Payment Plans, Costs: Some Stories from the Recession
 

As the effects of the current severe recession are felt, we GreekChatters may be seeing more discussions, questions, and news stories about Greek costs, payment plans, and so on. Here, for instance, are a couple of recent articles from student papers at institutions that -- frankly – haven’t exactly been known for having huge populations of students with serious money problems. (Though I'm sure there have always been students at these schools for whom costs have been a major concern.)

University of Southern California

http://www.dailytrojan.com/news/duri...osts-1.1629829

Excerpt:
Many students are feeling the effects of the economic recession and some at USC are facing financial problems as they try to become involved in greek life.

Even though fraternities and sororities at USC work to accommodate students with financial need, for some it’s not enough. . . .


Southern Methodist University

http://media.www.smudailycampus.com/...-3683647.shtml

Excerpt

Panhellenic sororities at Southern Methodist University are trying to make economic life easier for their members. With about an 11 percent increase in sorority, Panhellenic membership, more student consumers are finding Greek life to be a worthy investment - but they're also increasingly relying on payment plans while chapters are cutting costs. . . .

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/04/01/greek

Excerpts from the Inside Higher Ed article ^:

. . .
The current economic crisis has changed the way students think about money, . . . . Chapters and student affairs offices . . . will have to be "line-item specific" as to what these dues are for and how they will be spent to the benefit of the student . . . .
“Students need to know specifically what is going to be required of them,” Fouts [the person who made a presentation about students’ interest in and views about Greek life] said of financial commitments. “If your organization is hesitant to put that out there, then I challenge you to encourage them to be more specific up front with that [for prospective members].”

Fouts and others familiar with Greek issues at the meeting said they were unsure how the economic crisis would impact membership. Still, some acknowledged that those students with only a cursory interest in a fraternity or a sorority might only see dollar signs before noting the potential benefits of Greek life. . . .

YMMV on this. Living in-house may be more expensive than living on campus. And if your chapter is unhoused (like mine) you will definitely be paying more. If you're independent, you pay room and board; if you're in an unhoused chapter, you pay room and board AND dues; and if you're in a housed chapter and you live out-of-house, you pay room and board AND dues AND maybe parlor fees. And then there are all those lovely one-time charges you pay during your pledge/new member period - initiation fee, badge fee, etc.

I wouldn't be surprised to see a decrease in membership. Getting a part-time job to pay for dues is tough right now, with jobs disappearing seemingly by the minute. And parents may not be financially able to give/lend dues money to their children even if they'd want to.

Exactly!

In cities where the rents are high, living on campus is usually cheaper than the Greek housing or off-campus apartments. At my college, Greek Life was more expensive than living either in the standard dorms or in your own off-campus apartment. You lived in basically the same dorms, but you had to pay dues each semester (which were still pretty cheap--$300 a semester--by most school's standards); there were no special meal plans for the houses. It was a nice way to avoid the housing lottery, but since we were guaranteed on-campus housing for all four years of college, it wasn't any great shakes.

I foresee a considerable decline in Greek activity in the next few years as well. Families that would be willing to pay dues may not be able to; also, part-time jobs may be required to help pay for tuition and books, and not as a way to get "fun" money. At some schools, financial aid won't cover Greek housing. Unless we all start spinning Greek membership as a way to get an additional professional network, we could experience a temporary decline in membership until the economy improves.

That said...on a somewhat-related note, has anyone gotten a lot more information about the networking opportunities available to collegians and alumnae? This is the first year that I've received any e-mails from collegians and young alumnae asking for information about architecture!

There are things that chapters are spending money on now that I think may end up being reduced. For example, the tendency to get t-shirts for EVERYTHING. We got a Greek Week t-shirt every year and that was about it. I see the collegians buying t-shirts for almost every event they have now, every mixer, etc. Having 40 sorority event t-shirts when you graduate seems a little excessive and I can see letting things like that go or making them more optional (as in, it's available if you want it but not everybody ends up with one).

Saw this on the Eastern Michigan University Greek Life site (haven't seen the study though):
Did you know?

• Students who join fraternities and sororities are 28% more likely to return to school the following year than students who choose not to join a fraternity or sorority.*
• Following graduation, Greek-affiliated alumni have higher average incomes than non-Greek alumni. Even when accounting for parents’ education levels, graduation year, and gender, students who were affiliated with fraternities and sororities have significantly higher average incomes following graduation.*
• Many Greek organization members are employed outside the classroom to help finance their education.
• There are over 400 leadership positions in the Greek community alone.

* All information is conducted by the Center for Advanced Social Research at the University of Missouri.

Those statistics are pretty much part and parcel of any pro-Greek marketing campaign, and they can be uplifting. BUT...what does that have to do with the fact that parents and students are going to be making tough choices about what's "necessary" and what's "extravagant" more now than ever before. Where does Greek Life fit in with that exactly?

I wish I knew what college website had this posted. I saw it just Monday. They were saying only 2% of college expenses were actually Greek related for those in a GLO.

I think I might have a power point of that that was given to our chapter by an alum. If I have some time I'll see if I can dig it out and at least find out where they got that from.

Thanks. That is a real good number for collegians to have in hard economic times for recruitment.

Yes definitely. I remember it was our house corps. president who told it to us so if nothing else I can always ask her again :) She had it broken down specifically to our University but as our University is relatively cheap compared to elsewhere it should still hold true. I haven't found it in my e-mail yet though so she might not have it e-mailed it to us, just given the presentation.

That's all well and good. I know that for my undergrad, it was true that less than 1% of my total cost of attendance (tuition, room, board, books, travel) was related to my being in a sorority. But, Greek Life at my undergrad was far less expensive compared to most other schools; also, my undergrad is a lot more expensive than some of those other schools, so yeah, $600 a year isn't a big deal when you're paying upwards of $40K for the basics.

BUT...my concern is more about those students on scholarship/financial aid and those who aren't, but who still have to work to pay part of their tuition, books, or travel expenses. Many families that expected to be able to pay these expenses are no longer able to; credit card limits are lower now than they were just a few years ago; some students who would typically be able to pay these expenses through savings or a side job won't be able to do so! They aren't going to care what percentage of your total cost of attendance it is, since it's not a necessary expense!

My question is, how are collegians and IHQs going to work together to encourage these students that Greek Life could benefit them in the long run?

For me, living in house was more expensive than living off campus.

It all depends on the area.

Each month, girls in our house paid around 400-500 in rent, and though it covered electricity/water/internet, it was cheaper for me to get a roommate and an apartment. Our house didn't do the food thing -- all our meals were on our own.

The total rent + bills in the apartment were around $600/mo and we split the costs down the middle. And on top of that, I got my own room, whereas in the sorority house, I shared a room.

Pushing information about the scholarship opportunities could be one. Not only do we have general scholarships for collegians, but some chapters or majors also have endowments just for women in those chapters or area of study. Not enough women apply for these on a regular basis.

My campus didn't have Greek Housing, so I paid for on campus housing and dues. Thankfully, I had an on-campus apartment most of my time in college so I saved on food costs, but I would have loved to have been able to combine housing costs with dues...

i'm treasurer of my delt chapter and we're slashing budgets all around. at the end of each semester we have each admin do a cost benefit analysis of their expenditures, as well as was to cut costs next semester. it's worked, we've cut bloated programs and been able to provide better services each semester with lower dues each semester

http://www.kstatecollegian.com/chang...fall-1.1746530

Excerpts from article:

New rules for K-State sororities will change the recruitment process. The Panhellenic Council has worked with sororities and Greek Affairs to make sure these changes will take effect this fall.
. . . The main reason for the changes was to cut the cost of recruitment, said Ellen Burke, director of recruitment for PHC.
Burke said sorority recruitment used to be incredibly expensive compared to other Big 12 Conference schools.
“The past two or three years now, the cost was over $200 to do sorority recruitment, and now it is down $65,” Burke said.

Clarification question: What does Ms. Burke mean by "to do" sorority recruitment? Is that the PNM registration fee or the amount the chapters are allowed to spend on Recruitment or what?

From the Collegian article linked by exlurker:

Some of the changes include lowering the cost of recruitment and arranging for women to move into their residence halls only once.
The main reason for the changes was to cut the cost of recruitment, said Ellen Burke, director of recruitment for PHC.
Burke said sorority recruitment used to be incredibly expensive compared to other Big 12 Conference schools.
“The past two or three years now, the cost was over $200 to do sorority recruitment, and now it is down $65,” Burke said.


The cost of $200 refers to the fee that was paid by the girls to go through recruitment. Most of it went to the university to pay for room and board in the dorms. The girls used to go down on Saturday and stay an entire week. It was basically the cost of going to camp for a week; when my daughter went through in 2007 the cost was $262. If memory serves (and that is getting questionable!), there was about $60 or so that was refundable if you didn't pledge. That must have been some kind of a new member/panhellenic fee rolled in to the total.

Now they have lopped off a day or two, itemized out that fee which will be paid after recruitment if you do pledge, and somehow taken the cost paid to the university down to $65.

http://www.k-state.edu/greek/recruit...thedetails.htm

I am not sure how dropping a day or two in the dorms saved over $100, but that's what has been done.

I certainly don't want the cost of recruitment to be a barrier to girls wanting to go through, but here is my big concern: Lots of girls can find an extra $65 and go through rush, quite oblivious to the financial obligations that will follow if they join a house. Yes, the sororities present the financial costs one day during rush, but how many 18-year-old girls dressed up for a party have a clue what those poster boards and hand-outs are talking about? I am increasingly seeing expense as a reason for girls to deactivate. If you don't live in the house (and so many upperclassmen don't these days), it is much harder to justfiy all the out-of-house fees when you are struggling to pay tuition.

Greek Affairs "says" that going greek is less expensive than living in the dorm. Well, if you just compare live-in costs to the dorm, that's true. But the first year, sorority costs for my daughter were almost $2000 in addition to the dorm bill. That included her initiation fee, out-of-house fees etc. This year, living in, the cost was comparable, but that didn't include initiation gifts for her little, party favors, T-shirts, and on and on and on. It is really disingenuous to tout Greek living as less expensive, at least from my perspective. And K-State on average isn't nearly as, how shall I put this, "high maintenance" as some campuses!

I encouraged my daughters to go through recruitment, so I obviously feel it is a worthwhile investment. But just dropping the fee for recruitment so "more girls can participate" is kind of like advertising a new car for "no money down." If you are not mature/savvy/informed enough to look at the payments ahead and make sure that you can afford them, it will only lead to difficult choices and possible heartbreak.

I paid $200 to go through rush 10 years ago. Financial information was not presented to PNMs at any of the rush parties I attended. Plus, the information in the books sent to PNMs during the summer that outlined sorority life pretty much just covered the dollar amount for required fees and house charges. It didn't include gifts, optional purchases like necklaces and tshirts or the money you spend on philanthropy and (optional) social events. I really do feel bad for any girl or guy going through rush and accepting a bid without having a full, true knowledge of the costs involved.

I share a lot of your same concerns wildcatfan. I don't know why living in a sorority house should ever be cheaper than living in a dorm- in most cases I've seen, sorority housing provides a much safer, more private, and higher quality living experience when you factor in services provided i.e. a house director, housekeeping, cooks etc. and the use of facilities that often include tv rooms, study areas, work out facilities and even pools! It seems to me that when there is a chapter house, the members who live in should pay the bulk of the expenses...but it often feels like the "live-outs" are subsidizing those expenses. Not that I'm saying live outs shouldn't contribute a fair share but we always have to remembers that we are competing for the same dollars our members can choose to spend on cell phones, text messaging, gym memberships, shopping, happy hours, movie tickets, spring break trips, semester abroad programs...and so on and so on and so on. We have to offer pretty amazing programming to our members and keep selling it to them (and their parents) in order for them to truly appreciate the value of the dollars they spend on their sorority membership.

Do I think it's worth it? Heck yeah I do. But it's sure not easy to compete for those dollars!

I do hope that all NPC orgs continue to expand to campuses that have unhoused greek systems, and that we all keep working on providing the potential for great membership experiences to women from all kinds of socio-economic backgrounds on all kinds of campuses!

U of South Carolina Providing Greek Cost Info at Freshman Orientation

School paper article:
http://media.www.dailygamecock.com/m...-3748873.shtml

Excerpt below -- even if it's not directly related to the economy, it's of interest, and other elements in the article suggest that there may be concerns about how or whether recruitment will be affected:

Greek life assistant director Ryan Williams . . . said they are now providing cost information at freshman orientation, which is a first, but that it isn't in reaction to the economy.

"That's one of the things we thought was very important - getting that information and making sure we're providing it to students about to join our community and giving them the best information possible," he said. . . .