Alabama Sorority Costs...Can anyone help?

[jll]

Some really good information here and I sincerely want to thank everyone for your help. I told my D to talk to her Rho Chi and see what she says.

Here is an example: Online Alphi Chi O lists their costs as $4200/$3500. That is first semester/second semester. DZ lists their costs as $2900/$2400. That is a big difference!

My D cannot work, due to her major, which I cannot mention here as it would probably make it easy to identify her. I am not looking at 'extras' like T's, zap's, etc. I am only looking at living out fee's that are listed by the sorority for first year members (if they list it).

yes living in the sorority will cut costs...but that is not until next year and maybe not ever since there are way more members than available rooms. So I am not considering that...only looking at first year fee's as listed online.

I found these costs by doing a search for the sorority, using alabama and then the word cost.

Why is there such a huge difference? I am telling my D to cut houses that she LOVES because we just cannot afford $8000 a year in fee's. UA website Greek Life says that the AVERAGE is 1/2 that. I have found that the amount that they call average is really the cost of the lowest house. No way to plan for this...We want to honor our commitment long term. My older D is in a house in the midwest and I know the advantages to greek life. Trust me you are all preaching to the choir. I WANT her to be in the house of her dreams, but $8000 is more than we are paying for tuition! I have to balance this with my other two kids who are in college too.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by jll

Why is there such a huge difference?

Not specifically about Bama, but reasons dues differ among chapters on the same campus:

Some chapters include things that others don't. For example, formal. In my chapter, if you went to formal, you paid for formal. If you didn't, you didn't. Other chapters on my campus just included it in dues. There are pros and cons to each approach.

Some chapters have more expensive houses to maintain. Some expect the live-outs to contribute more heavily than others.

Some simply spend more during the year.

[Greek_or_Geek?]

Originally Posted by jll

I am telling my D to cut houses that she LOVES because we just cannot afford $8000 a year in fee's.

Like I said before, this strategy will not work. The PNM does not "cut" houses. The sororities cut PNMs!

[33girl]

If you can't afford the most expensive chapter, and really don't know how to budget to do so, then tell your daughter to quit now. Sororority rush is not like going to the mall. You can't see the cute dress at Nordstrom and then run down to H & M and get a lookalike for the fraction of the price.

[IndianaSigKap]

Originally Posted by 33girl

If you can't afford the most expensive chapter, and really don't know how to budget to do so, then tell your daughter to quit now. Sororority rush is not like going to the mall. You can't see the cute dress at Nordstrom and then run down to H & M and get a lookalike for the fraction of the price.

Hands down best post of the day, maybe even week. I giggled