costs of sororities at university of alabama
 

OK, so we have seen the "average" costs on the UA Panhellenic website. On Panhellenic weekend, some sororities gave out cost sheets. However, not all of them did. We can defintiely afford a sorority, especially one of the "average" cost ones. However, we would prefer to stay in that range, so that she will have plenty of money for clothes, tshirts, etc. Is there anyone here that can tell us which ones are the most expensive ones, or rank them according to approximate cost?

Who is "we"?

my daughter and me

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but all the sororities should be required to give out a "budget sheet" to the pnms that breaks down all the costs of joining; social fees, house live in fees, etc. I know when I went through recruitment (different school though) we were assured that every sorority would at some point hand one out.

margretlee- I know the cost can be a big issue especially now, but many sororities offer payment plans and even scholarships that the girls can get. I know one of my best friends applies for and recieves a scholarship from our nationals that helps her pay for certain costs.

Sororities won't share their dues with each other. The accounting firm Greek Resources handles most of the sororities and fraternities on Alabama's campus. They will tell us where we fall in comparison to the other Chapters on campus, but that's about it.

So actually your info is better than ours (the sororities) because you got info sheets directly from the Chapters at Panhellenic Preview Weekend. Those weren't shared with us.

Costs are going to run roughly about the same at every sorority. They each have a house, with a paid staff, maintenance, insurance etc. to pay for. The smaller groups may actually be a little more expensive because there are fewer people to spread the cost to. But it won't be THAT much more expensive.

The big difference is the "extras." You do NOT have to buy a T shirt for every event. You do NOT have to buy 6 dozen photos every time they take pictures at an event. You do NOT have to give a huge amount of money to every philanthropy that comes along.

Seems a little late to be worrying about that now??

The problem is that not all the sororities gave out info sheets. They had little tables set up in a big room, and most of the girls were really nice, well spoken representatives of their organizations. But some did not give out cost sheets. I am afraid that their attitude was "If you have to ask, then you can't afford it." We have money allotted for this, so don't need a payment plan, but would love to stay within a certain range, as we have two other kids coming up right behind her! How can one ask someone to make a committment to join thier organization, but not tell them the cost? Do they wait until you get a bid before telling you what it cost, and then it's too late? She is afraid to ask, because she thinks that will be like an automatic cut.

The "where we fall in comparison to other chapters" would be great. There must be someone somewhere who knows which ones fall into the "high" range quoted on the Panhellenic site?

AnchorAlumna: thank you for your reply. The Greek.ua webpage lists $6,185 as the high per semester, and $2,490 as the low per semester. That's in-house, and is a difference of $7,350 per year. That may not seem like a lot to you, but I have three girls, and multiply that out over the next decade or so, and it will add up. I realize she will not be in-house the first year, but hopefully within the next few years. The out-of-house difference in the high and low cost is $3,550, as well. That amount would is significant enough to cover tuition or housing for a semester. That may be pocket change to some, but in this economy, everyone seems to be tightening up some.

As for the comment that it's a little late to be worrying about it now, our home has been greatly affected by the economic situation, and the effects of that are more evident now than when she first signed up to rush. I think this is the right time to be wondering about the costs. I sort of assumed that the girls would be given something at convocatioin, but I guess not. Unfortunately, most of our family graduated from a different college, so we do nto know as much about the sororities at Bama.

At Alabama I would plan on roughly $3500 per semester for dues and housing, $2500 if she doesn't live in the house. I don't imagine it would vary drastically from highest to lowest. I definitely would not ask about it if I were her.

As far as do they wait until your daughter gets a bid before telling you the dues? Yes. They do. I had no idea what my daughter's dues were until I got the bill for them lol but I wasn't caught off guard, I knew roughly what to expect based on the info they had on the AU greek life website.

And if I had to guess about Bama, I would say old row probably is on the higher end of the average, but I don't know at all, just guessing here. :)

Oh, wow! I just looked at AU's site. The costs there are much lower. Only approx. $1,300 per year? It would be a non-issue. Thanks for sharing! :)

AuburnMom08: look at the Greeklife.ua site, and you will see what I mean about the cost difference between highest and lowest in my post above. $7,350 per year is the difference!

Because we don't have traditional houses (is why AU is so much less than UA). I paid more than $1300 for dues alone last year, not a lot more but a few hundred more, and that was before the village was built. I'm expecting it to be a little more this year. :)

margretlee, I can't give you help on this as I honestly don't know, but IMO you are wise to be concerned and your points are valid. You are a mom looking forward/trying to plan and that is important.

I like that you care enough to think about your younger daughters that will follow. My parents did the same and wanted us to have things equally (could be stated better).

I am sure you will find more information as you dig around.

I can tell you I have seen some wide differences in fee schedules when comparing orgs in the same Florida schools, so it is wise to know what you are getting into. I think it is wonderful that you are doing your research.

Oh I know, my daughter was going to Bama if not AU so I'm familiar with all that.

That is probably a correct assessment lol.

Handing out the individual Chapter's cost sheets was a new thing this year. It's entirely possible that the reason some did not provide specific line by line breakdowns was because they didn't know others were and instead kept it general. While it's possible that some had an "If you have to ask, you can't afford it" attitude, I think it was more likely that because their Chapter didn't create a specific breakdown they simply didn't know that info to talk about.

Something to keep in mind, the Chapters were allowed to have X of members present at their table. Who was selected was often based on who is well spoken (best recruiters), knowledgeable about a lot of aspects of the sorority and campus life, not to mention who would be available for several hours on that weekend. Those folks aren't necessarily experts on Chapter finances. It's the Treasurer/Finance VP or whatever title a Chapter has for that position who knows this stuff inside and out. She might not have been one of the representatives there.

Let's face it, a lot of members have no clue about finances, even their own personal ones. For many members Mom & Dad pay their bills and they are clueless about how much their sorority dues are. Even if the know the total, they often don't know the breakdown of how much goes towards meals, house dues (aka parlor fees), chapter dues, etc. For some this breakdown sheet might have been news to them too -- even for those who are officers. So it is entirely possible that the attitude you felt was unintentional.

Just so you know, in past years Panhellenic simply provided a general range of the costs and an average for all the Chapters. As AnchorAlumna said, the range difference is not that big. Since this was new we all learned from it and will do a better job next year.

I think the high-low difference is really and truly less than what is listed. What I found as chapter treasurer (albeit that was a LONG time ago) is that the higher ones list more actual costs than the lower ones. Yes, there will be differences, but not by that big of a range. The person who did the high one thought of more costs to include than the person who did the lower one.

I believe AuburnMom may be a little low...I would plan closer to $4,000 for the first semester. The first one is the most expensive, because there are extra pledge fees, house corporation fees, initiation fees, a badge, etc. that will not repeat.

And it bites MORE because they're not living in the house. It's MUCH more reasonable once they're in the house and your not paying high parlor fees along with dorm or apartment rent. You do realize daughter will be charged for ALL meals at the house? So be sure she eats there as often as possible! The university has some kind of arrangement for the dorm meal fees once a girl pledges.

After that first semester, the cost is much closer to the $3,500 that AuburnMom quoted.

Sororities with houses have the highest costs, obviously because they're running a house with a kitchen that has to meet health department standards (yes, they're inspected regularly), a staff, maintenance, etc etc. So for her siblings, encourage them to go to a school where sororities don't have houses! :p I always thought Auburn's sororities had the best deal: a beautifully decorated chapter room, chapter members in the dorm above, and no mortgage, salaries, and kitchen to pay for! Although their rent has gone up wickedly thanks to the new dorms, so I'd bet that $1,300 figure is no longer accurate.

Why don't the girls communicate the costs ahead of time? Well....they're 19 and 20 years old.:rolleyes:

Please provide a link to the site where you are getting the $6,185/semester as I can't find it.

Instead the following is directly quoted from the UA Panhellenic Website frequently asked questions about how much does it cost to belong to a sorority:

Total Average Fees (per semester):
Resident: $2,497.540
Non-Resident: $1,721.82

ETA: The primary reason why it is cheaper to belong to a sorority at Auburn is that they do not have physical houses.

Yes its true you'll have a lot of first semester fees and things you have to buy that you won't ever have to again.

lol exactly. I was just sitting here trying to think if my daughter even knew how much her dues were. I don't think she did. All she knows is what they specifically tell her and then I get a call or a text "Mom, I need to order a pin, it's about $100, can you put some extra money in my account?" and "Mom, I need some money in my account for a new member fee/little sister/fine I got for being late/etc".

My daughter got a speeding ticket at 6:00 one morning last week for trying to hurry and beat the "$50 fine per 5 minutes late" fine. Her sorority didn't fine her but the Auburn police dept did. She's been very jealous of the girls who live on the hall during all this - no hurrying around to be on time and no looking for a parking place and then walking a mile to the village!

One thing to consider is if the sorority assesses. The initial dues might look low, but then you will have to "pay as you go" for things. Kappa Kappa Gamma doesn't assess, so what is quoted is all that is required. This figure doesn't include T-shirts, pictures, or any other extras.

What if your daughter gets a bid to the house of her dreams and its the most expensive of all the sororities? Do you tell her she can't because of budgeting?

I think what she meant was that since recruitment has already begun, it's a little late to say "Susie, don't fall in love with the AAAs as they are too expensive." The train, so to speak, has left the station and trying to change direction at this point is more than an impossible situation.

Since it's not possible to get each group to break things down in the same manner (some don't charge things the same way as others,some pay things annually, some monthly, some are one time), it can be troublesome to get a fair assessment. Keep in mind that some groups may have used the live in cost for a 4 girl room and others may have used the cost for a single. And there's no way you'll find that out at this point. And that's just one place where the $ can honestly differ.

Holy Crap that's steep.

but the girls know up front(for months ahead of time) when they are supposed to arrive, so there really is no excuse for not arriving on time. setting steep fines keep the stragglers to a minimum.

Zillini:
I saw the prices you quoted some time ago, and we based our decision to proceed on them. Then there is this:
"
Financial Responsibility

Send her little sisters to Auburn. :D

OK, here is the link showing the prices I quoted earlier:
http://greeklife.ua.edu/docs/Sorority%20Life%20at%20the%20Capstone%202009.ppt

If it does not work, go to the greeklife.ua website. On the right hand side there is the sorority recruitment guide that you can open in pdf form. As you can see, it is much higher than the highs and lows quoted on the front page of that same site, and also than the Panhellenic site that Zillini quoted. I just wish we had known the accurate information upfront.

I realize that all fees will vary. However, each house has an idea about a price range, and I think the UA site should be consistent, and not have different prices on different pages.

Yes, the train has left the station, but combine real estate depreciation, loss of money in three college funds, and less income from a straight commission job, and it is just information that we would appreciate having access to. My daughter is pragmatic enough to know that sometimes life requires compromise. But she has no idea which ones are outside of our budget. :)

BTW, I was not trying to find fault with any of the sorority representatives at the Panhellenic weekend. I do recognize that they are inexperienced young women who may not have access to all the financial data. I just thought it was odd, in view of the fact that the speakers told us to go to each table for financial information, that we found a table with none to give out. I am sure that this will improve in forthcoming years. From an audience standpoint, we had no idea that this was the first year this was offered. No young lady was rude to me personally, but one young, pretty, immaculately attired young woman was sitting on the table with her legs crossed and foot swinging as we approached. I guess it was the way she said that they do not give out prices to the mom in front of me that made me think that they did not want to divulge them.

I just think it would be a travesty if ANY girl (not just my daughter) went into this after convincing her parents to pay the "average" Approx. $1,700 per semester listed on the official Panhellenic web site that Zillini posted, only to fall in love with and receive a bid from a sorority that requires the $6K per semester listed in the rush packet instead, and perhaps not have the funds or desire to pay the higher amount. I wish there was a way to know which ones were in that category. There must be some sororities that do charge that much, or else that would not be stated in the packet.

I am not complaining, btw, just trying to make sure we do not commit to something that we will later regret. This is too important to my daughter for her not to get the opportunity to see it through. Does that make sense?

I am not saying that we would not have allowed the "train to leave the station" had we known about the potential high end, but the truth is we did consider the higher cost of the sororities when allowing her to go to UA rather than other colleges . . .

haha, Auburnmom08! You know I would want them to stay together! Of course in reality I will only have one year with two in at a time, but maybe we should have spread them apart more. :)

Sounds like my daughter has an indentical twin at Auburn :)

Margretlee, the first link you quoted from the UA Greek Life webpage was for all Greek Life, meaning both Fraternities and Sororities. So there can be some difference.

As for the second,

I had not seen that PowerPoint before. It seems completely out of line with my personal information as a sorority Advisor here at Bama. I'm going to investigate.

It's great that you want to pay her dues and are in a position to do so. But it's not like she can shop around and "buy" a middle of the road (cost-wise) sorority. Recruitment doesn't work like that.

If you have a budget in mind, tell her what it is, and make anything above and beyond that her responsibility- she will be an adult. It is a bonus that you are helping her financially. She can easily get a job to help pay for extras such as t-shirts, photos, date parties, etc.

I think that the train has already left the station. Recruitment has got to play out before she can accept a bid. Whether that bid is with the highest prices sorority or the lowest price sorority is not really within her control. Even if you have the information now on how much each sorority will cost per semester, will she be expected to rank the more expensive sororities lower even if they are a better fit for her and could eventually lead her to accept a bid to one that she does not like?

I didn't see this mentioned in this thread, so I apologize if it was there and I just missed it. Many sororities DO NOT allow first-semester members (or anyone who hasn't initiated) to do a payment plan for one-time fees. This is nationally mandated. I'm sure there are some who do allow payment plans for new members, but please do not assume that is the case.

Best advice of the thread!

Margaretlee - I have ties w/ Bama and I'm really looking forward to hearing which sorority your daughter chooses! Report back if you can. = )

My NPC Green Book knowledge is spotty at best, but don't chapters have to do a pretty complete financial disclosure at a certain round? The prices shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, especially once they've gotten to Bid Day!

They did not at my campus. Money was never discussed (this was ~10 years ago). The most information we had on the $ aspect was the information in the booklets sent to PNMs and info from the website, both of which just provided a range.