[DubaiSis]

And you could do a moderately deferred rush, like Ole Miss who do it in October. That way the girls will be good and ready to make those bonds and pay whatever it takes!
Presuming these girls are of the smarty-pants variety, selling long term return on investment will probably work better than they would at the huge social life schools.

It doesn't surprise me that the girls are just having sticker shock. They haven't been bred from day 1 to join a sorority and if they are worried about paying for friendships, that is easy enough to counter. Networking, alumnae life, connections now, social life now, PLUS a good place to live outside the dorms and real food. If you're trying to sell an SEC style Greek experience, it's definitely going to fall flat, but what you have to offer is maybe even more critical to their happiness and personal success in college.

If you're in the middle of recruitment now, maybe you can think about a moderately more formalized COB in the spring, plus recruitment next year in mid-September or later. The good news with this small of a Greek system is you can make changes without a presidential decree.