<p>The price of going Greek is different across all schools and which frat/sorority joined(NPHC,NFC,NPC ect). There are dues, clothing, events, trips,housing ect that all cost money but if your child is/will be in a sorority/fraternity what aspects of Greek life would you pay for if at all. And if you give your child a monthly allowance would it be raised or lowered once the child became Greek? </p>
<p>All fees are the same at DS school. In fact, living in the house is cheaper than dorm housing after freshman year. Any extras DS pays for with his work study. DS doesn’t necessarily do all the trips and I have convinced him that his life does not need a T-shirt for every single activity.
The cost is real though, especially at state schools. I worked while in school to pay for my Greek extras, but my grandmother paid my dues. </p>
<p>I paid for housing and dues, food seems to come with it. It worked out to be cheaper than university housing. My kid paid for clothing and such. </p>
<p>I will pay for the dues and housing. They will pay for the activities. Something special? We’ll negotiate.</p>
<p>One of my kids was in a fraternity and he paid his own dues. We did pay for his housing in the fraternity house his last 2 years of school because we would have been paying for his housing wherever he lived. He paid for the fraternity related activities himself.</p>
<p>My kids’ dues included activities. I paid for their dues because I viewed it as a student activity fee. They didn’t buy more clothes because they were in a sorority. They always had evening dresses, shoes and bags. Every once in a while they would say they needed a red dress or new evening shoes, and I would just order them online for them. I think even if they weren’t in a sorority they would have needed those things. My kids were very good at charging anything they could to their student account, sometimes I wasn’t even sure what I was paying.</p>
<p>Why not just set your contribution amount beforehand (preferably early senior year in high school) and let the student figure out how fraternity/sorority costs fit into it (if s/he is even interested in fraternities/sororities)? I.e. prepare the student for “real life” by having him/her manage all of the discretionary parts of the budget.</p>
<p>S joined a frat; D is at a school without Greek life so the issue was moot. We pay the dues. Like oldfort, I see it as akin to a student activity fee and am happy to pay it. S lived in the house one year and of course I paid for it - it’s pretty much the same cost as the dorms next door, so it’s a distinction without a difference. </p>
<p>I don’t get the “clothing” thing. I’m going to ensure my kids have nice, appropriate clothing for all events in their lives; what does being Greek have to do with it? </p>
<p>ucbalumnus, We did view fraternity involvement and dues as a discretionary expense which is why my kid did pay his own dues. But I can see where other parents might view it differently, especially if it was not a hardship to pay the dues.</p>
<p>@Pizzagirl
For Greek week they may need a certain color T-shirt that has aGreekletters</p>
<p>I know geeks that step have costumes for step shows which are very (as in the only time you’d be able to wear the outfit is during that one performance) elaborate </p>
<p>My D had no intention of Greek life but at a small LAC she realized it was different than what she thought. She pays for her own tshirts if she wants them. They don’t really do trips but being a Musical Theatre major most of the times she would not be able to participate in that. The dues and house/meals is about $1500 less than dorm life so we continued to pay for that. If it exceeded she would have to pick up the slack. It was a real learning curve for us last year when she joined having not participated in Greek life myself.</p>
<p>The are certain color dresses required for certain ceremonies in greek life. At first it can be overwhelming and expensive, but then one learns that no one cares that the shoes aren’t perfect, that one girl has two black dresses and will be happy to lend you one if you share your extra white shoes. We had a girl who would go buy a new black dress every time we needed on, and then return it. Girls would bring back extra prom dresses to use for formals. </p>
<p>I’m sure at some schools everything is expected to be new, perfect, color coordinated. That wasn’t my experience.</p>
<p>“For Greek week they may need a certain color T-shirt that has Greekletters.”</p>
<p>Well, why wouldn’t that fall under the same policy that the family had for buying the student t-shirts for any other organization? Either parents say - hey, the T-shirts are our treat - or they say - if you want t-shirts related to a club or activity, pay for it yourself. (Me, I’m a softie. I reserve the right to say to my kids - hey, go get this t-shirt, my treat. I’m such a big spender here.)</p>
<p>Twoinanddone - I only remember a white dress being needed for a ceremony, and girls all borrowed / shared from older girls. I did go buy formal dresses for events, but if my daughter needed those things, I simply wouldn’t see that as any different as ensuring she had a nice formal dress for an evening out or something. </p>
<p>I pay her dues. She pays for any spirit wear she chooses. She needs some specific color clothing for recruitment this year but if she chooses wisely she can use it for other things so I will help with that.</p>
<p>My borrowed a white formal dress(almost like a wedding dress) from her friend. But she had to buy a sundress in white for a recruitment event. I remember went looking for it, it was a pain in you know what.</p>
<p>My D paid all of her own sorority expenses - dues, additional fees for formals, etc. Her uni did not have Greek houses, so I didn’t have that issue. But I probably would have paid for room and board no matter where she lived. She had a summer job and occasional term work to paid for expenses. </p>
<p>My kid had to wear a white dress for her high school graduation, so she was able to use it again for a sorority ceremony. I think the dues covered all tshirts for various events. </p>
<p>We pay/paid for both our son’s fraternity dues. The dues covered most social expenses except for special away weekends, which we also funded. Luckily, being boys, they had plenty of shirts, ties and probably wore the same blue blazer to most formal events. They generally paid for their own event t-shirts and those thrift store shopping sprees for the "themed"parties.</p>
<p>Both of their schools require students to live on campus for 3 years so fraternity housing was a non-issue.</p>
<p>Our son is responsible for his fraternity dues and any extra costs with Greek life, like the tshirts etc. We pay housing and food and, now that he is living in house, his rent is cheaper than before. His dues include weekend formals etc, so there are no extra costs with that. We have paid for his expanded wardrobe, as he needed a nicer sport coat, more ties etc. We won’t pay for spring break trip, and have said he can earn it this summer, along with his dues, or not. Its what works for us. </p>