Dues
 

I asked a director of greek life at my U (Ohio State) about dues and this is what she wrote.

The average dues for someone living out of the facility (just paying dues) is $511 per quarter, but a woman living in the facility with dues, room and board, and food pays an average of $1796 per quarter (a number lower than the dorms).

I do see the benefits of living in the house but I'm assuming that you don't get to live in the house right away (or your required by a lease to live in your apartment already) , so 500+ a quarter for someone not living there seems really high...not to mention the extra initiation type fees, which I think are like 200 or 300.

So my question is...when do they ask you to begin paying your dues and initiation fees?

And do these figures scare anyone else? My tuition a quarter is only 1800, so 500 would be a comparably big number.

dues
 

Those dues really aren't bad at all. My sorority has a house (I don't live there, though) and I pay about $750 per semester (there are 2 semesters/yr) in dues. Part of your dues goes to maintain the house and pay the housemother's salary, whether you live in the house or not. It's different at different colleges, but where I'm at school you can't live in the house until at least soph year. The extra one-time initiation fees are normal, too, for an NPC sorority. It sounds like you're kind of having sticker shock, but these dues and fees really are normal... you're not being ripped off or anything. I guess the expense is all relative, though. My college tuition is much, much MUCH more expensive than yours, so a few thousand a year to join a sorority isn't that much by comparison. In fact, I'm paying my dues myself out of money earned in work study and summer jobs. It sounds like a good chunk of money, and it is, but it's not something that a college kid can't pay for on their own.

WOW!!!!
 

Twinstars-
We don't have a house, so our dues are SOOO much less than yours. Our total dues for the year is less than one of your semester dues!!! But I'm sure that most GLOs have about the same amount that you do, per semester, right? Is that mostly just for a house???

Well averages for one thing can be misleading. You may be more interested in the range of figures and specific numbers.

Chapters of Sigma Nu in my state charge anything between $60 per month and $600 per month -- just depending on how the chapter is set up.

Any way you look at it though, it's going to be the best investment you make ever.

Dues vary widely, depending on where you go to school and whether your chapter has a house that you live in, has a house that you don't live in, or doesn't have a house. Typically, if you live in a house you have to pay room and board. If your chapter has a house but you don't live there, you may have to pay for some meals at the house. If your chapter does not have a house, you pay the same room and board as you would if you were unaffiliated. In any case, you have to pay a certain amount in dues.

Initiation fees, including the cost of your badge, are usually charged in the semester that you join - so that one semester is naturally more expensive than subsequent semesters (aside from possible house-related expenses).

Most GLO's are willing to work out payment plans if you can't write The Big Check all at once.

Woah! Ya'll have crazy low dues!!!!

We pay about 1200 a semester. And I don't even live in the house:eek:

I bet I could beat all y'alls dues... AGD-Delta Sigma pays $160 a semester/$40 a month. Of course we are unhoused, and if hawaiiagd were here, she could probably explain in greater detail why our dues are so low.

My New Member Fee, Initiation Fee, First Month's Dues, and Badge Fee were all due BEFORE I was initiated. Thankfully, our VP-Finance and Finance Advisor developed a payment plan that I could easily follow because I knew that there was no way that I could afford being in a sorority on my own since my mom couldn't support me financially.

I agree with what ktsnake said--it really is a good investment. Still, at least I don't have to worry about monthly dues anymore. It's so much easier to make a check out to the alumnae chapter once a year!!! ;)

Re: WOW!!!!
 

Before we got our house, our dues were maybe $400/semester. They almost doubled as a result of house-related expenses. When we made the change, we had some girls deactivate because they didn't want the new extra expense. As far as I know, the other NPC sororities on campus are all in the same ballpark as far as dues. The University built all the sororities new houses the same year, so all had the same jump in dues.

At Northern Arizona University, we dont have houses, but we all live in one hall and have chapter rooms there. So our first semester after being initiated our dues are $100 more then the rest of the time and go to parlor fees (up keep of chapter room, interior decorating, etc). But the rest of the time our dues are anywhere between $300 and $400. Our dues are anounced just before each semester. As for initiation fees, all ours had to be due before initiation, but we also i know do offer payment plans. The big thing is that all the money goes to activities you do. A lot of the money goes to formals and other sisterhood activities. So all the money is very worth it.

Re: Dues
 

One of my friends goes to school in Ohio and explained to me the quarter system. From what I understand, don't you go to school for 3 quarters, with the 4th quarter being the summer quarter? So, you would pay $511 x 3 per academic year, right or wrong?



As for our dues, I think we pay something like $230 per semester. There are no Greek houses at my university, so that is one of the reasons why our dues are so low.

Our yearly dues are $120 ($10 a month) and our initiation fee is between $40-$50. We do have a house but we don't have live in/live out fees. If you live there you pay your share. $50 is paid out of the sorority account each month for electricity and $25 is paid out of the sorority account each month for toiletries.

Some things to keep in mind:

Even if you don't live in the house, the dues probably include the cost of eating meals at the house. The food is usually better than the dorms and the sorority meal plan is often cheaper than eating in the dorms.

As far as when you start paying dues - it's almost immediately. You will be required to pay your first installment of new member dues right away and then you will probably be assessed again before initiation.

Each sorority assesses dues differently, so be sure to ask during Recruitment when you are expected to make payments.

In addition, each sorority is required to show you their detailed dues information during the first or second night of Recruitment. The detailed information should also be in the Recruitment booklet you get from the university.

I can't imagine paying the dues that some of you pay. Mine is only 36.00 a month. And I think I paid like 300.00 last semester, my first semester. We don't have a house so that is probably why ours are so cheap.

Anne Marie

food costs
 

In my case, I pay an additional $1200/yr for the "required" meal plan for members not living in the house, which is weekday lunches and chapter dinner. I don't include this cost in dues, since it's not sorority-specific (I'd have to eat anyway, be it at the house or at the dining hall). At my school sorority house food is equally good as what they serve in the dining hall, but it's nothing extraordinary. If we make requests for something random like feta cheese on the salad bar, we usually get it. I'm pretty sure the sorority meal plan is MORE expensive on a meal-by-meal basis than a similar meal plan in the dining hall would cost. This is because the dining hall works on a huge scale, while each sorority house kitchen is cooking for only 100.

Remember, though, dues and meal plan costs are different at every school, and can even vary among chapters at the same college. What I've posted about my own house and school is just one possible scenario.

As everyone has said here, dues can vary widely from school to school and even sorority to sorority. While dues pay for such things as parlor fees and food, they also pay for various national fees and programming, the sororities trip to convention or Regional Conferences, and even your subscription to the national magazine.

While sororities will work with you to set up a payment plan, I always say, look at your finances and make sure sorority life is something you can work into it. While that may sound wrong, once you join, there is a financial obligation, and things can get messy when those obligations aren't taken seriously.

Good luck!! :)