Numbers are up!

[carnation]

Having just had one graduate from UGa and 2 in the past from Southern and Valdosta, I think that everything costs more at UGa! Especially Greek life.

Also, remember that 2/3 of students lose the HOPE Grant after freshman year. And now HOPE isn't going to cover full tuition for anyone, just a percentage--90% maybe?

[AnchorAlumna]

Not many jobs out there, so more kids are staying in school?

[33girl]

Originally Posted by AnchorAlumna

Not many jobs out there, so more kids are staying in school?

I don't think that's really a factor in Greek life. In grad student numbers increasing, maybe. If kids are that hard up for $$ they're going to do things that they can get loans for - like school. Greek life doesn't fit in with that.

[dukedg]

Originally Posted by LaneSig

I think the economy has helped smaller, state schools grow. Students who would normally apply for the larger flagship or private schools are going to the smaller state schools (I know KSU is not small). Many of these student would have went Greek at the flagship schools, so that might be a factor, too.

I don't think this is the case. I do interviews for Duke applicants and we have had record numbers of applicants in recent years (For Fourth Straight Year, Record Number of Students Apply to Duke) and I know UC Berkeley has been dealing with dramatic growth in applicants as well.

Originally Posted by thetaj

The class of 2009 was the largest to ever graduate from high school. There are just a ton of people in college right now.

I think this is the real main issue. Lots of college aged people right now, which is increasing enrollment in many colleges and that is trickling down to Greek life. It does make me worry about whether all this expansion will be sustainable in about ten years when the population of college-aged people declines.

[LaneSig]

Report of larger numbers at Capital University in Ohio.

http://media.www.capitalchimes.com/m...-3978468.shtml

[DeltaBetaBaby]

I think that historically, numbers have gone up in conservative time periods and sunk in progressive ones. It's nice to see so many expansion opportunities, but I could see why orgs would be nervous to plunk down change for a house, knowing it could drop off again.

I also wonder if/how orgs are going to evolve to accmomodate the influx of non-traditional students in the coming years.

[Benzgirl]

Originally Posted by LaneSig

Report of larger numbers at Capital University in Ohio.

http://media.www.capitalchimes.com/m...-3978468.shtml

Interesting. Sigma Alpha Beta is a co-ed fraternity and they split out the numbers as if they were a sorority and a fraternity.

[exlurker]

U of Minnesota numbers are up, too; see article:

http://www.mndaily.com/2011/02/28/u-...ear-high-point


“ Enrollment at the University of Minnesota’s fraternities and sororities has reached 1,822 students this academic year — the highest it’s been since 1991.
The community remains the smallest in the Big Ten, with the University of Iowa ranking as the next smallest with about 2,200 members.“

[Benzgirl]

Originally Posted by exlurker

U of Minnesota numbers are up, too; see article:

http://www.mndaily.com/2011/02/28/u-...ear-high-point


“ Enrollment at the University of Minnesota’s fraternities and sororities has reached 1,822 students this academic year — the highest it’s been since 1991.
The community remains the smallest in the Big Ten, with the University of Iowa ranking as the next smallest with about 2,200 members.“

Interesting fact. It would be interesting to see the other Big 10 schools listed as well, just because I'm curious.

[dnall]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

It's nice to see so many expansion opportunities, but I could see why orgs would be nervous to plunk down change for a house, knowing it could drop off again.

I think hesitance on housing is more about economics. You're talking about foundations invested in real estate & seeking to re-balance their portfolios in the wake of a paradigm shift within the property holding dynamic with regard to debt percentage and risk factors. In other words, it's not as safe as we used to think to own just a ton of real estate versus a balance of other investments. The more in debt you are against real estate that might drop in value, the higher the risk. And, it's hard to get financing now anyway so you can do about 1/7th as many projects as you could do before just on that basis alone. It's actually an excellent time to be (selectively) going into properties, but the barriers to entry are very high.

I also wonder if/how orgs are going to evolve to accmomodate the influx of non-traditional students in the coming years.

Just empirically, I've already seen quite a lot of that. There's a lot of older veterans entering fraternities at my school. It's a very low number overall, but still very noticeable.

There is some friction in that regard. I've girls describe another fraternity as "creepy old guys" because they had three veterans that were around 24-26. I've watched an argument about bidding a vet that 24 (and was disgusted that they'd consider penalizing someone for military service).

I think it'll take time to normalize. After WWII & Korea a lot of vets flowed through fraternities with great success & no real issues. I know not all the non-traditionals we're talking about are vets, but they lead the way in making the age factor more acceptable. I guess it will be less so with sororities, but I don't know. I've seen cases of them being very discriminatory against 20yo girls with 3-4 years of school left, but accepting of 18yo girls with 2-3 years left. That's not a complaint so much as just an observation. What they do is their business, even if it doesn't always make sense.

[Katmandu]

Originally Posted by DeltaBetaBaby

I think that historically, numbers have gone up in conservative time periods and sunk in progressive ones. It's nice to see so many expansion opportunities, but I could see why orgs would be nervous to plunk down change for a house, knowing it could drop off again.

This is a very valid point. At times of uncertainty, unrest, fear of the future, people tend to seek out the comfort of traditional events and experiences. Sorority and Fraternity life conjure up images of a simpler time.

Also agree that Greek, FB and social networking, more students attending college, jump in enrollment in "med tier" schools also play a part.

[exlurker]

Numbers up at Washington U in St. Louis, reportedly:

http://www.studlife.com/news/campus-...g-to-go-greek/