So what? We all read stories here about PNMs who are totally torn on pref night, loving two houses. If they're very similar, and one costs $7000/year less than the other, why not rank the cheaper one first? Maybe, like the OP, she could afford either one, but it'd be really nice to save that $28,000 (over four years) if she can.

And at many campuses -- like Bama -- a girl's one and only shot at rush is freshman year. If she has to drop before initiation, that's probably the end of the Greek line. Why deny her the opportunity to take cost into consideration earlier in the process? It increases the odds that she ends up in a house she can afford.
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Because she only gets to rank; she doesn't really get to really choose. In the college situation, she has much more control of the whole situation.

I have no problem requiring groups to disclose costs, but it still doesn't allow the girl to really shape her recruitment based on that information. If the less expensive groups drop her, she's going to go back to parties at the more expensive chapters.

I don't have any interest in denying her the information. It still doesn't give her much more control.


ETA: and I think Bama has an upperclassmen quota, but I still understand your point. Re-rushing for a cheaper house isn't going to be a big success.

Coming from a campus where girls WILL drop a chapter based on whether or not they can afford your dues, we make it very clear on philanthropy night what the dues are.

Dues should never be some huge chapter secret. A range that was published may not work if you have a cap of X amount and it really is important. Why even look at XYZ if all you can afford is LMN? And why should they look at you if you're not an option for them either?

I can not imagine a chapter NOT telling the PNMs what dues are. Most chapters (that I know of anyway) have new members sign papers saying they'll be financially responsible for dues if you are 18 or older and will face collection agencies if they do not (although apparently some have parents co-sign regardless :rolleyes:). I'm wondering if girls at these chapters ever see those papers or if they only need a parent signature.

Low C, you realize that her ranking doesn't solely determine which group she gets right? And you also know that the costs are variable from year to year?

I'm not making the case that financial information is therefore useless to PNMs, but sorority recruitment doesn't work enough like college acceptance for the analogy to work that well although it might be a great analogy for fraternities since guys can get more than one bid.

The issue isn't that chapters don't tell members; it's how much information is given to potential members and how much they are able to act on it.

When you talk about girls dropping chapters, are you talking after bids are given out? If it's during recruitment, how do the PNMs cut chapters if they aren't invited back to more than the max?

I was referring specifically to the time during recruitment. (I thought I was clear-sorry for the mix up, it came out kinda funky). If a girl has the option, at my school she will definitely rank certain chapters lower based on what she can afford or drop out altogether and I really wouldn't blame her. If she can't pay for those she has left then there are no other options. Also, two of the more popular chapters are considerably less expensive than the ones that are not as popular. That doesn't help.

There was nothing wrong with the way you said it; I just couldn't match up how it would work with the way PNMs do ranking.

And your other point about popular chapters being less expensive is one of the reasons why it would a hard thing to fix.

It is probably really healthy though for campus panhellenics to have have very specific disclosure sheets for well defined expenses so that PNMS can know they are comparing apples to apples and so that chapter can re-evaluate their spending if it's seriously out of whack.

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Usually it's the opposite - the "elite" houses have mega-numbers of members to spread out costs, while the smaller houses have fewer members with whom to share the burden.

I can't wait till someone comes on here "totally torn" about which man to marry and she says one is partner in a law firm and the other works at McDonald's. That will be a good time to bust out this response.

FWIW, my group was one of the cheaper ones on campus, and that did attract some women - however, I don't think anyone pledged solely because of the money issue. National dues factored in, and had we had a different type of women, dues probably would have cost more, if that makes any sense.

The spouse analogy doesn't really work either, in fairness to Low C, especially if you are talking about a recruitment that occurs mainly for freshmen before school even starts.

Low C Sharp's point would be a great one for COB or for a system that allowed a girl to get more than one bid.

But since I feel that most PNMs don't control their recruitment experience as much as they react to cuts (or at least that's my impression based on being most familiar with a system where everyone's top few tend to be the same after round one; most don't end up there), I don't think know that sharing the information really gives the PNM much more control over the situation. They can know it and consider it, but it's not like weighing two places where you know you've been accepted.

But I wouldn't overly romanticize the recruitment process. You aren't choosing a soul mate. You're getting matched to a group that has the potential to do great things for your and with you. Many of us even believe we could have been happy and successful in other groups had the one we joined not worked out.

I don't think so either although I thought LCS was a woman. (Isn't that kind of strange that we'd both have attached genders to the user?)

I sort of feel like LCS is a university/ college admissions person but I don't know why I made that up.

I think what he or she suggests seems very reasonable, except that it suggest more PNM control over where she ends up than I think they really have.

I do think that it would be wonderful for panhellenics to not only give ranges or averages, but to actually make detailed information available on materials sent to PNMs through panhellenic. Not just of what's required, but of average other expenses too. How much is formal? How many t-shirts are sold in a given year? Sophomore year, how much would it could to have a little sister, etc?

I realize these numbers could vary, but just giving info on dues underestimates what one will actually spend, and again, I think it would be helpful to groups to see how what they are spending compares to other groups, in addition to helping the PNMS.

I also think that telling people up front what the estimated four year costs will be might help get rid of some people's perception that it's just a club you can quit at any time.

If I recall, LCS was in an a capella group at a school where the process for joining them was competitive and a lot like rush.