<p>So I am a sophomore at the University of Minnesota. I am in quite a few clubs, heavily involved in the student government, and do a lot of volunteer work for my school. Because of this, I get asked a lot by fraternity guys if I would ever be interested in going greek. I generally respond I would be interested if it wasn't very expensive, to which they respond the money "doesn't matter" because the value of the brotherhood is simply incomparable. </p>
<p>Now, I am a very responsible and hard working guy. I work full time during the summer and 20+ hours/week during the school year, trying my best to pay off the student debt that is already piling up. Realistically, I can make between 8-10k over the course of the year which basically all goes to school or rent. I do not qualify for any financial aid so I take out a 5k loan each year and luckily my parents are paying whatever is leftover. That being said, the cost of joining a fraternity is very important to me. I know a lot of kids join them so either they aren't paying the bills, or they aren't as expensive as I think. Does anyone know some rough estimates of the total cost of just being a member each year? And to those who are in frats, do you guys work your asses off year round?</p>
<p>First off, props to you. It’s extremely difficult to get a bid for a fraternity these days unless you rush as an incoming freshman.</p>
<p>To answer your questions, the cost of living in a fraternity tends to be a tad more expensive than your average room and board, depending on the school. What makes it so great is that food and laundry are usually included and you make a great batch of friends as well. And don’t even mention the number of connections you’ll make if your particular fraternity has well known alumni. So yes, in a sense, it does pay for itself.</p>
<p>The only downside is that your grades might suffer if you can’t balance being a fraternity man and a job as well as grades of course. Joining a fraternity is a big commitment and one you shouldn’t take lightly.</p>
<p>I was in a sorority so I’m not sure if it’s the same, but we spend a lot on our littles, especially during big/little week. The additional costs for letters run really high (stitched letters are expensive here), and then stuff for Greek events (tickets to get into things, donating, etc.) add on too.</p>
<p>Each chapter/campus is different when it comes to dues. Mine was about $86/mo. and I heard it was about the same for the frats too. We don’t have campus housing yet, so that doesn’t include housing costs.</p>
<p>IIRC, most Greek chapters do have a financial helper on hand. And you can rush, get the bid, and decide to drop if the costs are too much. They revealed to us the costs after we got our bids.</p>
<p>this varies A LOT from campus to campus and even on a campus from chapter to chapter. It would be pretty much impossible to get answers that help you except from people who know the chapters you’re talking about. For example at Brown there were chapters with dues that were twice as much as my chapter and the time commitments vary not only among houses but within houses based on positions held. I was a chapter president and I spent easily 20-25 hours a week doing fraternity stuff whereas there were guys who pretty much just did the bare minimum of show up for the weekly brothers meeting, do their cleanup shift every couple weeks, and work a shift at our big monthly parties (smaller parties would be covered by the pledges and/or the youngest class only)</p>
<p>Many orgs do have financial aid or at the very least let you structure a payment plan so you don’t have to pay dues as a lump sum.</p>
<p>You could see if the people at greekchat.com have a better idea about your school’s system.</p>
<p>I understand that it varies quite a bit from campus to campus, but because Minnesota is such a HUGE school, Im guessing it would be comparable to any state University minus the ones on the east coast. Does anyone know just a ROUGH estimate? I would be not be living in the house. Ironically I live on the top floor of the Jewish fraternity (don’t ask me why or how but they rent out that section of the house). I pay 475 a month which is pretty darn cheap for my own room and it has great location right on frat row. I would be willing to spend like 500 per semester if I didnt get any meals and wasnt living in the house. If I got say 10 meals a week, id be willing to pay like 3k each semester. Is this reasonable or am i just out of luck at those prices.</p>
<p>At Brown at least 9/10 houses would have been in your budget.</p>
<p>An awful lot of frat members have parents paying their full bills, or at least their tuition and possibly room & board. You are right to keep your eye on your bottom line. Go to their parties and have a good time, but keep doing what you are doing.</p>
<p>A lot of times they can help you work out a payment plan, too</p>