Rush Costs?
 

How much does it cost different chapters and campuses for Rush events. What is th total Budget for Rush like? And does NPC set lmits?

I just read through some of the Rush events that sororities put on and it struck me that some have to be expensive both personally, in terms of dresses/constumes, and generally, like laying out a nice buffet with shrimp cocktail and then taking the girls out for manicures.

I know it was a concern and still is, how much money fraternities spend on Rush as we vie to put on the biggest events, I just wanted to compare that to sororities.

I'm not entirely sure of the whole rush budget since i'm a freshman, but I know that each girl has to pay around $500 for rush and rush prep week. That's just for clothes and such, as well as room and board for that time frame. Eep. That's when a no-frills rush sounds great!

in my chapter
 

Almost all of the expense is covered by our sorority dues. No member is asked to spend her own money on stuff for rush (decorations, food, costumes, etc). We are always reimbursed if we spend money on stuff for the parties. We pay for our own clothes (not skit costumes, but "normal" clothes for rush parties) but what we wear is almost always stuff that the vast majority of us already own. For example, one night we all wear black pants and a pastel colored top. It's not like any of the members have to run out and spend a few hundred bucks on that, everyone already has it. Other nights we wear jeans and a t shirt or a simple black dress (again, most people already have it).

I have no idea what spending limit panhel sets for each night. We aren't allowed to do much with food during formal rush. We serve drinks during a few parties and small snacks, but nothing fancy like shrimp trays.

Panhel at Oklahoma State sets a $2000 limit (not including Bid Day gifts). Each chapter has to turn in their budget with receipts-but since the houses are closed to non-members during rush there is really no way to make sure everything used is on they budget worksheet.

$$
 

according to the "no frills rush" thread some sororities spend $100,000 on rush.

Re: $$
 

I would love to know what THAT was like!

UA is like lyrelyre's school. We have a limit, I think around $2,000, and we have to turn in our receipts to Panhel. I don't even know where we'd get $100,000. We'd have to take out a second mortage on the house!!! If there is anyone who has a recruitment budget like that where does the money come from and what on earth could you possibly need with all that money???

Re: $$
 

How would that even be possible? It seems like you'd either have to redecorate the whole sorority house, or buy everyone's rush clothes, or something. You'd have to go WAY out of your way to spend that much money. Which schools is this supposed to be happening at? It's conceivable that a sorority would be able to spend that kind of money if it wanted to (suppose dues are $2000+ a year and there are over 100 members, for instance) but they wouldn't have much money left over for other activities, insurance, house things, etc.

this semester it cost way too much. Hopefully next fall it will be around 50-100. Depending on whether or not we buy them pizza and crusties twice or thrice.

We had a no-frills rush, so I have no idea what it would even be like to have food, drinks-other than water...at parties. We had to supply our own clothes for the parties, but like twinstars said it wasn't anything we didn't already have.

Our rush costs were calculated into our dues. When I was in school, rush was about $500 to $1,000 per semester.

I was just reviewing our budget and currently we spend about 7000 for both spring and fall rush, thats close to 10% of our budget. It seems like a lot, but really rush isn't a HUGE deal on our campus, not like SEC school, but we are one of the larger houses and so we have one of the larger budgets.

Costco is awesome if you don't mind shopping for two hours. I bought groceries there a month ago for $200 and I still have about one week of food left in the freezer.

That could probably be a thread in itself. ;)

But...our Rush is a lot like AOIIBrandi mentioned, our costs go to decorations (many of which our members can even provide), balloons, roses for Pref, and a Rush video. Our Bid Day (if I'm correct, and I think I am) comes out of our New Member Coordinator's budget, not the Rush budget.

With no-frills, rush costs are much less. Our rush budget pays for all of the decorations, food and materials we may need for our parties. Nobody is reimbursed for clothes though...if we have to wear black pants and a red top one night, everybody provides their own. We never pick anything out of the ordinary, as clothes aren't what make the man so to speak :) During formal recruitment, I would say we probably spend $500.

NPC sororities on my campus had a $3000 maximum to spend on Rush, and all receipts had to be provided to Panhellenic to prove that no one went over that amount.

We never had to pay for anything out of our own pockets except for the Bid Day baskets. Even that was pretty cheap, because we were paired up with another sister and had to make or purchase a set amount of identical things for the baskets. For example, if quota was set at 25, then I and the sister I was paired with were in charge of making 25 DZ cups to go in the baskets. Another set of sisters would get 25 DZ pens, and so on. It was very inexpensive to do things that way.

As for our party outfits, we usually already had the clothing we needed for each party. If someone was in a skit, then the chapter would purchase her "costume" and add the cost to the other Rush receipts.

Re: $$
 

Yeah, right!!!

I suppose their parties were catered and they employed a PR firm and professional recruiters; and then showed up the day after rush to greet the neubies...lol.

Re: Re: $$
 

I've heard of fraternity chapters spending that much on rush. My chapter is really small but seriously I have seen some rediculous numbers from the big chapters. I don't understand where 100K even goes but that is insane. The chapters that spend that much generally have huge alum backing though and it's not out of their own pockets. I still have no idea where that much money could possibly go.

-Rudey

At my school panhellenic sets a budget at $4000 but if you have things that your chapter already owns they are not included and they never collect receipts for anything so lord knows how much is really spent on rush. My chapter set their budget around $2000 though. It goes to decorations and such. Each member is responsible for their clothes which runs around $60-$100 depending on many things.
The number one chapter at my school has each member fork over $150 before rush no matter what for clothes and whatever. I can only imagine. Their rush is really really spectacular but I think that someone goes against panhellenic at my school.
Our panhellenic is WAY TOO sketchy!

I think we spent altogether around $250 on food and stuff... Of course our recruitment process is REALLY informal compared to most. Of course Fall will be a whole different story.. I'm looking to spend around $600 for that.

We have really awesome artists in my sorority so most of our decorations are hand made with paper provided from the school for free.

As for the food, we plan our events and then plan what kind of food we would like for each event. We make a sign up sheet and pass it around. You aren't required to make or buy anything, if you don't want to sign up you don't have to...but most people do. There are a few times where we have had to run out a buy a couple of things at the last minute.

We usually spend next to nothing for rush.