<p>My D is trying to choose between two colleges, and when it comes down to the nitty gritty of her choices, she is leaning towards the more expensive (but still do-able) option because at this college she could join a sorority.</p>
<p>Back when the dinosaurs roamed college campuses, I did not join in Greek life, but I remember those classmates who did not have parents who could pay all expenses complain about dues, initiation fees, and all sorts of costs.</p>
<p>Does anyone have any idea (hundreds, thousand, multiple thousands) a college student has to pay to be part of Greek life on campus these days?</p>
<p>DDs dues are around $700 a year; she pays part and I don’t have it in front of me at the moment. There are also expenses for the formals, dinners, gifts for littles/bigs, etc.</p>
<p>Some cost more, but the meal plan is included because the girls are expected to each about 10 meals a week in the sorority house (varies by school/house).</p>
<p>Dues were about $700 a year for my daughter. She was responsible for sorority costs. At her school, sororities had no residential properties; each sorority had a suite to use for social functions. The nice thing was that the dues covered the costs for all social functions for the year whether the member attended or not so there were not additional fees. One cost we never considered prior to her joining was the fundraising for charities. D’s sorority had several fundraisers each year including Relay for Life, Make a Wish, and a golf outing for a local cancer center for which each “sister” was expected to raise a certain (and not insignificant amount). Friends whose daughter joined a sorority at our state university said that the fees for the required living in the sorority house were higher than dorm room and board.</p>
<p>Typically the cost of membership is more the first year, due to initiation and other one-time fees. You might find some information re: costs on the forums at greekchat.com, although most posters there are pretty snarky.</p>
<p>And it seems to vary geographically. At some of the big, old southern sororities the response, when I had the temerity to ask about costs, was “if you have to ask you probably shouldn’t rush.” Of course, it is considered gauche to bring any of this up before or during rush.</p>
<p>On the other hand, D knows a girl at a top five school in Boston who was encouraged to rush and told there were scholarships and such if she was worried about paying for it. This discussion was had before rush. (This girl would not have been able to afford sorority dues.) </p>
<p>I don’t want to start a north vs. south thing, but I do think costs are much, much higher in the south…upwards of $1,500 the first year at some larger state U’s, depending on many factors.</p>
<p>Limulus, this is a vague question that is meaningless at the general level. It’s like asking “what does college cost.” it is obviously going to vary by campus (do they have houses to maintain? What types of programming do the sororities do?) that you are far better served asking this at the college Office of Greek Life vs here.</p>
<p>Mom2collegekids, it’s misleading to suggest the 10 meals per week. At my Alma mater, girls who didn’t live in ate one meal a week at the house, not 10. The expectations and expenses – both financially and otherwise – are so different from south to north and from campus to campus.</p>
<p>I would second Pizzagirl’s suggestion to contact the Office of Greek Life. They should be able to give you some general guidelines as it will vary so widely.</p>
<p>A quick survey of my DDs friends that are freshman at various colleges and universities throughout the nation: $500.00 to north of $3,000.00 per year. None of the girls are living in the house at this point in time. However, what is included in the cost is different in each situation. Cost vary widely campus-to-campus and even sorority-to-sorority on the same campus. Pizzagirl’s suggestion is spot on. Contact the Greek Life office. But do so anonymously.</p>
<p>And whether the housing is a) required (a year? two? three years?), b) nicer or less-nice than the dorms, and/or c) as convenient / less convenient is going to vary school by school as well. </p>
<p>IME, housing was required for one year (typically junior year), the housing was equal cost to dorms but nicer facilities, and was equally as convenient to classes (as the houses were on campus, right next to dorms). In other schools, the cost of living in a house may be appreciably higher than that of a dorm, and the houses may be a lot farther away / less convenient to classes and activities.</p>
<p>I feel like ti was between $500-$1000 a year, depending on the school, sorority, events, etc. On advantage at Dds school was living in the house was half the price of the dorms!</p>
<p>Also, DD’s sorority was big on coordinating outfits and essentially teaching people how to build a wardrobe of inexpensive essentials which DD has found to be good for the working world, so she did have costs for those accumulations, but also moved beyond jeans & hoodies.</p>