Big house, little house, some the size of your head!
 

At University of Michigan, most of the greek houses are mansions. They were built specifically FOR fraternities or sororities. The average capacity of a house on campus is probably 56-72 members. As for which houses are the richest in budget, the most popular ones are the monatarily well off. Sororities at quota are going to be bringing in $ as well as the larger fraternities.

People have told me that my house is one of the most extravagant houses on campus but what makes my house so special is the rich history behind it.

Hmm, i've heard that the Sig Ep's and KA's are well off at t.u. also.

Correct me if i'm wrong, but didn't the Sig Ep's have a Stanley Cup party with Tom Hicks ( the owner of the Dallas Stars and a Sig Ep alum) and the actual Stanley Cup? or is that just a rumor.

I've also heard that the KA chapter at UT is financially solvent enough that if their nationals pulled their charter, they could still remain as a viable fraternity based on their holdings.

The richest fraternity at A&M would have to be SAE also. Their annual Chilifest raises thousands of dollars and enough for their new $1 million house. I'm not a hundred percent sure, but that's what i'd guess.

Kitso
KS 361

Let us not forget either, that when that 5.5 million dollar house has a hazing incident, and the chapter gets shut down, there are no members to pay the mortgage either. Then the frat. house turns into a University-run dorm.

_________________________________

ZZ-Kai- I didn't know that!!

I thikn were about in the middle
 

100,000 rush budget! Are you jokin me? I could think of so many things to do with that. Buy a porsche and go visit people across the country and rush them. Our rush budget is about 4,500. But I don't think thats a whole lot compared to other houses here. I remember rushing Phi Psi's and hearing something about the trip to Mexico. They sell that a lot I guess. Everyone knows about it. I thihnk our house is worth about 3 or 4, but thats just because it really old and in a prime area. I think every house on our block is worth over a million or at least right around 1 million. I think our annex is actually worth about 1 million as well. The most expensive house though would either be Phi Delts, Fiji's, SAE's, Sigma Chi's, Sig Ep's (sheer size - it takes up half a city block almost), or Teke's. All the houses I think in our greek system are nice, ans I would say by the looks of this post and the other recent house post, that our greek system as a whole is very well off compared to others. We own our houses, not the University. The only tie between us and the university is through the IFC connection. Granted, I think everyone is still paying off their house (I think we are3 about 300,000 in the hole, but are planning a $1.5 million renovation and expansion. Here is my house:

Theta Xi - Upsilon Chapter

Re: I thikn were about in the middle
 

Beautiful house, ThetaxiUW!! I must say, it's leaps and bounds ahead of any fraternity house I've ever been in. Your chapter is very lucky.

Just a question
 

I don't mean to question your accuracy and please don't take this the wrong way, but where did you come upon this information? I'll be going to MU (I've lived in columbia my entire life) this upcoming year and while I'm not sure about the whole 2 separate houses thing (which could be very possible, it is a huge beautiful fraternity), my question is about the alumni Sam Walton. Walton is the founder of Walmart and Sam's Club... and he is dead.. Although he has several VERY wealthy relatives living among this area.. Is it possible I'm thinking of a different Sam Walton? I'll check up more on the Beta house because I'm now very curious about it.. Thanks much

-Matt

in regards to SAE at UT Austin being the richest I think you may be a little wrong. According to the UT greek life website, FIJI has the most expensive dues at about $4,900 a year. Although, the highest dues might not mean that FIJI has the most money. Unless SAE recently raised their dues from $2,100 to $4,000 I think your figures are a little bit off.

Check it out

Let's see...At my school, the ZBT's trashed their house, so now the alumni are building them a new one. I don't know if it makes them the richest, but definitely the most spoiled.

ATO's have a magnificent house, and I believe their HQ moved the fraternity archives there. I think they get great support from both HQ and alumni.

It is hard to say for the girls, because I am on a campus where one good rush can make or break a house, and for the most part I feel like every org. is fairly equal.

i kow at my school Beta Theta Pi have a lot of rich alum. Their insurance owudn't pay for their hosue to be rebuilt after it burnt down because alcohol was found in one of the rooms, but a few of the alum are paying for the entire house to be fixed.

Re: Just a question
 

Beta's do have two different houses. They have their main huse that you see when you drive on College Ave. and then behind it they have an "annex" type place that really looks a lot more like a very nice apartment building! :) You just have to go behind their house to see it though, you won't see it just from driving by the house on College. ;)

Alright I have a question...as far as NPC sororities on my campus all are REQUIRED to have the same recruitment budget. We can all use only $2,700 or so...how fair is it if different sororities spend different ammounts...that doesn't seem like it'd be real fair.

If I had to pick the "richest" chapter at NCSU, it's probably be ZTA. They have the highest dues at about $1100 a semester. The 2nd most expensive dues are only $700 and so a semester, so ZTA is way out infront. Some sororities have dues set at just over $400 a semester. DG's are a little over $600.

But ZTA has a beautiful house and an amazing sisterhood here. They are kinda regarded as the "Daddy's Girls" but it isn't in a bad way at all. Just sweet and southern! They are awesome ladies!

OMG!! our formal rush budget is only $500!! as for who spends the most $$ on rush for sororities- every house should be spending the same- it is supposed to be restricted by panhellenic. hello- NO FRILLS??!! COB rush $$ is entirely different though. i don't know who would be the wealthiest sorority on our campus- we all have houses, i would hasten a guess to be Alpha Phi or Kappa Kappa Gamma. (however, $$ isn't everything, they aren't in the top 3 in terms of members!!):eek:
oh, as for highest dues- definitely Tridelta or Kappa.

Couple of things here-
First of all many of the big state U's have houses that were built back in the early 1900's and could not possibly be replaced today for less than a few million. Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Mizzou, Colorado, on and on.
I was in one of our chapter houses in the upper Midwest and their annex was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright!
Some of the fraternity houses on the drawing board for the new Greek Row at Florida State will be about 3-4 million. When you are building a house these days for 40 or 50 people, you are committing to that kind of money.
Dues are all over the map at Texas for Fraternities and Sororities too. Some of the sororities have much lower dues cause their houses have paid off their mortgages.
As far as "rich" houses, if given my choice of a house with rich kids or rich tradition and history, hmmmm, let me think.
OKAY I THINK I'VE CHOSEN NOW. GUESS WHICH ONE???!!!;)

Who the hell can afford 5k in dues!!! Okay, obviously there are some people out there that can. I just think that's ridiculous!

And it's threads like these just just reaffirm some people's stereotypes of fraternities and sororities.

But 5 grand in dues just so you can have a ridiculous rush budget?! Does your chapter do anything productive?

Well, I know the wording is different from chapter to chapter, so if it is $5K, but that includes room and board in the house, it really isn't that much.

At UT, there is a major shortage of housing, so if you live in-house, the high dollar amounts are reasonable since you get a place to live!

And as for setting a rush budget accross the board for sororities...groups ALWAYS find a way to spend many times over the amount that is "required". It is so easy! For instance, if you require that the sorority wears certain clothes for rush and you assign them to go out and get it themselves, then all the money spent on that never goes through the sorority books...it is not too hard to think of many ways that this can be done! And I would say that most chapters probably do it.

THIS IS TO FUNNY!:(

If you ever get to many Chapters, they are all a little strapped for money!:o

The costs today are stupendous for College Costs and depending on the Shool and Chapter Costs. Most cannot afford a Super Fund for Fun!:( Expenses are always going up for Risk Management, Utilities and On and On!

Hdqs them selves admit they are Also Strapped for $$!

It aint a pretty Picture anymore! You may say wealthy Alums but they are getting strapped also, just not as much as You and Me!

They too are watching where their $$ is going for what is being spent.

I pay $5,000 a year to live at my sorority. That includes housing, meals and dues. It might seem like a lot but it's about the same as living in the dorms (actually cheaper than some of the dorms at Purdue) and pretty equal to getting an apartment as well. At Purdue, most guys live in their fraternity 2 years and girls typically live in all 3 years. Sometimes I wish my house was smaller so that we were only required to live in two years. Living in is fun and all, but most people want their own place my senior year.

Well 5 grand and that includes everything is a different story.

5 grand on it's own is insane! Also, who lets university students live in a 10 million dollar home!? That's very brave!

My first semester on "the other side," ALL the NPCs did rush on a $300 budget. Phi Mu doesn't have a house on campus, and we were the largest (both going in and coming out of rush.)

ASA has a house, and that's the only sorority that does. They did well, and so did Tri Sigma, and so did AGD. Phi Sig was having a little trouble at the time, but they're great girls and have since built up a lot.

In THEORY, we had a Recruitment budget of $700, that neither sorority could go over. BUT, if a sister or her mother or another alum decides to eat the cost of some things, let's just say it can get pretty elaborate. I'm sure this happens a LOT with chapters.

I think most of the sororities on my campus have fairly equal bank accounts... Our College Panhelenic has set a rush budget of 1000.... none of us have houses... all dues of the three chapters are within 100 dollars of each other... so I'd have to assume.. not knowing the budget of the two other chapters that we have about the same amount of money in the bank.

Yeah, a lot of schools have a budget set by Panhell that the sororities can only spend X amount of dollars. However, when you hit up your alum for donations of decorations/food/whatever....chapters with bigger alum support can come out "showier" than others.

According to SAE at UT-Austin's (Rho Chapter) official webpage, the cost of renovating part of the chapter house (after a room was damaged by a fire) was $2.5 Million (Just for renovations). http://www.saetexasrho.com/feasibility.html

An artist's rendering of the SAE house at Austin (as it is NOW, prior to renovations) is available on the mainpage on their chapter website, available at http://www.saetexasrho.com/

The SAE Rho (UT-Austin) chapter recently completed a capital campaign which raised nearly $2 million dollars from Rho alumni/brothers alone.

Just some info for you guys :) When in doubt, look it up!

How could you forget the DGs at Miss. State!
 

I don't go to MS State, but my best friend's older sister was a Delta Gamma there. Have you ever seen a picture of their house? It is HUUUUGE.

I invite you to take a peek! A pic of their house (white, stately, columns...etc) is available on their website, http://www.msstate.edu/org/dg/

Here's another, better picture http://msuinfo.ur.msstate.edu/where/...ng/soro-dg.htm

The house holds 100 girls (as a residence) and serves meals for nearly 160 at least weekly!

The KD and XO house at MS State are also very large!


http://www.msstate.edu/org/panhellenic/chio.html

http://www.msstate.edu/org/panhellenic/kd.html

(side note: my beautiful little cousin can be viewed on the KD website!!! She is working hard for rush in early August!)

Re: Just a question
 

Hey Matt-

If I read both posts correctly, I think he was naming 3 people....Walton, Hidden valley ranch guy, and ken lay...not Walton THE ranch guy............Walton is definitely an alum, as you know the Laurie's and Kronkes kinda rule the town :rolleyes: and it's hard not to be involved in Greek and Campus life at Mizzou and not hear about the founder of Walmart being a Beta :)

Well I don't know who has the most money on campus, but you can tell who manages it the best!

Re: How could you forget the DGs at Miss. State!
 

All the houses at MS State are impressive. This was our house. Hopefully we will return someday soon. :(
http://msuinfo.ur.msstate.edu/where/...s/soro-agd.jpg

*just recovering from reading the first post*

I hit the floor and kept on going..... Our recruitment budget for decorations is $1400.00... we don't have a house so our dues are still fairly cheap.... *feels LARGE bump on head from the floor* Can't talk anymore.... must rest......

Re: Just a question
 

IIRC, Sam Walton was a DU at Mizzou.
However, Ken Lay (of Enron) was a Beta at Mizzou.

Nann
who was an Alpha Gam at MU years after both of them.


QUOTE]Originally posted by SiKeS
I don't mean to question your accuracy and please don't take this the wrong way, but where did you come upon this information? I'll be going to MU (I've lived in columbia my entire life) this upcoming year and while I'm not sure about the whole 2 separate houses thing (which could be very possible, it is a huge beautiful fraternity), my question is about the alumni Sam Walton. Walton is the founder of Walmart and Sam's Club... and he is dead.. Although he has several VERY wealthy relatives living among this area.. Is it possible I'm thinking of a different Sam Walton? I'll check up more on the Beta house because I'm now very curious about it.. Thanks much

-Matt [/QUOTE]

The Beta Theta Pi website claims Sam Walton as a Beta alum:

http://www.betathetapi.org/foundatio.../16-walton.cfm

Re: Re: Just a question
 

[/B][/QUOTE]

Ok now that's definately a new one! I've never heard of Sam Walton being a DU. It seems as though the fact that Sam Walton was a Beta here is like common knowledge or something, who really knows for sure. ;)

There is a big difference between $2.5 million and $10 million. A few years back, the Phi Psi chapter at Cornell spent $5.5 million to renovate and expand. At the time, it was the most ever spent on a fraternity house.

Well, I did preface my comment with "IIRC." Now that I've been to the Beta site, obviously I recalled *incorrectly.*

Some of these houses are absolutely magnificent. How do you go from living in these houses to living in a regular house or apartment during the summer or after graduation? I am assuming that your parents don't live in a mansion. :)

I don't usually resurrect old threads, but since I was mentioned by name... I'm not from the Iowa area, so I'm afraid I can't confirm this for you. It's certainly possible though. We've all heard stories about major players in big corporations being Greek. I suppose if someone high enough up in Maytag is an SAE, it could have happened. If anyone does know, it would be cool to find out for certain.