How does getting into a fraternity work?
What exactly is rushing/hazing?
Is there money involved?
What does being in a Frat exactly entail?
All of these depend on the school and chapter.
Hazing is supposed to be prohibited, although it can occur at the worst chapters.
Rushing is the process where you as a potential future member of a fraternity evaluate the fraternities you are interested in while at the same time the members of the fraternity are evaluating you to see if they want you as a brother. If a fraternity wants you to join them you are offered a bid. The rush process and timing differs at each college. Some colleges hold formal rush the second semester of freshman year where there is a calendar of scheduled activities and bids are offered by all fraternities on the same date/time. Other colleges hold a more open rush. Any college you are attending should have information about their rush process and timing somewhere on their website.
Hazing is something that would happen after you are extended a bid at a fraternity and become a pledge. Hazing can run the gamut from doing the undesirable work around the fraternity to doing embarrassing but not dangerous things around campus (like singing in a large classroom lecture) to things like forced excessive drinking. Hazing should be outlawed at all schools but as noted in post #1 may still occur.
Once you survive the pledging process you become a full-fledged brother of the fraternity. Every fraternity is different in terms of what your experience is like. Some fraternities are service oriented and others are more social oriented. All fraternities typically have periodic chapter meetings where key business items of the fraternity are discussed. Each fraternity typically elects a set of leaders (President, Vice-President, Treasure, Rush Chairman, etc.) who conduct these meetings. Each fraternity typically has one or more non-students (often brothers who have since graduated) who serve in a advisory role.
Typically you have to pay fraternity dues to belong to a fraternity. Not all brothers of a fraternity will live in the fraternity house. Those that do will be required to pay the fraternity for their housing and meal plan. Whether the fraternity housing/meal cost is more or less than other on-campus or off-campus options at your college is obviously dependent upon the college and the fraternity in question. But if you do belong to a fraternity generally speaking you will be paying more money than if you did not simply because of the dues which you will be required to pay.