<p>I am unsure whether my S will even consider pledging, but I’d like to have an idea of cost. Someone mentioned $2500 a semester on another 'bama thread? That seems really high to me, unless you get housing with that. Does anyone know the actual cost?</p>
<p>Our sorority bill is around $2000 per semester. That bill INCLUDES MEAL PLAN.
When a student pledges most houses you transfer your meal plan to a Greek Plan.</p>
<p>You keep a few meals a week with food service and eat the rest at the house. (first year students)</p>
<p>I only know about my Ds personal experience. She makes great efforts to utilize the house at meal times. If she cannot go to lunch or dinner she can but in a slip for a to go box. </p>
<p>Her house does not serve hot meals on Saturdays unless it is a special event…home football game, parents weekend etc.</p>
<p>Since the serve over 230 girls a day they have a full kitchen staff, 5 cooks & helpers.</p>
<p>There are many more fraternities at UA with varied sizes so this may differ house to house.</p>
<p>I think frats each have their own prices.</p>
<p>Belonging to a sorority or frat is not cheap. </p>
<p>The cost of membership in a Greek organization varies from group to group. The average cost per semester for a sorority member who lives in the sorority house is approximately $3,400.00 and $2,100.00 for a member who lives out of the sorority house.** The approximate average cost of a fraternity member who lives in a fraternity house is $3,300.00 per semester and $2,300.00 for a member who does not live in the house.** In addition to these costs, new members can expect to pay one-time fees during the first semester in the organization. These fees may include a pledge/new member fee, and an initiation fee. The average cost of these fees for a sorority member is approximately $250.00 and $175.00 for a fraternity member. Fees may vary from year to year, and the figures provided above are only rough estimates of what organizations may charge. The cost of membership in an NPHC fraternity or sorority is significantly less that those of the IFC and Panhellenic organizations. If your student is interested in joining an NPHC organization, he or she should attend an interest meeting at the individual chapters for information about financial obligations.</p>
<p>the cost of belonging, without living in the house, I think includes 10 meals a week. Others can correct me if I’m wrong.</p>
<p>^^for my D’s sorority it includes 14 meals a week and game-day or special event meals. They are served breakfast, lunch, and dinner Monday-Thursday and breakfast and lunch on Friday. Some houses might do it a little differently.</p>
<p>When a freshman pledges a house where there is food service, UA automatically lowers your meal plan to the “Greek 50” for the semester. That is still way too many meals!</p>
<p>It does cost money to belong to any Greek Organization.</p>
<p>Just know that the Meal Plan is included;</p>
<p>So if it is $2300 for a greek member who does not live in the house per semester;
$1200 of that is for food services or meal plans.</p>
<p>And according to the numbers posted by M2K above $3300 to live in a house with food services is less than the price of a Suite Style dorm at UA.</p>
<p>The bottom line is if you have any interest you should check it out (Fraternities at BamaBound) and see if it is for you!</p>
<p>It has a rich tradition at UA but only 30% participate in Greekl lifa at Bama!</p>
<p>Fraternities are having a Preview Weekend March 26th…the same time the Sororities are:
Fraternity Preview Weekend</p>
<p>The 2011 Fraternity Preview Weekend will take place on March 26th. Preview day is an excellent opportunity to visit The Capstone and discover all that the fraternity community at the University of Alabama has to offer. Last year, over 200 prospective students and their parents attended the preview weekend, and we expect that number to grow this year. Preview weekend will provide you with opportunities to learn more about the UA Greek community, the recruitment process, and will give you opportunities to meet with representatives from all 27 IFC fraternities on campus.</p>
<p>Fraternity Preview Day will take place at the Ferguson Center on the campus of the University of Alabama. The schedule will be as follows:
12:45 p.m. Registration begins at Ferguson Center
1:15 p.m. Fraternity Life at The Capstone program begins
2:00 p.m. </p>
<p>IFC Recruitment Roundtable and Panel (Gorgas Library)
3:15 p.m. House Tours
5:30 p.m. Fraternity Barbecue on DKE/Beta Lawn
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR FRATERNITY PREVIEW WEEKEND.</p>
<p>Please note that lunch will not be provided.</p>
<p>Also, please note that by registering for preview weekend you are NOT registering for fraternity recruitment. Students will be able to register for fraternity recruitment AFTER preview weekend.</p>
<p>We look forward to seeing you on March 26, 2011! If you have questions regarding Fraternity Preview Weekend, please contact Matt Calderone, IFC Recruitment Vice President, at <a href=“mailto:macalderone@crimson.ua.edu”>macalderone@crimson.ua.edu</a>.</p>
<p>If you are interested in joining a fraternity I suggest you might think about attending.</p>
<p>Info on fraternity recruitment is here:</p>
<p>[Greek</a> Life](<a href=“http://www.greeklife.ua.edu/ifcrecruitment.html]Greek”>http://www.greeklife.ua.edu/ifcrecruitment.html)</p>
<p>As you will see, some chapters will have most of their pledge classes sewn up before classes even start, which makes attendance at Preview Weekend important. I should also stress that there are some houses which will have their entire class identified by the summer, from guys they know from high school and home. Of course, this is unfair to those from OOS, but this is how it works. There are still several chapters that will have open spots for the formal IFC rush in september, however. Typically, those houses that know their pledge classes early are almost always the ‘top tier’ so please do not get hung up on this type of thing. </p>
<p>Depending on the type of house, there may be additional costs on top of the dues detailed by M2CK above. Depending on the house and it’s social calendar, you could be spending a lot more. What about that away game football weekend - plan on dropping $$$ for doing your part to get there, have fun, and pay your date’s way too. Be prepared as well for all sorts of other miscellaneous expenses incidental to this kind of life, such as formals, date parties, spring break etc.</p>
<p>Not all houses will be like this however and my main advice is that your son finds the guys that he likes, where he can contribute something to the house, and where the lifestyle of the house will fit him.</p>
<p>Thanks for the information. Wow, I had no idea. Since we live so far there is no way S will make preview weekend. I guess if he is interested he will have to wait for formal recruitment. We were told rushing for guys is no big deal, but pledging was. But it sounds like a lot of this is decided before formal recruitment. Oh well, if he wants to he can figure it out himself.</p>
<p>Some of the fraternities cost substantially more thousands to join.</p>
<p>rbmom, So I guess the demographic they are looking for is self-selected?</p>
<p>For some groups, yes it is, in that they recruit from specific high schools and neighborhoods and the current brothers will know the guys coming through very well. You have to remember that Alabama, and other Southern schools, have as strong a legacy network in the South as places like HYP elsewhere in the US. Some of these pledges will be pledging groups that they have strong legacy ties to, and not only will their fathers/uncles/mothers/cousins/grandparents have been to Bama, but often the same high schools too. On CC most people are thinking of wide range of schools that may fit them/their child, but I can tell you that at my Bham high school about 80% of my class, and that of my sister, went to either Bama or Auburn, often depending on parent/older sibling attendance. We all grow up knowing about fraternities/sororities, going to game days at T town and knowing the current brothers and sisters in the houses. It is this kind of tradition that OOS students are up against. In sorority recruitment, the rushees meet all the houses usually a couple of times before any major cuts, and even my sister’s In State heavy chapter has 30% OOS (although these girls are predominantly from TN, GA, FL and only a couple are from the Midwest/NE). Other sororities are up to 70% OOS. But with fraternitiy recruitment, the houses only have to invite back those they want, and the rushees can choose which houses to rush… so it is much more self selecting.</p>
<p>But as I said, NOT all the fraternities are the same and there could be an option out there for your son. He should investigate and meet the brothers and see which guys he gets on well with. I think that a top tier, super expensive and traditional house could well be off limits to him simply because he won’t be known to the current members, especially if he doesn’t go to Preview Weekend, but I am not sure that is what he will be looking for in a house anyways. Remember that fraternities are not limited to how many members they have to take in the same way sororities are, so if a house likes your son, they will bid him.</p>
<p>Most new row fraternities range in the $2500-$4000 range, while the Old Row can be substantially higher (a couple are around $8k/semester).</p>
<p>Just wanted to add a little info about the cost of fraternity at ua. My son is in an “old row” house and the cost is running about 6000 a year. This is including the meals but not the extra of a formal. That said it can be expensive when you count all the extras. But not all the members go to everything so there is some discretion in what you spend. As for oos remember that fraternities don’t have quotas of upperclassmen and some if not all the houses have pledged sophomores. So if it is hard for your son to get here before school starts there is always the opportunity for him to meet guys from different houses during his first year. Sometimes I think that might be a better option for the kids.</p>
<p>I like the idea of pledging Sophomore year. I’m not sure what he will think when he starts looking into it.</p>
<p>*while the Old Row can be substantially higher (a couple are around $8k/semester). *</p>
<p>Really? That sounds unbelievably high unless that includes living there as well.</p>
<p>^^^^^I have been told that costs can be higher than that and have even heard that some frats require parent’s W2 for income verification.</p>
<p>^ man I would shut that idea down right quick! :)</p>
<p>Old row houses (DKE, KA, Sigma Nu, Phi Gamma Delta, and SAE) are a lot more traditional and selective in their membership. This isn’t to say they are any better than any other house. It’s just they’ve been around the longest and generally recruit kids from the same towns and high schools as the current members. Who your daddy is and what he does for a living plays a part in who they select. However this doesn’t mean it isn’t possible for an OOS kid with no ties to get a bid from them. You’ll just see a lot less of this than you would at a New Row house. </p>
<p>As far as money is concerned you have to look at what you get. If housing, meals, and social entertainment is included than 6K a year is cheap compared to the $7,500 a super suite room costs and the $2500 a meal plan costs. So you might take a bit of a hit when you pledge. But you’ll save money in the long run once you get in and can move into the house. </p>
<p>My advice is to sign up for rush and try to attend a few spring rush parties if possible. If not just go through rush in the fall and see which house you fit in the best. There is no “best” fraternity. Each person is different and each fraternity is different. You just have to find one that you’re comfortable with and one that is comfortable with you.</p>
<p>OMG w2’s?? I had no idea it was so crazy.
I’m sure S will find somewhere that he would fit in if he is so inclined. I guess I wasn’t expecting such social stratification for fraternities at a public university, but what do I know. My older S & D went Greek, but I don’t remember any of this.</p>
<p>I don’t think the W2’s thing is true…more like kids’ joking around saying things like…they want our blood type, too. </p>
<p>;)</p>