Numbers are up!
 

Lots of schools reporting record numbers of NM's, lots of expansion opportunities (many at BIG school), what's going on, people? Why the sudden surge?

Don't laugh, but I honestly believed the tv show "Greek" helped some. It's shown the funside of going Greek (along with some other things).

After "Animal House" came out, there was an upswing in Greek life. "Greek" came on 4 years ago, and that's about when the steady climb began recently. I'm not saying that "Greek" is the only factor, but I honestly believe that it has helped.

The class of 2009 was the largest to ever graduate from high school. There are just a ton of people in college right now.

I think the economy has helped smaller, state schools grow. Students who would normally apply for the larger flagship or private schools are going to the smaller state schools (I know KSU is not small). Many of these student would have went Greek at the flagship schools, so that might be a factor, too.

In Georgia at least, it's cheaper to go to the non-flagship state schools so lots of kids realize that they can go to one of the medium-sized schools and afford to be Greek. :)

I agree. The growth in Greek Life is in line with our huge enrollment increases.

Pre-recession, the average HS senior was more interested in our largest flagship OSU, or some of the small private schools like Mount Union, Ashland, etc.

Monetary constraints are forcing more local students to consider KSU, as opposed to heading out of town to those schools. There are also many more students who are opting to attend our branch in their hometown, with the intent of transferring to Main.

Because of this, enrollment has SKYROCKETED. In the past like 4 years, we've had more students applying to live on campus than we have spaces. Definitely a good problem to have. .

I agree with the Greek thing. Recruitment was something I'd started considering awhile ago because of some cousins in GLOs but the show helped to put the idea front and center in my mind.
Enrollment applies at Oregon too, our freshman numbers are growing.
Also, coming out of high school now there is this HUGE emphasis that teachers, parents, counselors, etc. are putting on the need to be involved on campus, do service work, find internships, network, etc. to be in a better position coming into the job market. Greek life is of course a doorway to all of that [and more]. I think that helps to explain why a lot of girls who never expected to greek are going through recruitment with the full blessing of parents. I heard those sorts of explanations a lot when I rushed in the fall.

I think that social media, like Facebook, has helped too. Years ago when I went to school (AOL had just become popular), you had no idea what your friends were doing at their schools on a day to day basis. Now, with Facebook and Twitter, you see that friends of yours and third cousins are joining sororities and fraternities.

It has to a be a whole lot of different factors. I don't know if anyone could really explain it.

If I had to guess at one big one, I would say economy. I know that doesn't make sense on the surface, but 2nd+ generation college students from upper middle class backgrounds that would normally go to tier 1 schools & try to go greek have opted for cheaper options. That's done good things for a lot of those type greek systems, but hard to say how sustainable it'd be.

I know that's happening, but it doesn't explain good years at tier 1 schools. It's shaken up the make up of their rush pools, but they're still getting strong interest and big classes. So, I'm really not sure. Hopefully it keeps going though.

Very good point. I'm sure that makes some people consider it who wouldn't have before.

As far as Ohio, well, it's not like there's any good football teams there to root for, so they have to do something in the fall. :D Sorry, had to throw that in there...involuntary reflex...

Quinnipiac article about more students. Article states that 4 years ago 7% of students were Greek, it's now up to 14%.

http://www.quchronicle.com/2011/02/d...nterest-rises/

I've seen it trend (just as I've seen Risk Management and hazing problems trend) up and down over the past 30 years. It's just the way it trends.

Definitely agree with a lot that has been said already. UOregon has had a major increase in enrollment as well. I do feel like the media attention through shows like Greek and movies (Sorority Row, The House Bunny), puts the idea into people's heads. Movies aren't always the best for stereotyping and etc, but once the seed gets planted (Inception anyone?)...

If HOPE is paying for tuition, wouldn't it cost about the same? I feel like most people at UGA from Georgia are on HOPE (can't say the same for Tech though...)

Having just had one graduate from UGa and 2 in the past from Southern and Valdosta, I think that everything costs more at UGa! Especially Greek life.:eek:

Also, remember that 2/3 of students lose the HOPE Grant after freshman year. And now HOPE isn't going to cover full tuition for anyone, just a percentage--90% maybe?

Not many jobs out there, so more kids are staying in school?

I don't think that's really a factor in Greek life. In grad student numbers increasing, maybe. If kids are that hard up for $$ they're going to do things that they can get loans for - like school. Greek life doesn't fit in with that.

I don't think this is the case. I do interviews for Duke applicants and we have had record numbers of applicants in recent years (For Fourth Straight Year, Record Number of Students Apply to Duke) and I know UC Berkeley has been dealing with dramatic growth in applicants as well.

I think this is the real main issue. Lots of college aged people right now, which is increasing enrollment in many colleges and that is trickling down to Greek life. It does make me worry about whether all this expansion will be sustainable in about ten years when the population of college-aged people declines.

Report of larger numbers at Capital University in Ohio.

http://media.www.capitalchimes.com/m...-3978468.shtml

I think that historically, numbers have gone up in conservative time periods and sunk in progressive ones. It's nice to see so many expansion opportunities, but I could see why orgs would be nervous to plunk down change for a house, knowing it could drop off again.

I also wonder if/how orgs are going to evolve to accmomodate the influx of non-traditional students in the coming years.

Interesting. Sigma Alpha Beta is a co-ed fraternity and they split out the numbers as if they were a sorority and a fraternity.

U of Minnesota numbers are up, too; see article:

http://www.mndaily.com/2011/02/28/u-...ear-high-point


“ Enrollment at the University of Minnesota’s fraternities and sororities has reached 1,822 students this academic year — the highest it’s been since 1991.
The community remains the smallest in the Big Ten, with the University of Iowa ranking as the next smallest with about 2,200 members.“

Interesting fact. It would be interesting to see the other Big 10 schools listed as well, just because I'm curious.

I think hesitance on housing is more about economics. You're talking about foundations invested in real estate & seeking to re-balance their portfolios in the wake of a paradigm shift within the property holding dynamic with regard to debt percentage and risk factors. In other words, it's not as safe as we used to think to own just a ton of real estate versus a balance of other investments. The more in debt you are against real estate that might drop in value, the higher the risk. And, it's hard to get financing now anyway so you can do about 1/7th as many projects as you could do before just on that basis alone. It's actually an excellent time to be (selectively) going into properties, but the barriers to entry are very high.

Just empirically, I've already seen quite a lot of that. There's a lot of older veterans entering fraternities at my school. It's a very low number overall, but still very noticeable.

There is some friction in that regard. I've girls describe another fraternity as "creepy old guys" because they had three veterans that were around 24-26. I've watched an argument about bidding a vet that 24 (and was disgusted that they'd consider penalizing someone for military service).

I think it'll take time to normalize. After WWII & Korea a lot of vets flowed through fraternities with great success & no real issues. I know not all the non-traditionals we're talking about are vets, but they lead the way in making the age factor more acceptable. I guess it will be less so with sororities, but I don't know. I've seen cases of them being very discriminatory against 20yo girls with 3-4 years of school left, but accepting of 18yo girls with 2-3 years left. That's not a complaint so much as just an observation. What they do is their business, even if it doesn't always make sense.

This is a very valid point. At times of uncertainty, unrest, fear of the future, people tend to seek out the comfort of traditional events and experiences. Sorority and Fraternity life conjure up images of a simpler time.

Also agree that Greek, FB and social networking, more students attending college, jump in enrollment in "med tier" schools also play a part.

Numbers up at Washington U in St. Louis, reportedly:

http://www.studlife.com/news/campus-...g-to-go-greek/