sidenote: many of you mention taking up "a job" to earn "extra" money for dues. didnt ANY of you have jobs to begin with? EVERYONE i knew had a job on top of non-wage-earning jobs (ie. i was an RA, did 20 hrs workstudy and tutored at a local middle school).

all im saying is that, sigh, it must be nice if youre taking up jobs just for sorority dues, and not for say, groceries, books/supplies, next semester's tuition.

not speaking for everyone, but just throwing it out there.

well, that's one of the neat things about attending college. lots of different people, from lots of different backgrounds and circumstances.

now, more than ever, many students hold down jobs, either on campus or off-some to assist their parents with the expenses they are incuring, while others are paying their own way, totally. i would say the majority of students where i advise work part time.

And the information at your school is published and given to the PNMs, anyway... so I'd think it might also be an attitude of "If you have to ask, you can't read." But not every school is as forthcoming with that information as Bama or UGA.

Something to think about with the expense of dues is that, if your campus offers sorority housing, it can actually help you have cheaper housing and other costs.

Two of my closest sisters were on financial aid/loans for school, but they both said they decided to join a sorority, in part, because of the inexpensive housing and bills. If you had to choose between $400-500 a month in rent (PLUS bills) and $1500 a semester in dues which include three meals a day, water, and electricity, the sorority's really paying for itself with all of the housing costs that you wouldn't have to worry about while living there. If your chapter is comfortable with you maybe needing to make a payment plan rather than just writing a check at the beginning of the semester, you could probably find a job that would allow you to make those semesterly dues that would include living in the house... so the only year where you'd be paying for housing AND sorority would be as a freshman, if your chapter allowed you to live in the house multiple years.

About the payment plans: some national HQs only allow them for initiated members--meaning that new members have to pay everything at once. Sometimes the payments ARE due in installments, but it may be 2-3 installments instead of a monthly payment plan.

It's been my experience that most students work in some capacity while in school, regardless of socioeconomic background. Sometimes that's being an RA or assistant house manager (in our Greek and Program Houses, that was a position that pretty much meant you had the master key), for others that was being editor of the school paper (at most schools, a paid position), and still others worked in the dining hall. I'd say for most people I knew, that job paid for personal expenses and not tuition.