<p>They do rush the first week, probably even during the orientation week. They become a pledge after a week, and the sorority dues is billed at that time. My daughter’s school bills us through the bursar.<br>
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<p>That is kind of funny because D1 was very stressed the first month after pledging because there were so many mixers she was required to go. There was one almost every night. It was sorority’s opportunity to show off their new babies. D1’s grades did suffer a bit that month and she had to spend the remainder semester to bring them back up again. After she pledged she had a lot less time to spend with people outside of her sorority house. That’s why I am surprised schools would encourage pledging the first semester before students are adjusted to college life. D1 said that many schools rush in fall because kids will pledge based on “fit” not because of perceived ranking.</p>
<p>I agree, oldfort. My kids also complained about being stressed out by all the sorority events! They don’t like having sorority recruitment in the fall.</p>
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<p>Excellent advice from Pizzagirl.</p>
<p>Two of my kids attended MIT, and I think dining is expensive there unless the student does at least some cooking on her own. In comparison, another child of ours spent much less on food at a different, more rural university.</p>
<p>One of my kids at MIT didn’t do any cooking because of inconvenient kitchen facilities in the dorm. She usually didn’t eat breakfast; she picked up a sandwich for lunch at LaVerde’s; and she ate in the dining hall for dinner. She spent about $375-400/month for food. The other D did lots of cooking and ate in the dining hall only rarely. She spent about $275-300/month.</p>
<p>With the MIT TechCash card, it’s easy to see where your child is eating on campus and how much she’s spending. </p>
<p>If your child cooks on her own, there’s a Star Market in Central Square that’s much less expensive than LaVerde’s.</p>
<p>Both my kids at MIT were responsible for all their spending money, including clothing. They made enough money in their summer jobs to provide plenty of cash for the upcoming school year, and both of them are shopaholics!</p>
<p>Husband and I covered tuition, books, food, and sorority dues.</p>
<p>Rush IS over when you become a pledge and are accepted into a sorority. </p>
<p>The pledge period is merely a time of acclimating before full initiation – think of it as “junior status” or “apprenticeship status” for lack of a better term. </p>
<p>And yes, they would pay dues, because the programming / activities they would participate in still cost money. </p>
<p>I just checked and apparently POIH’s D is a member of the same sorority I was a member of (though not at MIT, of course). So congrats to her!</p>
<p>I have to smile at all this “cook during college” stuff. I never cooked at all during college. I lived in dorms my first 2 years, where I was on a meal plan, and then in a sorority house the last 2, where again I ate my meals there. I never did anything called “cooking,” unless you mean toasting a bagel!</p>
<p>Yup- times have changed. Older s lived off campus one year and cooked a lot. He also took a cooking course from one of the chefs there (his hallmates would wait up for him to come back from class with all the leftovers!) Younger s has a kitchen on the floor (maybe the next floor-- I forget). Anyway, now with fridges and microwaves in the dorm rooms and stoves/ovens etc in the kitchen, they cook up a storm. He’s become a pro at chicken kiev. I’ve had it-- he cooked it for us this summer. Really good!!</p>
<p>Oh- and I am clueless about frat/sorority rush/pledge, etc. I purposely chose a school without greek life (back in the 70’s) as did older s. Younger s’s school has greek life but he is not greek.</p>
<p>A friend’s son cooked an Easter dinnerfor 15 people in their dorm kitchen last year, complete with turkey, stuffing and mash potato. Mom asked the son what they had for veggie. The son said, “Potato. Tight budget, something had to go.”</p>
<p>Each of my kids’ res halls has a full kitchen on every other floor that some kids use for major cooking (the kids have a “kitchenette” inside each of their dorms). However, I have no idea how often those full kitchens gets used for “real cooking” - but I guess they do. I know that kids will drag their dirty dishes in there and run them thru the dishwasher. :)</p>
<p>I had a first hand experience of DD spending at college. She seems to be managing weekday breakfast on her own but the cooking stop at that as she doesn’t have oil and don’t want any. I went shopping to the near by Star market with her and prices looked reasonable. She takes weekday dinner at dorm dinning but lunches are mostly in the college cafes.
The mystery of $40 weekend is solved too as it seems the resturants at Newbury street in Boston offers brunches Sat/Sun and DD doesn’t have breakfast on these two days and go for brunches with friends.
She took us to Sonsi, Stephanie’s, Burtuchi’s etc. Each brunch is around $10/12 with some up to $15 with a Friday/Saturday Ice cream at JP Licks.
She has already told not replenish her Checking and she will manage the spending from her research money.
Let us see how this work out.</p>
<p>Seems reasonable. You know…there are a LOT of foods you can cook without oil. The Star Market is good, but so is Shaws…and the Super 88 (I think that’s it’s name) an Asian market on Commonwealth Ave is also worth visiting.</p>
<p>I have to say…eating out in Boston even twice weekly will add up…as your DD has noticed. She’ll figure it out…and I’ll bet a lot more quickly when she is spending HER money to eat out rather than YOURS. I would be generous with gift cards to the grocery store. She can always go there for the prepared foods if all else fails…lots cheaper than brunch at a restaurant.</p>
<p>^^^:thumper1, the fun of eating brunch at the Boston resturants won’t be there. We had a really nice time.
Brunches seems like a really great stress busters. Very good crowd and ambience. I won’t be able to say no. It can get very stressfull during the week and if she can enjoy good brunch with friends over the weekend then I’ll certainly recommend it. Eating alone will be foolish.</p>
<p>POIH…who says she has to eat ALONE. No one suggested your daughter eat alone. Every family needs to make their own decisions, but our kid went to college in Boston and those brunches were TREATS when we came to visit…not an every week occurance. Sorry, but I personally think it’s an indulgence…but hey…it’s your money.</p>
<p>The meal plan (or lack thereof) is an ongoing issue at MIT. At most dorms, there’s a $300 food charge (mandatory in some dorms) and then one can eat at reduced (but not cheap) rates there. The ala carte rates are insane. We did a good bit of research into this when S1 was deciding on schools because we knew food would be a big issue.</p>
<p>S1 stayed in a dorm at MIT this summer and the price structure made absolutely no sense for someone who doesn’t eat much in the first place. If he were a student there and didn’t do the meal plan, I’d worry that he’d never eat anything except Twizzlers and donuts. (I’ve seen the debit card charges.) Before leaving S1 in Boston this summer, we took him to Costco for a big food run and made sure he knew how to get to the local TJ’s.</p>
<p>OTOH, UChicago charges $4650/year for the meal plan. Since they have changed vendors this year, there is even less that S1 will eat. It’s total waste of our $$ – but he doesn’t want to move off campus, which is the only way to get out of the plan. Chicago had a “minimum” plan which was only $2500, which he had planned to take this year, but with the new vendor, Chicago ended that policy (except for 3rd and 4th years). And yeah, that $4650 is as much as we spent on eight months of groceries for the four of us (including my big lineman kiddo). I keep track on Quicken. All of this would be much easier to handle if the kid would just broaden his palate…</p>
<p>S1 has a friend who rushed a frat at MIT as a freshman this year, so it’s not just the sororities.</p>
<p>If my kid wants to go out for brunch on weekends with friends as his big meal of the day, I’d say go for it. These kids need a break, and the cost of a brunch may well be cheaper than dining out for lunch and dinner Sat. and Sun. (when dining halls on many campuses are closed anyway). For S2, it would be a LOT cheaper to do a weekend buffet. My kids know all of our cheap vacation food tricks and have incorporated them into their repertoire! ;)</p>
<p>At the risk of sounding like “in my day,” my meal plan covered 6 days a week, and then I remember that on Sundays we went to diners or pizza places – places where a lot of food could be had for a low price, and no one felt excluded. Today, they have Panera and Cosi’s and all kinds of places that have food at prices lower than a typical Sunday brunch at a sit-down restaurant.</p>
<p>^^^^ PG-
That reminds me of a story my H told me. When he and his bro. were in college, they went to some cheap “all you can eat” place, and apparently ate so much the staff finally gently suggested that maybe they’d had enough!!</p>
I know that kids will drag their dirty dishes in there and run them thru the dishwasher. :)</p>