Quote:
Originally Posted by margretlee
The problem is that not all the sororities gave out info sheets. They had little tables set up in a big room, and most of the girls were really nice, well spoken representatives of their organizations. But some did not give out cost sheets. I am afraid that their attitude was "If you have to ask, then you can't afford it." We have money allotted for this, so don't need a payment plan, but would love to stay within a certain range, as we have two other kids coming up right behind her! How can one ask someone to make a committment to join thier organization, but not tell them the cost? Do they wait until you get a bid before telling you what it cost, and then it's too late? She is afraid to ask, because she thinks that will be like an automatic cut.
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Handing out the individual Chapter's cost sheets was a new thing this year. It's entirely possible that the reason some did not provide specific line by line breakdowns was because they didn't know others were and instead kept it general. While it's possible that some had an "If you have to ask, you can't afford it" attitude, I think it was more likely that because their Chapter didn't create a specific breakdown they simply didn't know that info to talk about.
Something to keep in mind, the Chapters were allowed to have X of members present at their table. Who was selected was often based on who is well spoken (best recruiters), knowledgeable about a lot of aspects of the sorority and campus life, not to mention who would be available for several hours on that weekend. Those folks aren't necessarily experts on Chapter finances. It's the Treasurer/Finance VP or whatever title a Chapter has for that position who knows this stuff inside and out. She might not have been one of the representatives there.
Let's face it, a lot of members have no clue about finances, even their own personal ones. For many members Mom & Dad pay their bills and they are clueless about how much their sorority dues are. Even if the know the total, they often don't know the breakdown of how much goes towards meals, house dues (aka parlor fees), chapter dues, etc. For some this breakdown sheet might have been news to them too -- even for those who are officers. So it is entirely possible that the attitude you felt was unintentional.
Just so you know, in past years Panhellenic simply provided a general range of the costs and an average for all the Chapters. As AnchorAlumna said, the range difference is not that big. Since this was new we all learned from it and will do a better job next year.