VANCOUVER (CUP) — A University of British Columbia Okanagan student is hoping to graduate without student debt-and he is doing it with the help of online advertisers.

David Bakker, a fourth-year history student, has launched millionlooniepage.ca as a solution to his tuition problems. He is selling advertising space on his website for one dollar per pixel-and he has one million to sell.

“The internet is so cheap. If you have an idea, you can put it on the internet,” said Bakker. “If the idea flies, you are in the money, so to speak.”

So far Bakker has managed to do pretty well off his entrepreneurial venture. He has sold $2,300 worth of advertising space, which basically equates to his first semester of tuition.

Bakker discovered the idea from a British student that started his own website to make some extra money. Over a two month period, the student made over $600,000.

That amount could cover tuition for a few years and even allow for a few nights out along the way.

“People think it is like a field of dreams, ‘if you build it, they will come,’ but a website doesn’t work like that,” said Bakker. “I have put a lot of work into it. I have made it my business.”

Bakker hopes that this will prove to be a lucrative business because he plans to apply to a teacher’s college once he finishes his undergraduate degree. The current tuition fee for a 30-credit undergraduate program is $4,011, according to the UBC’s Undergraduate Calendar.

That’s a lot of ads to sell.

Bakker has his father to thank for his interest in website design: his father, Gerry Bakker, is an internet entrepreneur. He has a website hosting business, selling website domains for $30-a price that David Bakker was willing to pay to start up the web page.

With the increasing costs of tuition and living expenses, many students are turning to their parents for assistance. Many students find it difficult to pay their tuition fees using only funds obtained from summer employment or part-time jobs.

“I worked during the summer to pay for school,” said Queen’s University graduate Leia Fraser.

“I made most of it [tuition money] and my parents covered the rest.”

In the future there may be more students taking the Bakker approach to paying student fees: starting a business to pay for tuition.

“It’s a pretty good value for someone’s money,” he said.