I felt the same way too until I got more "inside" information.

The most these houses sleep is 70. Most of the chapters at BAMA now have 400+ members. There are plenty of sorority houses nation-wide that sleep more women and have much smaller chapter numbers (in the 200-250 range).

I think it would take something catastrophic to happen for these chapters to not be able to pay for their new houses. Most of these house corporations had large sums of money in reserve waiting for this day to happen (millions of dollars).

I'm not an Alabama native, but I sure know a lot of women who are. From what I understand, there hasn't been much in the way of building or major remodeling on Colonial Drive or Magnolia since the 1960s. All of this new construction is very timely, and with the exponential increase in membership, also needed. The public spaces of the new houses are large enough to accommodate the record high numbers of members for sisters and social functions ... including recruitment, but the bedrooms for the in-house sisters are still modest.

Still, I think it is a shame that the houses still cannot sleep even an entire pledge class. My sister-in-law and I both had daughters at UA at the same time (we were pregnant together twice), and while my daughters were officers in Tridelt and were able to live at the house their junior and senior years, my nieces were ZTA and never got the chance to live in the house at all. Gone are the days when you could move into the house when you were a freshman.

I agree, not getting to live in for at least a year is a shame. But, pledge classes at Ole Miss are estimated to be 150-170 this year...and who wants to build a house for that many to live in? And where would you add additional space? Most have maximized their add-on capability by adding a third floor, etc.

As you said, these newer builds are putting a premium on dining and meeting space so that the members can at least get together in the house for some quality time.

And many universities have invested in freshman housing and require all freshmen to live on campus in dorms to "bond with the university" by having that on-campus experience. I can think of very few schools who allow women to move into sorority housing as freshmen...University of Washington is one that comes to mind.

Real big
 

A 40000 square foot house still has a lot construction cost. I'd be putting 10 percent away every yearyou never know the 60s could return.

The university holds the mortgages on all of them. A refi wouldn't be much of an issue.

As the president of an AHC that built a new house last year, I'm not worried. Back in the day, I lived in for 3 years and our chapter size closely matched the bed number...that was much more worrisome than the current situation where we have many live-outs who pay parlor fees and support the house. If chapter numbers got low, the HCBs faced big trouble meeting costs. Now, with RFM and the trend toward more live-outs, a "doomsday" scenario is less likely. It is sad that many women won't have a chance to live in, but it is also safer from a financial perspective.

If anything, this could make Indiana move away from bed quota...the live-out parlor fees really do help the budget and support the upgrades.

A house with capacity for a new member class of 170 + initiated members would be a residence hall. With a fancier living room. ;)

sidebar:

I wish UW had enough on-campus housing to have freshman live in the dorms, but the university relies on the Greek System to help fill the housing need. Believe me, it is a pain in the rear to try and figure out how many beds to hold open and then have all your new members move in on Bid Day. And then if you get quota additions you weren't expecting and you have to find room somewhere for those new members. Nightmare.


While it's a shame there are members who won't get to live in chapter facilities at all, I love the setup of the Bama houses - all that community space and then beds enough for some.

^^^ Do they do that at Washington State, too?

Nope. As far as I know, there are only two campuses in the nation where freshman move in right after getting a bid. I'm having trouble remembering the other campus off hand though.

I was worried about the real estate cost at some of those schools too, as Alpha Xi Delta is getting ready to colonize at 2 very expensive housing schools (South Carolina and UCLA) and I am kind of expecting us to pull the trigger at Bama in the next 5 years (no, I don't know anything, even rumor). But when I heard the cost of membership, even for non-live-ins, my worries disappeared. The mortgage payments have to be a piece of cake for those chapters. And I'm sure all of our headquarters have excellent financial teams who would know to pay heavy early to ease the burden for when that day does eventually come when quota goes to 30 or your chapter becomes THAT chapter for a couple years, and half of the house has to live in. Still, even in that scenario, not every last member has to live in so there's a lot of buffer.

Not only that, I'm guessing that most of the members who don't live in the house and just do meals and meetings there live together in this or that permutation... Which is the best of both worlds.

During their sophomore year, each of my girls rented a house near campus and lived with four of their sorority sisters. I think five unrelated persons living together in a single residence is what is allowed in Tuscaloosa.

Looking forward to seeing the new AXD house at UCLA. I saw the renderings during the Extention Presentations and it looked gorgeous!

I'm with you. When I lived in the house, we could not fill it. Ultimately that's why we folded.
I'm a pessimist...that way I'm never disappointed. ;)