[twinstars]

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.