victimization. Nonetheless, students continue to sign up.

The University of Colorado was ranked 18th out of 20 fastest-growing sugar baby schools for this past year.

In 2015, 66 CU students signed up to be a sugar baby on Seeking Arrangement, which is more than a 60 percent jump over the previous year. In total, 175 CU sugar babies were registered on the site by the end of 2015, according to the site.

The University of Colorado Denver was not far behind, with 105 registered students out of the nearly 10,500 undergraduates.

Joanne Belknap, ethnic studies professor at CU, said it’s one thing if students are simply watching TV or having dinner with their senior benefactors, but she wonders if true consent can exist when it comes to sex.

“You have the huge power imbalance with gender, age, class and sometimes race,” Belknap said. “Are they consenting, or is this just, ‘I really need to get a college degree, and I can’t do that working at Starbucks a few hours a week.’ Yes, legally, they’re adults, but it just seems highly exploitative to me.”

Though Seeking Arrangement, clients self-report their ages, the website tries to make sure the babies are not younger than 18.

“Unlike other dating sites … we manually approve or deny each profile, picture and account before it is ever live on the site, meaning e-mail and reverse image searches to make sure that people are of age,” said website spokeswoman Brook Urick. “In addition to that, we suspend anyone from the site who is suspected of being underage.”

Local law enforcement agencies say that because the site was set up like a dating website and advertised as facilitating consensual connections, it is not illegal.

“It’s not like they’re making them do it,” said Denver police spokeswoman Raquel Lopez.

Ramen versus Chart House

A 43-year-old Greeley-based sugar daddy who uses Seeking Arrangement and spoke on condition of anonymity for privacy reasons, has gone on at least 50 dates with sugar babies since he started using the site in September, he said.

He described the girls he has seen — all in college or aspiring to be — as barely getting by financially.

“They’re eating ramen noodles at home, and I take them to the Chart House,” he said. “They’ve got nothing, and I treat them like a little princess. They eat that up.”

The sugar daddy, who has given $3,000 a month in cash to his most serious sugar baby, said rather than viewing his dates as transactional, he sees them as companionship. When the companionship becomes “serious,” he said sex is involved.

“I want something that feels more like an actual girlfriend,” he said. “I want something that’s somewhere between a normal relationship and an arrangement.”

There are more than 2,700 sugar daddies registered with Seeking Arrangement in the Denver area and 202 sugar mamas, according to the website. More than 15,300 Denver women — some college students, some not — are using the site as a sugar baby, and nearly 2,300 Denver men are registered sugar babies, too.

Justin Jaramillo, interim director in the Financial Aid and Scholarships Office at CU Denver, said it’s no secret that college tuition, loans and living costs can be daunting.

Students attending CU Denver on average pay more than $13,500 in annual tuition and typically complete college with nearly $23,000 of debt, according to the U.S. Department of Education college scorecard.

“Students are trying to find different ways to fund school and try not to take on the student loan burden that we all know can add up,” Jaramillo said.

He was not familiar with students using sugar daddies or mamas to pay the bills.

With shopping bags at her feet, Vanessa explained that she gets a monthly “allowance” provided by her sugar daddies that varies from $500 to $3,000 depending on the guy. The money covers her rent, car payment and leisure activities while her parents and academic scholarships cover her tuition.

“I’m not going to graduate in debt, which I think is pretty unique for a 23-year-old American,” she said.

Her allowance doesn’t include occasional gifts, like a trip to Las Vegas with a $1,000 daily shopping allowance, a Fendi purse or dinner dates.

In exchange for the financial support, Vanessa said the confident older men seek companionship with someone they can mentor.

“Sugar babies set their own terms, but I look for actual relationships and chemistry,” Vanessa said.

She has connected with men from the site who range in age from their 40s to their 70s.

Since July, she’s had six who lasted a month or longer and several more who have just been single dates.

Vanessa hasn’t filled in her parents on the details of her sugar-daddy dating life.

“If I were to get very serious with someone, I would tell them,” she said. “I don’t think they would really care too much. My mom is 10 years younger than my dad.”

Some of Vanessa’s more serious sugar-daddy relationships have been sexual, but she said the site does not facilitate prostitution.

“I view prostitution more as a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am situation,” Vanessa said. “With this, there’s chemistry. There are feelings. You talk every day. You text every day. You travel with them. You go to dinner. It’s like any dating relationship. They’re just successful enough to give you gifts, too.”

The Greeley sugar daddy said he understands that some people might think the site condones prostitution, but he said he doesn’t view it as an escort service.

“I don’t ever want them to do anything they don’t want to,” he said. “It’s very mutual and upfront. I’d like to think I’m a pretty nice sugar daddy.”

Because Vanessa is studying nursing, she tends to search for doctor sugar daddies. Some have promised to get her a job when she graduates.

“Honestly, older guys have a lot more to offer,” Vanessa said.

Money and safety

Although Belknap, the CU professor, worries about the young people’s exploitation, she says she does not pass judgment on young women for trying to get a degree.

“I don’t want to blame the women because I feel like it is a way to get a college education, which I feel really strongly about,” she said. “We live in a culture where women are paid so unfairly compared to men. It’s not surprising that women would do this when you think of the level of sexual harassment women have to put up with at their jobs that pay a lot less. It’s a sad state of where we’re investing money in this society.”

Seeking Arrangement contracts with a company to provide background checks that ensure members don’t have a history of violent or domestic crimes. About half of the site’s nearly 5 million members have had their background verified, Urick said.

Sugar daddies and mamas pay $70 a month for their membership, while the site’s services are free for sugar babies.

“It’s really an empowering site for men and women who are not able to find success in relationships and are not getting what they want,” Urick said. “They don’t feel victimized at all. We are one of the safest sites out there.”

The company does not release statistics regarding how often Seeking Arrangement situations are reported to law enforcement, Urick said.

Denver police said they have not received any complaints about the website.

The Greeley sugar daddy said some of his dates have been so trusting it made him fear for their safety.

“When they ask me to pick them up at their house in my car and take them wherever, I’ve thought ‘Holy cow. You’re 19 years old and don’t know my last name. You’re just lucky you’re out with me tonight because I’ll make sure you get home safe.’ “