Costs
 

So the average cost per semester is about $2000 for new members at my school. Greek life is a huge thing at my university. I also know that the first semester prior to initiation costs a few hundred dollars more. I'm not sure if anyone is allowed to say but:
1) How much did your badge cost for initiation?

2) How much was your initiation fee or a rough estimate?

3) What were the most unexpected financial costs you experienced during your first semester/first year in a sorority? (i.e. date dashes, costumes..)

Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated. I am paying for greek life all by myself and I want to plan ahead so I can set money aside for extras and things that come up.

-Sunshine Gal :)

1) NPCs have a variety of badges, from fairly inexpensive to very expensive, so in most organizations, you should be able to go with something you can afford or splurge for the best, depending on your circumstances.

2) Again, this varies too much by organization and campus to comment on. You may be able to call the Greek Life office and ask what the average cost per semester is after the first semester. It's going to vary a lot based on whether you live in the house, if there is housing, etc.

3)The "unexpected financial costs" are going to vary greatly by organization and campus so it will be hard for anybody to speak to that one. Even the Greek Life Office will have a hard time answering that one.

as agdee said, the unexpected financial costs can vary greatly from org. to org., campus to campus and even chapter to chapter. some chapters include costs of mixers, formals semi-formals, and t-shirts into the dues, while others have a set amount for dues and mixers, formals, semi-formals, and t-shirts are extras and are not included in dues.

Well I had a friend who was in a sorority at my university in 2004. She said her initiation fee aside from dues and everything else was about $1600! She said it had gone down since then but is this a really high amount?

Badges for my chapter usually ranged from $70-250 depending on if you wanted real pearls/diamonds/gold.

On page 19 of The Bond recruitment book there is a very thorough breakdown of costs and what's included for every house at UofA. http://arizonagreek.orgsync.com/thebond