Mount Kenya University (MKU) founder Simon Gicharu has wondered when the culture of female university students to be in sexual relationships with older men will come to an end.

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This is after reports emerged indicating that currently, one in five university girls engage in sex with older men, popularly known as 'sponsors', in exchange for money.

Gicharu said it will only take divine intervention for university girls to depend on their hard work to finance their flashy lifestyles instead of leaning on sponsors.

"Pray, when will we see another report on the thousands of hardworking university/college students who abhor "Sponsors" and live pious, chaste, industrious and sober lives?" the MKU boss tweeted on Tuesday.

According to a study by the Busara Centre for Behavioural Economics, university girls expect to get Sh5,000 every month from their sponsors in exchange for sex. 

The study revealed they use the money to pay rent, trips, and financing of their beauty expenses.

“Thirteen per cent of participants reported expecting money in exchange for sex, be it from a boyfriend or casual acquaintance. And regular support of $50 (Sh5,000) a month was associated as strongly with boyfriends as with sponsors, indicating that “price” (that is the level of support provided) may be a stronger indication of sponsorship than the presence of financial support in itself,” revealed the study seen by the Nation.

Family counsellor Esther Mbau has urged parents to start taking their young girls for dates in early age, so as to ensure they don't get tempted to live off older men when in institutions of higher learning.

"If you are a parent, start taking your children on dates from as young as five years so as to teach them not to go looking for other dates that will mislead them in future," Mbau said, in an interview with NTV, Tuesday.