Is it bad to ask about costs?
 

When going through recruitment and asking the girls questions about their sorority, is it a bad idea to bring up how much it costs and whether payment plans are available, etc?

Or should a pnm have a plan before going through recruitment to ensure that if she were to receive a bid and join a sorority, she would be able to pay for it one way or another?

If it matters, the school happens to on the list of schools that require letters of recommendations--that's if you're curious

Yes.

What 33 said.

Among the many things sororities look for in a PNM is her ability to assume the financial responsibilities of membership

I have NEVER heard of a sorority going through recruitment week without addressing the subject of dues and how much things cost, that there are payment plans available, etc. They will give you a ball park, to which you will smile, nod, and say, "Oh, yes, that seems quite reasonable" so that they see that you are able to assume that responsibility.

Anyone that tells you that you will be cut for asking how much the dues are or that the sororities won't reveal these vital statistics is LYING TO THEIR PARENTS. Or greviously misinformed. Or both.

I refuse to believe that organizations are holding recruitment without devoting at least 60 SECONDS to the topic of dues and costs prior to giving out bids. It really does them no good not to mention it until Bid Day after they've worked their butts off to recruit you only to have you leave, which forces them to go out and recruit more people? Who they don't reveal the costs to?

So ask your questions and make it clear that you can pay. If you cannot pay and want to get cut, tell them, "Yeah, you should just cut me. I can't afford this. No way, not even if you worked with me on a payment plan that caters to my specific needs. Which every sorority makes every effort to do."

Your choice.

This completely depends on where you go to school. My daughter knows of a girl at a less competitive school that actually has a "financial night" during recruitment. At my daughter's SEC school it is unheard of to discuss finances and according to my daughter it would be very awkward. She said, "I think your bill comes in when you pledge and that's how you find out. Or by word of mouth."

When I was an active, we had to have a poster prominently displayed with the costs during one phase of rush and we specifically had to ask the rushee if she had any questions about the financial aspect. Everyone did this on our campus.

But then a significant portion of our Greek system paid their own way through working. It wasn't financed by mommy and daddy.

Don't ask questions about costs during recruitment. Period.

At a competitive school, (which yours sounds like) that is just awkward. We are told not to talk about finances. If you have a question about them, contact the Greek life office.

Also at some schools your Rho Chis will cover it. I highly doubt that it wouldn't be brought up at some point in rush since it is an important part of your choice to join. The primary reason to not ask is because there is a more than fair chance that the girl you're talking to doesn't have the first clue about the finances and would be put in a situation of having to seek help (difficult since she's not allowed to leave you alone) or make it up which would be bad for both of you. Her third choice is to be really vague and move on. And after she's gone through that series of gymnastics, you are suddenly not her favorite person in the world.

If you are very concerned and by the end of round 2 you don't have answers, ask your Rho Chi. If she doesn't have the information in print, she should be able to get it for you.

This must be a campus culture thing. At my school it would not be weird to talk about costs and members of my chapter are prepared to answer these types of questions. The Rho Chis are also supposed to cover finances in pre-recruitment meetings with PNMs.

If a girl asked me about finances during recruitment, I think that would be a sign of responsibility and that she was taking the decision to join Greek life seriously. I would rather have that happen than have no one ask questions and then depledge/resign membership later for financial reasons.

I think this is the type of thing that is best answered by the Greek Life office, or PHC in general. They're very likely to have that information (and probably even exact details) on hand.

I thought I read somewhere that NPC Formal guidelines required a disclosure of dues during recruitment. I could have dreamed that, though.

From the MOI (Green Book):

Accurate financial information regarding membership is given by Panhellenic in a cost range unless the individual groups provide specific chapter information to you.

Just and FYI to all NPC members, your groups private part of your web site most likely has the NPC MOI on it. That's where I got my copy.

I can't believe at EVERY campus the chapters would not put together a list of costs, doing their utmost best to ensure women could compare and contrast. Surely each one of them could make selling points out of some of their costs - either they cost less, or they include badges, or they cover more meals, or whatever. That's just smart marketing.

Of course, I'm learning that some chapters on some campuses don't want women to make decisions based on anything but superficial things.

UGA makes a pdf handbook available to PNMs (actually it's online, so anyone can see it) and it states the average costs (new member, in house, and member not-in-house dues). I have only been asked once by a PNM what dues were, which we're all required to be able to answer, but I did find it a little strange, given that they were provided with an approximation already.
I could be off base here, but I would think that if someone were looking to join a sorority, new member dues of 1300 vs. 1600 would not make a huge difference in choosing a house. If you're going through recruitment at a big southern school, private school, or any school where where there are a lot of girls for whom finance isn't a concern and might find it an odd question (because they've never had to ask it), I would find out that information outside of the party by calling the greek life office or a sorority office on your own time. There are plenty of girls paying their own way, but you never know the situation and level of understanding of the person you are talking to.

Additionally, you only have a short amount of time to get to know the girl you are talking to; It would be much more beneficial to you to ask questions about the sisterhood and activities of the sorority or show off your personality than to go over numbers and figures.

So are you agreeing with the woman in the other thread who is telling her daughter to cut the more expensive sororities, regardless of whether 1) she likes them and 2) those are the only ones that keep her?