Ballpark Figure for Recruitment?

[Eightisgreat]

Our daughter is only a Senior in High School and we have no idea where she will be attending school yet (although she had a pretty good idea where she WANTS to go...it takes a letter in the hand) but she knows she would like to go through rush. Can anyone give me a ball park figure on what the cost will be for outfits, etc for a competitive rush? I would ask my sister but that child is so over the top with her girls...I don't even want to know that number. My husband is working on budgets for next year and since we will have three in college he wants to know what his "liabilities" are. And of course I need to know how much beyond what he deems reasonable to put away. With said, our daughter has never been cheap (haha...what girls are?) and her father is resigned to that.

And maybe a better way to ask this would be if spend $xx on daughter typically, should we increase that by xx% for just "recruitment clothes."

[DubaiSis]

You might look at the recruitment books for the schools she's thinking about. You can find a lot of them on their websites, and then you can see the suggested outfits. But it appears to me from the pictures I've seen this year that the girls don't spend a mint on clothes. Some are wearing shorts and t-shirts the first days, for example. Or Lily Pulitzer dresses. There are a lot of links here that show pictures of the girls during recruitment. However, I think they're all for SEC schools, and I want to make very clear that recruitment is different all over the country. You're going to have to be more clear about where she might be going for better advice.

So in short, check out the campus Greek Life website and see what information you can find there.

[FSUZeta]

great advice dubaisis! also eightisgreat, be aware that it is not necessary for your daughter to go off to school with a completely brand new wardrobe, for rush or for everyday, either. after all, all her outfits will be new to the campus.

[Eightisgreat]

FSUZeta...thank you. That is a great point and I will use that talking with her about it. I think there is so much pressure in some of these rush situations I just want to make sure we give her what she needs to feel comfortable so she can focus on the task at hand. She has many nice things, some only worn once for a this or that occasion so I am hoping she will be happy to recycle those. Her father will never understand the one dress deal!

[FSUZeta]

it is easy to get caught up in new things, and a new outfit certainly makes me feel spiffier, but i'll bet your daughter will already have some things in her wardrobe that are very appropriate for rush-maybe she will be willing to settle for a new pair of sandals or shoes and a new pref. dress. good luck!

i live in south florida, and both my children went north to school-still in the south, but 4 seasons. two years before they went off to school, for their birthdays and christmases, they got more "cold" weather clothes that they did not need here. it really helped our budget to plan ahead for that.

[Eightisgreat]

I think my husband is just getting overhelmed with the thought of three in college next year. We had three in college last year but then got a "break" this year with just two. We have always financially planned for this and I know we will be fine it just feels like we are bleeding to death sometimes. But his is daddy's little girl (first girl after 4 boys) and he plays this game with her where the answer will be no for a minute then it turns to a yes. I have just asked him to cool the game as the stakes get higher (college admissions, rush, etc) because I don't like dealing with meltdowns.

BTW...thanks for all your great advice!

[ree-Xi]

Originally Posted by Eightisgreat

I think my husband is just getting overhelmed with the thought of three in college next year. We had three in college last year but then got a "break" this year with just two. We have always financially planned for this and I know we will be fine it just feels like we are bleeding to death sometimes. But his is daddy's little girl (first girl after 4 boys) and he plays this game with her where the answer will be no for a minute then it turns to a yes. I have just asked him to cool the game as the stakes get higher (college admissions, rush, etc) because I don't like dealing with meltdowns.

BTW...thanks for all your great advice!

Your daughter can also get a job this year and next summer to help subsidize extras like going Greek. Even if she works 7-10 hours a week, it adds up over the course of a year.

[33girl]

Consignment shops. Plato's Closet. These things are good.

[Eightisgreat]

I am not concerned about her getting a job, my husband was just looking for a budget number. We are firm believers in community service and ask our kids to volunteer at least 300 hours each year on something they are passionate about. This way they get some great skills and do some good. We also own our own business and each of the kids put a bit of time in each week here because they know it is this business that puts food in their mouths, gas in their cars and clothes on their backs.

I wanted to say thank you to everyone. I really appreciate the advice. Rush is her fish to fry but as her financial and emotional backer I have found a wealth of information here. I can't wait for her to get some acceptance letters (fingers crossed) so she can start to move through this process and really enjoy her Senior year!

[DubaiSis]

It sounds like you have a good grip on it. I can't imagine you'd need to spend more than a couple hundred dollars, and I would NOT recommend getting new shoes for recruitment. She could get a new pair of sandals or two at the beginning of summer and make sure they're fully broken in by fall.

I am so picturing my Dad through all this. He wasn't involved in the least in my rush, but he did have a way of pushing my buttons (still does!) that my Mom has had to tell him more than once to shove a sock in it.

Remind her to keep her grades up and have fun through her senior year. Oh, and if she hasn't written her resume yet, she should do it now. It may give you an idea of any holes she needs to fill while she still has time.

And although it's too soon to start getting recs, it's not too early to start figuring out who's who so that you're ready to make the requests in 6 months.

Oh, and do us a favor and have her read through some of the threads here where girls didn't end up in their dream chapter but turned out happy. It makes "us" so crazy when girls are knee-capped by getting released from houses during recruitment or spread around a lot of blame instead of just accepting that it's just how it goes.

[gee_ess]

I second the suggestion to look at the Greek websites/info for each prospective school. Taking a look at the pics of the suggested outfits (then, keeping in mind that those pics usually represent the low side of what the outfits usually look like) will give you an idea of what you are looking at for cost. During both of my daughters' senior years, whenever we needed a dressy dress, I always stipulated that whatever we bought needed to be something they would wear to an event at college.

Also, as a parent, I was surprised at how much more it costs for the 'incidentals' for my daughters. Their campus loves themed functions/mixers and it seems there is always a costume to buy or 'create' to attend. Plus, there is a t-shirt favor for every single event on campus. And of course, my daughters love those.

I may get flamed for saying this, but I am pretty sure a Greek daughter costs more than a Greek son! A good pair of khakis can get a lot of wear but a darling cocktail dress has limited shelf life (or so they think).

[Texasmom15]

Eightisgreat....

Like you, I knew waaaay ahead of time that my daughter wanted to go through recruitment. Knowing in advance allowed us to shop for her graduation/banquet/etc dresses with recruitment in mind as well. So that dress that was a little more expensive for graduation festivities got to play double duty at recruitment.

We looked at the recruitment dress recommendations and found that she had most of what she needed in her wardrobe but really wanted a special dress for pref night.....she wore the same dress she wore to the scholarship banquet.

She did buy a skirt and a dress at Plato's then added slightly nicer jewelry to round out the outfit. Oh yeah....she also bought a new pair of Sperry shoes a few weeks before recruitment started (but she will use them a lot all year).

[Texasmom15]

One other bit of advice.....

Shop early for suitable shorts. It was very difficult to find shorts even in July because stores were starting to get their "fall" merchandise. Also, since the style of shorts this year as quite "short" it was difficult to find a more conservative cut of shorts that didn't have a waistband that looked "momish". My daughter needed two pairs of shorts, one for the first day and one for bid day.

My husband also likes to budget in advance so having one of the dresses count as a graduation requirement instead of a recruitment requirement helped make our spending look quite reasonable.

[AZTheta]

Hey! There are some KILLER shoppers on GC. I've learned about many new online websites and gotten all sorts of shopping tips.

You're already getting a lot of great input.

And there's "our" own ellebud for great style/fashion advice as well. If your daughter is headed to California (I don't see that you mentioned a specific geographic area), ellebud is IMO a Goddess. Maybe she'll pop in on this thread with some suggestions (hint hint).

[honeychile]

If your daughter is going to be in a competative recruitment, you need to add the cost of going out to lunch with alumnae, too. Your daughter will absolutely need recommendations to each of the sororities represented on campus, and many times, that involves meeting an alumna for lunch.

You're getting a LOT of good advice here, but as another small business owner, I'm glad that your husband is making a budget now. We both know how quickly things can change!