costs of sororities at university of alabama

[Zillini]

Margretlee, the first link you quoted from the UA Greek Life webpage was for all Greek Life, meaning both Fraternities and Sororities. So there can be some difference.

As for the second,

Originally Posted by margretlee

OK, here is the link showing the prices I quoted earlier:
http://greeklife.ua.edu/docs/Sorority%20Life%20at%20the%20Capstone%202009.ppt

...

I had not seen that PowerPoint before. It seems completely out of line with my personal information as a sorority Advisor here at Bama. I'm going to investigate.

[kddani]

It's great that you want to pay her dues and are in a position to do so. But it's not like she can shop around and "buy" a middle of the road (cost-wise) sorority. Recruitment doesn't work like that.

If you have a budget in mind, tell her what it is, and make anything above and beyond that her responsibility- she will be an adult. It is a bonus that you are helping her financially. She can easily get a job to help pay for extras such as t-shirts, photos, date parties, etc.

[MaggieXi]

I think that the train has already left the station. Recruitment has got to play out before she can accept a bid. Whether that bid is with the highest prices sorority or the lowest price sorority is not really within her control. Even if you have the information now on how much each sorority will cost per semester, will she be expected to rank the more expensive sororities lower even if they are a better fit for her and could eventually lead her to accept a bid to one that she does not like?

[Munchkin03]

I didn't see this mentioned in this thread, so I apologize if it was there and I just missed it. Many sororities DO NOT allow first-semester members (or anyone who hasn't initiated) to do a payment plan for one-time fees. This is nationally mandated. I'm sure there are some who do allow payment plans for new members, but please do not assume that is the case.

[LatinaAlumna]

Originally Posted by kddani

If you have a budget in mind, tell her what it is, and make anything above and beyond that her responsibility- she will be an adult. It is a bonus that you are helping her financially. She can easily get a job to help pay for extras such as t-shirts, photos, date parties, etc.

Best advice of the thread!

[margretlee]

haha, Auburnmom08! You know I would want them to stay together! Of course in reality I will only have one year with two in at a time, but maybe we should have spread them apart more.

[cbm]

Margaretlee - I have ties w/ Bama and I'm really looking forward to hearing which sorority your daughter chooses! Report back if you can. = )

[Nanners52674]

I'm with the members on the train leaving the station and really in agreement on a lot of members just not knowing dues.

Sure I have the break down spread sheet somewhere in my binder but I don't know it, honestly this thread reminded me I have to pay my dues for the semester and I don't even know the total amount.

[Barbie's_Rush]

I can definitely feel for the financial strain you are feeling during these tough times, but I'm not sure what the point of knowing the costs would be at this point either. Would you be advising your daughter to rank her chapters based on their costs? What happens if only the higher cost chapters invite her back and she is in love with one or more of them? Would you require her to drop out of recruitment? What an undue emotion burden to put on a woman already stressed by one of the toughest recruitments in the country.

The time to have discussed how everything would be paid for was before signing up for recruitment. I don't think having your daughter get a small job to help pay for her sorority expenses would be unreasonable, but I think her knowing that might be a possibility beforehand would have helped her weigh whether or not belonging to a sorority would be worth the extra work.

By the way, there are also other expenses to consider that wouldn't be listed on any rate sheet, no matter how inclusive. Thinks like formal dresses, non-sponsored events and trips with her sisters (ie: road trips to games, spring break), gifts for sisters, fines, donations etc. etc. can also add up. So there's really much more to consider than just the costs that have been revealed/not revealed.

Even during the best of times being Greek, especially at a school like Bama, is a luxury. You may simply need to have a frank talk with your children about the current realities of life in your family and re-evaluate whether or not anyone should be taking on the extra expense of being Greek at this point.

[Bear]

Margretlee, Our daughter is currently in a New Row Sorority at Alabama. The cost for the 1st Semester of her Freshman year was about 3600.00. This included dues, fees, pictures, tee shirts, a sorority pin, a sorority trip, ect. Our daughter made the Deans List her first semester and I am convinced being in a sorority played a big part in her success. It is expensive but in our opinion joining a sorority is money well spent. I wish your daughter good luck this week.

[margretlee]

Wow, I must say that I am disappointed by some of the comments here. I joined the forum seeking insight and information, and feel that I am getting chastisement instead for "letting the train leave the station" without looking into this first. If the posters making these comments would look carefully at what I have posted, we DID look carefully at the costs prior to registering for recruitment. The issue is that the rush packet lists over $6K per semester as the high, whereas the websites we were looking at when she decided to go to Bama and go through rush there listed the highs per semester at more than half less than that amount.

Suggesting that we re-evaluate the expense of allowing her to go Greek is not even an option. As I said we DO have money to pay for it WITHOUT a payment plan. We are not trying to just "shop" for a deal. However, I personally think it is very irresponsible to teach a kid (or in this case a young adult) to enter into contractual obligations prior to even knowing what those obligations are - perhaps that is part of why our country is in such a mess today, due to the fact that too many people have the notion that it doesn't matter what something costs, as long as you want it badly enough. Would any of the posters here really enter into a contract on a house or a car without knowing if you have the funds to cover it?

I realize that some people have fixed incomes, are independently wealthy, etc., but think that they should respect hard working upper-middle class people that are trying to provide the best for their families without entering into massive amounts of debt in order to do so. I also am amazed that some here do not seem to fathom that we did indeed investigate the costs, but that the economic crisis facing our nation has had an effect on our income. I have long thought that everyone should have to work on straight commission for awhile, then they would appreciate the consistencies of a salaried position much more.

All that being put out into the open, I do really appreciate some of the people that have endeavored to offer insight, such as Zillini. It is not my fault, nor that of my daughter, that the information we originally had MAY HAVE BEEN erroneous. I don't know, maybe the costs went up since we first looked into this. I was just shocked that it appeared to be such a difference. For those that keep saying the highs and lows aren't that big of a difference, I still contend that more than double the cost is a big difference.

Thanks to those that offered support, encouragement, and help! To those that think she should not go Greek because we wanted to know the potential costs, well, I do not know what to say, except that I am glad you have plenty of money so that you do not ever have to ask questions such as these. I hope that your situation remains the same, and that you never have to be concerned about issues like this. I have hope and confidence that our economy will improve, and our situation will as well. (By the way, it's not like we are in dire straights or anything, gee . . .)

[Munchkin03]

Originally Posted by margretlee

I realize that some people have fixed incomes, are independently wealthy, etc., but think that they should respect hard working upper-middle class people that are trying to provide the best for their families without entering into massive amounts of debt in order to do so.

So you think that "hard working upper-middle class people" should be respected in this regard, while equally hard working middle class or working class families should be shunted aside? Your point would have been just as, or even more valid, if you had just said "hard working families."

Awesome!

[Nanners52674]

Originally Posted by margretlee

Wow, I must say that I am disappointed by some of the comments here. I joined the forum seeking insight and information, and feel that I am getting chastisement instead for "letting the train leave the station" without looking into this first. If the posters making these comments would look carefully at what I have posted, we DID look carefully at the costs prior to registering for recruitment. The issue is that the rush packet lists over $6K per semester as the high, whereas the websites we were looking at when she decided to go to Bama and go through rush there listed the highs per semester at more than half less than that amount.

Suggesting that we re-evaluate the expense of allowing her to go Greek is not even an option. As I said we DO have money to pay for it WITHOUT a payment plan. We are not trying to just "shop" for a deal. However, I personally think it is very irresponsible to teach a kid (or in this case a young adult) to enter into contractual obligations prior to even knowing what those obligations are - perhaps that is part of why our country is in such a mess today, due to the fact that too many people have the notion that it doesn't matter what something costs, as long as you want it badly enough. Would any of the posters here really enter into a contract on a house or a car without knowing if you have the funds to cover it?

I realize that some people have fixed incomes, are independently wealthy, etc., but think that they should respect hard working upper-middle class people that are trying to provide the best for their families without entering into massive amounts of debt in order to do so. I also am amazed that some here do not seem to fathom that we did indeed investigate the costs, but that the economic crisis facing our nation has had an effect on our income. I have long thought that everyone should have to work on straight commission for awhile, then they would appreciate the consistencies of a salaried position much more.

All that being put out into the open, I do really appreciate some of the people that have endeavored to offer insight, such as Zillini. It is not my fault, nor that of my daughter, that the information we originally had MAY HAVE BEEN erroneous. I don't know, maybe the costs went up since we first looked into this. I was just shocked that it appeared to be such a difference. For those that keep saying the highs and lows aren't that big of a difference, I still contend that more than double the cost is a big difference.

Thanks to those that offered support, encouragement, and help! To those that think she should not go Greek because we wanted to know the potential costs, well, I do not know what to say, except that I am glad you have plenty of money so that you do not ever have to ask questions such as these. I hope that your situation remains the same, and that you never have to be concerned about issues like this. I have hope and confidence that our economy will improve, and our situation will as well. (By the way, it's not like we are in dire straights or anything, gee . . .)

I think most people are aware of the economic crisis you don't need to tell us about it. I know how it's effected me and ability to pay for my education. I make choices.

Honestly you said you investigated and the highest number was 6K go with that then the worst that could happen is you spend less. If it's really a concern like make or break on joining you could of called Panhel and inquired for more info before entering into recruitment.

Oh and you referring to the fact you can afford it WITHOUT a payment plan on multiple occasions makes you seem kind of snobby when in the next paragraph you're telling people to take head of the economic crisis.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by margretlee

OK, so we have seen the "average" costs on the UA Panhellenic website. On Panhellenic weekend, some sororities gave out cost sheets. However, not all of them did. We can defintiely afford a sorority, especially one of the "average" cost ones. However, we would prefer to stay in that range, so that she will have plenty of money for clothes, tshirts, etc. Is there anyone here that can tell us which ones are the most expensive ones, or rank them according to approximate
cost?
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We have money allotted for this, so don't need a payment plan, but would love to stay within a certain range, as we have two other kids coming up right behind her!

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IDK how I could have been any clearer. We have some money set aside, but don't want to exceed it, so we wanted to make sure and stay in that range????????

Margretlee, I understand what you've said, although it took me a while to get there. But when I read things like "we'd like to stay in a certain range" and requests for rankings of sororities by cost, along with:

Originally Posted by margretlee

What if she likes one of the highest priced ones. We could come up with it, but do we want to do that with little sisters coming up??

I don't think it is unreasonable for someone to infer that your top concern is the cost, not where she feels most like she belongs. That may not be an accurate inference, but I don't think it is an unreasonable inference. It was how I read your posts at first, anyway,

All I'm saying is that in internet discussion like these -- where we have no facial, tone of voice or other cues to give context to our words and where the back and forth of face-to-face conversation is missing -- we all would do well to remember that sometimes misunderstandings may come from a simple failure to communicate as well as we would like.

[Ghostwriter]

As a father who was in a Fraternity and also put 2 girls through school and their Sorority here is my experience for what it is worth.

As with everything else in life it usually costs more than you are told. Take the top amount and add 10% and you will most likely be in decent shape. If you just take the lower cost Sororities numbers it will probably not include many items the higher cost Sororities include. I just think they all are going to be somewhere in the same ranges on cost unless they do not have a house.