<p>I am a Sophomore in college. I am interested in joining a fraternity but I have to pay $2,100 to just get in the door. How are other college kids, on financial aid and with grants handle this? Is it worth it? The parents are no help with this one. Any advise out there?</p>
<p>See if the fraternity offers some kind of payment plan. One of the very first things I was told while I was pledging was that money should never be a reason not to join and there are various payment plans available to all brothers. Is the $2100 to become a pledge or a brother or is it just your fees for the whole school year?</p>
<p>I don't know anything about Fraternities. Do you have to pay $2100 every year or is it a one time thing? How much does it usually cost per year to be in a frat?</p>
<p>My sister's sorority had her pay dues every semester</p>
<p>well what do you get with that 2100? do you get to stay at the house or is it just to be associated with them. if its that much for living at the house then thats probably about what you'd be paying in rent/food/utilities/etc if you were living in a separate appartment or house.</p>
<p>The costs associated with fraternities can be high, but usually, initiation costs are the highest if you aren't going to be living in the chapter house. Luckily, initiation costs are one-time things.</p>
<p>What the money actually goes towards will vary from chapter to chapter, but typically pays for things from the national organization, like your badge, the certificates of your initiation, magazine subscription, and operating budget. Local costs might include paying for an initiation banquet, the start of a pledge class social fund, or known expenses associated with the pledgeship (ie if they're going to do a ropes course for team-building, it's got to be paid for). </p>
<p>You will end up paying dues every year/semester which will go towards the chapter's operating budget.</p>
<p>Definitely ask for a breakdown of the costs, and if there's a way you can work out a payment plan. Rusoboy is totally correct that financial obligations should never be a reason for you not to join.</p>
<p>1st semester costs the most because you're paying dorm costs on top of fraternity dues. I am really strapped for cash and the fraternity ends up being wayyy cheaper than living in the dorms. I pay around 3k a semester...and thats to live in the house, eat in the house, and social dues, etc...so 6k a year. Living in the upperclassmen housing is around 9k a semester just for room and board...18k a year. This is just at my school though, costs vary on if your chapter has an actual house you can live in, a food plan, or an active social calendar.</p>
<p>Like I said...the 1st semester is always the most costly because you're paying for your university housing and food ontop of fraternity ones, and also those pesky one-time pledge semester costs...just look more into it and see if the fraternity doesn't end up being cheaper in the long run, most cases it is.</p>
<p>Yeah hopefully you will want to live/eat in the frat, b/c that's a lot of money to pay just to make friends.</p>
<p>why does every "support" "group" "club" whatever thing seems like they're just after your money?</p>
<p>It's not that fraternities are after your money...we really do use all the funds, and for things that everyone seems to like. Obviously we need to pay the dues to live in a $5M house and keep it running, and to pay for food (we also hire a cook...some fraternities choose not to to save money). Our national dues are around $50 a person per semester and the rest goes to parties. They're pretty expensive, especially things like formal and semiformal where its customary to go places off campus and far away to party. This includes renting buses, ballrooms, hotels...not to mention A LOT of alcohol. </p>
<p>When I served as the fraternities treasurer pretty much all of our misc. funds (everything except room & board) went towards our social budget...so if you wanna throw the kickass parties on campus you gotta shell out a little cash. A fraternity that isn't "after your money" probably doesn't have a very large social budget. And lets face it, one of the main reasons people join fraternities in the first place is to party and pick up girls.</p>
<p>Wow, I'm surprised how expensive going Greek is. I never did that type of thing in uni, but wow...that would've broken my bank.</p>
<p>Our dues are much cheaper here (anywhere between $500-$1000 per year depending on the GLO), but that's because all of our housing is through the school as is our meal plans. The money that we pay goes towards rush, formals, and other major parties. Normal weekend parties require us paying money out of pocket for the alcohol.</p>
<p>yeah, if you guys have a house with a kitchen, paying dues can cover your housing and meal plan for the year. $2100 in that case is def not a lot.</p>
<p>sounds like high end living for college students. crazy. i guess do it while you're young and don't have other responsibilites.</p>
<p>Well, Its for rich kids. Plain and simple, Thats how the ALPHA MALES find the best mates in our species, By throwing money, and in this case getting them drunk lol</p>
<p>The dues only look expensive because they’re all one number.</p>
<p>However, if you consider how the dues are usually broken down, it ends up being similar to your entertainment / food budget for the semester.</p>
<p>Now, I do have to say that $2100 is still very high unless rent is included.</p>
<p>My fraternity does ~$360/semester, which includes insurance, and a few social events. However, we are not housed, and if we were housed, food and rent most likely would be separated from the dues to ensure fairness for those who don’t live in the house.</p>
<p>Or the other way to look at it is: suppose you want to make 30 other friends. How much would that realistically cost you? You have to participate in some activities, which includes grabbing lunch once in a while, going to the movies, travelling, etc. If you do that to all 30, it very quickly exceeds fraternity dues due to economies of scale.</p>
<p>Sell blood/sperm.</p>
<p>You don’t join. Problem solved.</p>
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<p>How much does it cost to find a friend? Nothing for me. It’s silly to think that if I met somebody while I was grabbing lunch, that the cost to be friends with that person would be the cost of the lunch.</p>
<p>Also, who wants to have 30 friends? It’s not like all the people in your fraternity will actually be your friend.</p>
<p>I considered joining a fraternity, went to rush events, and almost became a pledge, but changed my mind before doing so because I realized that fraternity life just wasn’t for someone of my background. Basically my reasons for not joining were:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The time commitment: the social activities, parties, and all that are very very very time-consuming.</p></li>
<li><p>The cost: Coming from a lower middle class background, it just wasn’t something I could afford. I had previously thought fraternities were free before coming to college, but found out quickly that was wrong. </p></li>
<li><p>I can make friends just as easily from doing the other stuff I do. Same with networking. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Nothing against fraternities, I realize for some people it’s really a wonderful thing, but for me those options made it so I would not possibly consider joining.</p>