Payment Plans, Costs: Some Stories from the Recession

[Thetagirl218]

My campus didn't have Greek Housing, so I paid for on campus housing and dues. Thankfully, I had an on-campus apartment most of my time in college so I saved on food costs, but I would have loved to have been able to combine housing costs with dues...

[kappadelt0]

i'm treasurer of my delt chapter and we're slashing budgets all around. at the end of each semester we have each admin do a cost benefit analysis of their expenditures, as well as was to cut costs next semester. it's worked, we've cut bloated programs and been able to provide better services each semester with lower dues each semester

[exlurker]

http://www.kstatecollegian.com/chang...fall-1.1746530

Excerpts from article:

New rules for K-State sororities will change the recruitment process. The Panhellenic Council has worked with sororities and Greek Affairs to make sure these changes will take effect this fall.
. . . The main reason for the changes was to cut the cost of recruitment, said Ellen Burke, director of recruitment for PHC.
Burke said sorority recruitment used to be incredibly expensive compared to other Big 12 Conference schools.
“The past two or three years now, the cost was over $200 to do sorority recruitment, and now it is down $65,” Burke said.

[Zillini]

Originally Posted by exlurker

http://www.kstatecollegian.com/chang...fall-1.1746530

Excerpts from article:

New rules for K-State sororities will change the recruitment process. The Panhellenic Council has worked with sororities and Greek Affairs to make sure these changes will take effect this fall.
. . . The main reason for the changes was to cut the cost of recruitment, said Ellen Burke, director of recruitment for PHC.
Burke said sorority recruitment used to be incredibly expensive compared to other Big 12 Conference schools.
“The past two or three years now, the cost was over $200 to do sorority recruitment, and now it is down $65,” Burke said.

Clarification question: What does Ms. Burke mean by "to do" sorority recruitment? Is that the PNM registration fee or the amount the chapters are allowed to spend on Recruitment or what?

[wildcatfan]

From the Collegian article linked by exlurker:

Some of the changes include lowering the cost of recruitment and arranging for women to move into their residence halls only once.
The main reason for the changes was to cut the cost of recruitment, said Ellen Burke, director of recruitment for PHC.
Burke said sorority recruitment used to be incredibly expensive compared to other Big 12 Conference schools.
“The past two or three years now, the cost was over $200 to do sorority recruitment, and now it is down $65,” Burke said.

Originally Posted by Zillini

Clarification question: What does Ms. Burke mean by "to do" sorority recruitment? Is that the PNM registration fee or the amount the chapters are allowed to spend on Recruitment or what?

The cost of $200 refers to the fee that was paid by the girls to go through recruitment. Most of it went to the university to pay for room and board in the dorms. The girls used to go down on Saturday and stay an entire week. It was basically the cost of going to camp for a week; when my daughter went through in 2007 the cost was $262. If memory serves (and that is getting questionable!), there was about $60 or so that was refundable if you didn't pledge. That must have been some kind of a new member/panhellenic fee rolled in to the total.

Now they have lopped off a day or two, itemized out that fee which will be paid after recruitment if you do pledge, and somehow taken the cost paid to the university down to $65.

http://www.k-state.edu/greek/recruit...thedetails.htm

I am not sure how dropping a day or two in the dorms saved over $100, but that's what has been done.

I certainly don't want the cost of recruitment to be a barrier to girls wanting to go through, but here is my big concern: Lots of girls can find an extra $65 and go through rush, quite oblivious to the financial obligations that will follow if they join a house. Yes, the sororities present the financial costs one day during rush, but how many 18-year-old girls dressed up for a party have a clue what those poster boards and hand-outs are talking about? I am increasingly seeing expense as a reason for girls to deactivate. If you don't live in the house (and so many upperclassmen don't these days), it is much harder to justfiy all the out-of-house fees when you are struggling to pay tuition.

Greek Affairs "says" that going greek is less expensive than living in the dorm. Well, if you just compare live-in costs to the dorm, that's true. But the first year, sorority costs for my daughter were almost $2000 in addition to the dorm bill. That included her initiation fee, out-of-house fees etc. This year, living in, the cost was comparable, but that didn't include initiation gifts for her little, party favors, T-shirts, and on and on and on. It is really disingenuous to tout Greek living as less expensive, at least from my perspective. And K-State on average isn't nearly as, how shall I put this, "high maintenance" as some campuses!

I encouraged my daughters to go through recruitment, so I obviously feel it is a worthwhile investment. But just dropping the fee for recruitment so "more girls can participate" is kind of like advertising a new car for "no money down." If you are not mature/savvy/informed enough to look at the payments ahead and make sure that you can afford them, it will only lead to difficult choices and possible heartbreak.

[cbm]

I paid $200 to go through rush 10 years ago. Financial information was not presented to PNMs at any of the rush parties I attended. Plus, the information in the books sent to PNMs during the summer that outlined sorority life pretty much just covered the dollar amount for required fees and house charges. It didn't include gifts, optional purchases like necklaces and tshirts or the money you spend on philanthropy and (optional) social events. I really do feel bad for any girl or guy going through rush and accepting a bid without having a full, true knowledge of the costs involved.

[crescent&pearls]

I share a lot of your same concerns wildcatfan. I don't know why living in a sorority house should ever be cheaper than living in a dorm- in most cases I've seen, sorority housing provides a much safer, more private, and higher quality living experience when you factor in services provided i.e. a house director, housekeeping, cooks etc. and the use of facilities that often include tv rooms, study areas, work out facilities and even pools! It seems to me that when there is a chapter house, the members who live in should pay the bulk of the expenses...but it often feels like the "live-outs" are subsidizing those expenses. Not that I'm saying live outs shouldn't contribute a fair share but we always have to remembers that we are competing for the same dollars our members can choose to spend on cell phones, text messaging, gym memberships, shopping, happy hours, movie tickets, spring break trips, semester abroad programs...and so on and so on and so on. We have to offer pretty amazing programming to our members and keep selling it to them (and their parents) in order for them to truly appreciate the value of the dollars they spend on their sorority membership.

Do I think it's worth it? Heck yeah I do. But it's sure not easy to compete for those dollars!

I do hope that all NPC orgs continue to expand to campuses that have unhoused greek systems, and that we all keep working on providing the potential for great membership experiences to women from all kinds of socio-economic backgrounds on all kinds of campuses!

[exlurker]

U of South Carolina Providing Greek Cost Info at Freshman Orientation

School paper article:
http://media.www.dailygamecock.com/m...-3748873.shtml

Excerpt below -- even if it's not directly related to the economy, it's of interest, and other elements in the article suggest that there may be concerns about how or whether recruitment will be affected:

Greek life assistant director Ryan Williams . . . said they are now providing cost information at freshman orientation, which is a first, but that it isn't in reaction to the economy.

"That's one of the things we thought was very important - getting that information and making sure we're providing it to students about to join our community and giving them the best information possible," he said. . . .