Economy and Greek Life
 

I know at the U of California schools tuition is set to go up and with the economy as it is people are expecting greek life to take a little bit of a hit, at least on our campus.

Has anyone else noticed if the economy has, or think it will, affect PNMs signing up for recruitment or actives being able to afford staying active? Or would this only be for campuses where greek life is not as big?

Generally speaking, I think it's been years since Greek Life substantially declined because of economic downturn.

With tuition increases at the public universities UCs and CSUs, and increasing competition for Cal Grant funds, greek life in California is probably more affected at schools with chapter housing vs unhoused chapters. Houses=higher cost of membership. While it hasn't really shown up in Panhellenic quota because higher enrollment has increased interest in membership, I think the economic challenges do show up in the number of new members that actually initiate or drop out after initiation:(. Parents who banked on using home equity to help pay for college expenses are re-thinking that plan, and it's really tough for college students in many areas of Calif to find part time work to help pay for "extras" like greek membership. Personally I know a lot of affluent families here who are really holding tight to their wallets because it's teachers, drs, dentists, attorneys and small business owners who have really felt the lagging economy over the past two years.

I think the fraternities have it a lot tougher than sororities for recruiting and retaining members in a down economy. Parents are pretty willing to find a way to to pay for their daughters to live in safe, clean and more attractive greek housing. For the guys it's a tougher sale that the typical fraternity house is a good place for students to live.

Didn't see this thread... thanks.
I did see this thread but it is over 2 years old and wondered if anything has changed since then.

Your right that this may be more of a California thing than anything else with increasing tuition costs being a bigger factor than the economy.

I think at least at Cal, having a house may not be an albatross around the neck as decent affordable housing is hard to find, and the cheapest campus housing (a triple) is over $11,000 dollars. I have no idea of the price range of the Cal sororities, but it may be a better deal than living on or off campus as a sophomore or higher, and the mean plan only averages 10-14 meals a week.

At Idaho joining a Greek house is often, or perhaps always less than living in the dorms, and that isn't just room and board, but also membership fees. Our freshman are required to live on campus but Greek housing is considered "on campus" and they move in on bid day before school starts. The slumlords in town are really hurting as our women's chapters are full, with Delta Zeta here and planning to build a house, and more women going Greek almost every year.

Can't speak for the situation everywhere, but in Oregon tuition has been steadily raising about 7% every year for the last few years (roughly) at both UO and OSU, but the numbers for sorority recruitment (at least at U of O-they were already high at OSU) have risen more. There are a few reasons for that I think.

We think we're lucky. Far worse scenario in Washington (the state that is). The legislature recently voted to allow state schools to set their own tuition rates. UW, where tuition rates had been going up steadily, raised their tuition 20% for this fall and Washinton State raised their's about 16% ( I believe). Recruitment numbers have gone up at both of those schools (where they were solid to begin with).

I think IF it affects any of these four (don't know that it will) it would be UW since, due to location, there are so many students who can choose to live at home to save costs.

Student at Cal here. On-campus housing is generally massively overpriced, and it's rare for any non-freshman to live in on-campus housing. In fact, it's so expensive that some freshmen even go to "private dorms."

It's no secret that a lot of recruitment material mention costs as one of the primary reasons to live in fraternity or sorority housing. Based on some recruitment material that PHC was distributing (I tend to keep in the loop on random things), if I recall correctly, it typically costs ~$5000-$7000/yr to be in one of the sororities and live in the house.

As for fraternities, it actually tends to be even cheaper, making it one of the cheapest housing options available, short of living off the street.