By Jayne Feldman

Universities in America are getting more expensive every year and many students fear the burden of loans. A survey conducted by Adobo found that “Only 11% of students said they weren’t responsible for any of their college costs and 24.4% of students said they were fully responsible for covering all of their own college costs.” Most students have a steady job, but some are in search of unconventional arrangements to pay for their education.

In 2006, the website “Seeking Arrangement” was created to pair young women with older men that would pay them for a date. The men, referred to as “sugar daddies,” were mostly middle-aged and in search of companionship. The young women, referred to as “sugar babies,” were mostly in their twenties and in search of a little extra cash.

The website evolved into one of the most popular dating apps available on the app store. It works like any other dating app, but with a few unique features: sugar babies swipe through profiles of sugar daddies and find the perfect match based on their looks, age and net worth. The app advertises itself as “a place where beautiful, successful people fuel mutually beneficial relationships.”

Additionally, the app showcases the versatile purposes of making a match: “date rich men,” “date experienced men,” and “find a mentor.” One selling point of the app is that sugar babies can be paid hundreds of dollars for two hours or less of service.

Once the match is made, sugar babies can chat and determine their comfort level and rate of service. Most of the exchanges on the app are non-sexual and many of the sugar daddies claim to be lonely or in need of arm candy for a special event.

Lucy Nichols (this name has been altered to protect the student’s identity), a college student at Georgia State University, describes how she discovered the app.

“I discovered ‘Seeking Arrangement’ probably around my senior year in high school through some friends. I saw how they were getting all of these things from men by just having conversations with them,” Nichols said. “I realized that specifically being at GSU, there were a lot of businesses around with men who had no problem helping out students who needed it under the right circumstances.”

Nichols recalls her first date with a sugar daddy and her intentions going into the experience.

“I was more excited than nervous because I knew that the only reason that I was doing this was to help me pay for anything school-related,” Nichols said. “My other experiences after that have been a lot easier and smoother because I was a lot more upfront about what the situation is and what we both wanted out of it.”

Nichols is open with her friends and siblings about her experiences as a sugar baby. She plans on using the app as a side job for any additional expenses that her regular job may not be able to afford.

In 2014, “Seeking Arrangement” offered “Premium Membership” status– which allows members to send their personal contact information– to any student that signed up for the service using their university email address. After this, 1.4 million students registered for the dating app. That number accounts for over 50 percent of all users on the app.

Though students are balancing 20-hour work weeks on top of a full-time school schedule, their waitressing and nanny jobs are not cutting the deal. Because Seeking dates average a two-hour timeframe, it makes it easy for sugar babies to get their fix throughout the week.

Another student from Georgia State University, Diana Brooks (this name has been altered to protect the student’s identity), created her account one month ago when she realized she was struggling to pay for groceries and school dues.

“I was really scared to get started, but I took my time choosing someone that I felt comfortable talking to. I had a friend track my location the entire time and I would sneak away to the bathroom to text her that I was okay,” Brooks said. “The man I met with just offered me a mentorship type of relationship and said he would help me with my major courses if I needed.”

Brooks described how the bittersweet experience helped her stay afloat in a time of trouble.

“I left the date with $250 in my account and I used it to pay all of my dues off. It was so stressful not knowing how I was going to make ends meet that week and this was a good solution for me,” Brooks said. “I text him from time to time and I really just think he is a lonely person. I do not think I will do it again, though.”

Getting a degree has never been so expensive and American students are intent on earning one at any cost. Of all jobs and side hustles, “Seeking Arrangement” is a particularly unconventional one, but these students are determined to be debt-free when their four years come to an end.

By: Joelle Sloane

On November 2, 2016, former President Barack Obama talked to the sold-out crowd at Forbes Arena at Morehouse College. He came to campaign for Stacey Abrams and other Georgia Democratic nominees and also to encourage Georgians to vote this midterm election.  

Obama was introduced by Stacey Abrams to come on stage. Abrams stated, “He has made a life of speaking truth to power, and using power to give light to the truth. He has defied conventional wisdom with an unconventional grace and a vision that lifted us all. Because when others dare to say no he told us all ‘Yes we can!’ And when our darkest days seemed endless and America wanted to know if they can find our way again he showed us all ‘Yes we can!’”

Obama began his speech about the things he loves about Georgia. Obama said, “Georgia, I love this state. I love the people. I love the fried chicken and greens they served me for dinner. I love the arts and culture.” He eventually explained the main reason why he was at Morehouse. “I’m here for one simple reason, I’m here to ask you to vote.”

Obama talked about that this may be one of the most important elections in our history. He believed too much is at stake for people just to sit at home during election day. “The healthcare for millions of people is on the ballot. Making sure working families get a fair shake is on the ballot. Most of all the character of our country is on the ballot,” said Obama.

Obama continued to explain how in the last couple of weeks of the election, that people who have power and privilege are scared that their control is slipping away from them. Obama claimed that they played one of the oldest tricks in the playbook by dividing the country in half, pinning each other against each other, and feeding voters lies. The reason was so they could still have control over the country.

Obama believed in order to make change and for all citizens to have their rights in this country, we must fight for the change. He argued that people cannot just sit down and hope for change to come. He used a civil rights leader, John Lewis, as an example of someone who fought for change. Obama said, “John Lewis didn’t sit back and say, ‘Man I hope things get better.’ It happened because some people marched, some people mobilized, some people organized, and when they won the right to vote, people voted.”

Obama called out Stacey Abrams’ opponent, Brian Kemp, for trying to block people’s rights to vote. “If you are an inspiring the highest office in the state, in which you pledge to look out for the people of your state, then how can you actively try to prevent the citizens of your state from exercising the most basic right?”

He also called out the Republican Party for breaking their promises and only looking out for the wealthy people.  He claimed Republicans made promises to fight corruption, and to look out for the little guy. He said that Republicans recently just made a $1.5 trillion tax cut for wealthy people. This tax cut caused a deficit in the country, and the Republican leader in Congress said in order to bring them down that they will have to make cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Obama said, “Cutting Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security for a billionaire’s tax cut does not sound like fighting for the little guy to me.”

Obama went on to talk about how healthcare changed when he was in office. Obama said, “Eight years ago the Democrats passed the Affordable Care Act. The law helped cover 581,000 folks right here in Georgia. The law made it illegal for the first time for insurance to discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions.” He told the crowd that insurance companies use to charge women more money, and the Affordable Care Act stopped insurance companies from doing that. He claimed that not one Republican voted to stop insurance companies charging women more for their insurance, and Brian Kemp does not want to spread Medicare.  

Obama explained if you want one thing out of your leader it should be core and integrity.  “Stacey was raised with core values like honesty and honoring her commitments and keeping her word,” said Obama.

 He believed Abrams is more than qualified to become Georgia governor. “Stacey Abrams will fight for living wage for Georgia workers, for good public schools for our kids, for better transportation in rural and low income communities,” said Obama.

Stacey Abrams’ supporter Janet Lee said, “This is probably for me the second most important election. The first one for me was when President Obama ran. In actuality, this to me is more important than when President Obama ran, because our country is in such a turmoil. On a social level it’s not good, economy might be okay it’s not the greatest it’s okay at least it’s going in the right direction, but socially we are going years backwards.”

Lee also went on to talk about the things that will change for Georgia citizens if Stacey Abrams is elected. Lee said, “I believe we will have better healthcare options. She will have better policies for education, so our young people can be properly educated without having a huge financial burden. Also create a culture where everybody is embraced, no matter what your status is, your ethnicity is.”

Photo by Ben Hershey

By: Chris Sibilia

In the world of sports, collegiate athletics is one of the most popular genres of sports in the United States. Even the National Collegiate Athletic Association, commonly called the NCAA, is benefiting from the popularity of college sports. In 2017, the NCAA broke $1 billion in revenue for the first time in its history. But who generated this revenue? That would be the student-athletes who compete and attract viewership for the NCAA and their member universities.

With all this money that the NCAA is making annually, the debate of whether or not the student-athletes should be treated like employees and be paid as such has escalated to a point of no return. While some say they should be paid and others say they shouldn’t, one thing is certain, a decision will be coming soon.

Jamal Paxton believes student-athletes should be paid. Paxton is a senior, and the starting center for the Georgia State University football team. He says they should be paid because, “of everything the athletes have to do and put up with that normal students don’t go through.”

According to Paxton, “Playing a sport in college is like having a full-time job. During the season, athletes are at sport-related activities for 50+ hours a week. My athletic schedule alone consists of practice every day during the week for 6 hours, as well as at football for 40+ hours on the weekend due to having games, traveling, etc.”

Outside of athletics, Paxton says, “Student-athletes take anywhere from 14-18 credit hours of classes a semester, then have study hall everyday after classes. When I wake up for practice at 5:30 in the morning, I usually won’t get back to room till after 7 or 8 in the evening due to having so many classes and study hall.”

Paxton says that all these hours of school and athletics leaves him no time to find a job and make the money needed to pay bills. “Even though I am on full scholarship and have school and my dorm payed for, I still have bills that need to be paid that are not covered by the scholarship.”

Paxton says that the student-athletes deserve a monthly payment of at least $1,500 to help pay for the bills needed as well as have some money to go out to eat with friends and with his girlfriend.

He says, “It’s a struggle right now to go out. Most of the free time that I get, I can’t go out because I have no way to pay for anything if I do go out.”

So maybe the life of a student-athlete isn’t as glorious as it may seem. Maybe they do struggle more than normal students who are not involved in athletics. On the other hand, maybe they do get enough. At least that is what Jesse Rappole thinks. Rappole is currently an academic coordinator in the athletics department at Georgia State, and was once a college athlete himself at Villanova University and the University of North Carolina.

Rappole believes student-athletes shouldn’t be paid due to the fact that allowing student-athletes to get paychecks would allow the NCAA to “become a very separate structure.”

According to Rappole, “The power five conferences would shrink further and become maybe a power four with about twelve schools per conference. Because realistically, they would be the only ones who could afford to pay their student-athletes any sort of actual salary.”

Rappole is saying is that by allowing student-athletes to be paid, it will diminish all aspects of amateurism in colleges sports. An open bidding war between universities would begin to get the best athletes, which would turn collegiate athletics professional.

To insure this doesn’t happen, he says that we should instead, “redouble the effort to inform student-athletes about the fact that no manageable salary, no salary that would be sustainable in college athletics is going to last them beyond their four years at the school.”

Rappole continues by saying, “Right now, they are already being offered a free education that can then sustain them for the rest of their lives. I just saw statistics the other day about Georgia State, the average change in social mobility is something like $40,000 or more in the changes in their families current combined salary versus what their family’s salary will be when they are the ones providing an education to Georgia State. That $40,000 a year for the rest of your life is a heck of a lot more than anyone could be afford to pay any student-athlete over a four-year career.”

This debate of whether student-athletes should be paid just doesn’t go on between everyday people, it is also occurring inside courtrooms across the nation as former collegiate athletes are filing suit against the NCAA.

A recent court case in 2008 between Jason White and the NCAA determined that athletic scholarships don’t cover the full cost of attendance. The court ruled that the NCAA must allow universities to pay student-athletes a cost of attendance stipend to try and help with these expenses.

This stipend has proved not to be enough though, so once again former athletes are taking the NCAA to court. One case that currently is ongoing is Alston v. NCAA. The former athletes are trying to prove the NCAA violated the Sherman Antitrust Act by putting a cap on athletic scholarships, which prevents schools from competing.

Will student-athletes ever be considered employees? Or will they remain forgotten? Whatever the case is, and whatever is determined by the courts in the Alston v. NCAA case, one thing is for certain; that the debate of whether or not student-athletes should be paid will rage on as long as collegiate athletics exist.

By Noor Mackhoul

It’s a very unique time of the year when the temperature drops, the multi-colored leaves take their last fall, supermarkets begin to smell like cinnamon and the color orange and pumpkin fields move to store fronts and start filling front yards. This can only mean one thing: Thanksgiving is here.

Those of us who grew up in America have been learning about the history and meaning of Thanksgiving since the day we started school. Key terms like The Mayflower, Pilgrims, Native Americans, turkey and harvests have been ingrained in our minds and have helped us paint a picture of the Thanksgiving “tradition,” but what is this tradition exactly and what does it entail?

In September 1620, the Mayflower made its way to the Americas from England, carrying 102 passengers who were in search of a new home, religious freedom and a better life. After a successful corn harvest in November of 1621, Pilgrims and Native Americans gathered in gratitude of the harvest season and to give thanks for their new life and its abundance of blessings. This marked the first Thanksgiving feast in the history of our country.

This historic celebration represents a time of love and family gathering, and for some it is a representation of their acceptance and unique offerings to an ever-growing melting pot of American culture.

Thanksgiving has evolved since 1621, and is now a national holiday, celebrated by numerous people of different faiths, backgrounds, cultures and ethnicities, who add their own unique twists to the traditional Thanksgiving meal and celebration.

For Sameera Naeem, who hails from Palestine, the Thanksgiving celebration is all about honoring her family’s American and Middle Eastern cultures and “sharing the warmth of gratitude with loved ones.” For them, everyone is welcome, whether it be the immediate and extended family members, or any friends and colleagues who have nowhere to go for the holiday.

“My dad, sister and I, start prepping our huge feast the night before,” she said. “We always make turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes, and then we incorporate our favorite Arabic dishes like roasted lamb, tabbouleh and my favorite, Kibbeh Nayyeh, which is a very traditional raw meat dish.”

After dinner, Naeem says the most important part of her Thanksgiving tradition is sitting on the porch of her home with her parents, cousins, siblings, and close friends, drinking wine, chatting and telling jokes all night.

Ian Carpio, a junior at Georgia Southern University, returns to Atlanta each year for a “Peruvian-style Thanksgiving” with his entire family.

“We eat traditional Thanksgiving food mixed with Peruvian style food,” he said. “We usually have ceviche, purple potato salad and this giant white corn from Peru.”

Following their feast, Carpio says that his parents, aunts and uncles stay up late dancing while he, his brother and their cousin continue on to their next tradition, Black Friday shopping.

Kwante Ovesen, an Atlanta local, calls his Thanksgiving tradition a “Friendsgiving.” Each year, one person hosts a get-together where all of their closest friends gather to appreciate great company, food and drinks. The Friendsgiving celebration has exposed Ovesen to multiple different styles of the Thanksgiving feast, ranging from the traditional turkey and stuffing, to a vegan potluck and even a simple dinner of pizza and beer.

Most people think of a home-cooked meal when talking about Thanksgiving, but many restaurants offer a special menu for the holiday. Anna Smith is an employee at the popular steakhouse, Fogo De Chao, where they add turkey to the menu on Thanksgiving Day. Smith, who has worked on Thanksgiving for the past two years, celebrates with her family a day early. She says many people like to go out to eat on Thanksgiving,  “It’s very busy usually all day and groups of people will come from as early as 11 a.m. to as late as 8 p.m.”

What is the Thanksgiving tradition then? It’s love. Although everyone celebrates the holiday in their own way and with their own twist and tradition, it seems that love, togetherness, gratefulness and full hearts are common threads. Whether you’re with family or friends, at home or in a restaurant, eating American food or food from your homeland; whether you are an immigrant, a local or a native, celebrating Thanksgiving is celebrating love.

Since the very first feast, Thanksgiving has represented migration to a new land, acceptance, shared traditions and the creation of new ones. America, The Land of the Free, is home to millions of people. Some have fled war, conflict and other hardships, others fled persecution, discrimination and oppression, and some came here in search of the American Dream. Thanksgiving is the one-day of the year when hate is silenced. All people who come together to celebrate this holiday add their own experiences, and unique touch to a constantly growing tradition that will forever be based on love.