A sad statistic comes from two of the nations most prestigious institutions of higher learning.

Katherine Timpf of Campus Reform details some numbers just issued from a services that matches female students with wealthy older men.

The number of female students seeking “sugar daddies” at Columbia and Cornell Universities rose dramatically in 2012, a spokesperson for the controversial dating service SeekingArrangement.com told Campus Reform.

At Cornell University there was an 85 percent increase in the number of female students looking for wealthy older men to help fund their lifestyles.  As of March of 2013, the school had 87 female students who were members of the site.

At Columbia University 100 new female students signed up for the service in 2012, representing a 69.93 percent in demand since 2011.

That dramatic rise in demand was enough to place Columbia on the dating website’s list “Top 20 Fastest Growing Sugar Baby Schools,” Seeking Arrangement spokesman Leroy Velasquez said in an email to Campus Reform last Tuesday.

Velasquez said site administrators are able see who is applying for their services by analyzing the email addresses individuals use to enroll.

The survey found an overall 58 percent increase in 2012 of members who are college students.

SeekingArrangement.com, which calls itself the “elite Sugar Daddy” dating site, connects attractive, cash-strapped younger women  with successful men who will give them money and gifts in exchange for “companionship.”

The survey noted that the average monthly compensation for a “Sugar Baby” is $3,000 per month.

The actual numbers of students using the site may be even higher than the company report. The website can count only those students who use a .edu email address to register. It encourages signing up this way by offering free “premium” memberships to college students.

A blog on the website aims to attract Sugar Daddies by telling them the situation offers them the “complete control” that “a successful Sugar Daddy deserves.”

“If you’ve always dreamed of dating a young, vivacious blonde, she’s yours. If your ideal arrangement is a beautiful black woman, she’s yours,” it says.