What happens if the PNM receives no parental support during her college years? Is she not allowed to become a sister?

Nope, not at all; there are several girls who do pay for their college by themselves. Yet, I know their parents still had to sign the forms. I'm just assuming the reason for a parental signature is to have a place to acquire payment if the member majorly defaulted payment or something like that.

I know we had a 17 year old initiate- and as far as I know she didn't have to get any special permission to go through recruitment. Her family lived about 3,000 miles away so I don't know how she would have gotten a signature- I think the school just took it as if she was old enough to be on her own...

The problem, I think, has to do with the fact that if someone is under 18, they are not legally an adult and therefore may not legally be bound by anything they sign, including financial documents, liability releases or whatever. If something were to go south while new member was still 17, mom and/or dad, could come in claiming that only they could sign legally-binding documents on behalf of the member until he or she turned 18. Mom and dad might also be to claim that new member simply could not join without their permission.

Meanwhile, if things go south after new member turns 18, he might be able to claim that nothing he signed is enforceable because he was a minor.

So, that agreement that new member signed when he was 17 saying he would pay all dues and costs owed, releasing the chapter or organization from liability for certain things, etc. . . . quite possibly unenforceable unless mom or dad signed it too. Not a good scenario from a liability standpoint if new member is, in fact, not legally a member.


As I understand it, that's what was behind our decision to say you have to be 18 to pledge, period.

I had a coworker who "graduated" from the foster care systems in one of the cities in Ohio. Given up as an infant, he was wasn't ever adopted. The county that he was in did pay for his tuition to Ohio State. I wonder for a woman in that situation, what the sorority would do with its "require a parent" signature entry.

She may have been legally emancipated, in which case, though she was under 18 she was legally responsible.

Minors in foster care have a legal guardian; it may be the current foster parent, or it may be a representative of the county if the child is in a group home or emergency placement. If that weren't the case, doctors could not even vaccinate the child. Permission has to come from somewhere.
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But the co-worker naraht referred to had "graduated from" (which I guess means "was no longer in") foster care, so perhaps they had been legally emancipated.

I'm not refering to the situation where the person is under 18, but rather the situation where you have someone who is over 18, but needs a parent's signature to back up the monetary commitment.

I don't really know about special circumstances like that and I apologize. I was merely stating that a parent's signature is required on our financial obligations form and that despite members paying for their membership on their own, a parent still signed.

I do not know of any case where a parent has not signed, so I cannot say for sure what would happen in such a situation.

When I started pledging I was 17, and all I had to do was have my mom co-sign on financial forms, and one of the sisters was 16 when she joined AXiD, so we didn't have any problems at all.

Sometimes parents of over 18 members do refuse to sign. There isn't anything that can require them to do so. We just let it go if the parent doesn't want to co-sign for an over 18 year old. We have in the past included verbiage that states we will advise the parents if the member is in arrears and that seems to take care of any "issues."

This is why I asked. When I turned 18, my obligations were no longer my parents'. Requiring them to sign something when I was able to make decisions on my own wouldn't have gone over well. I don't see how something like that could have been required.

I equated it to co-signing on a car. If you can't do it on your own and can't get someone to co-sign, you're SOL. I thought that was the case in Tri-Delta.

If it's just about the money, why would it have to be the new member's parent? Anyone with a credit history can co-sign a loan.
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Same for me but then it's been MANY years........:D