Our dues were not all that high.
My local sorority's dues were (I think) $100 for the pledge semester (which included the cost of the pledge ring and badge), $50 for each semester after that.
When we joined AEPhi, we had to pay national dues, initiation fee, badge fee, and we had to raise our local dues - I think I paid around $350 that semester, all told. (This is not bad for a first semester, but we all got sticker shock when our dues increased 700%
)
After that, it settled out to about $175-200 per semester for actives.
My chapter does not have a house, and for certain events (formals) the chapter subsidized the cost, but only partially - all of which helped keep our dues low.