Considering quitting

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by 33girl

As I've said before, I'm not really keen on the idea of reduced requirements for seniors organization-wide...it can snowball into an attitude of being involved senior year isn't cool, and as stated above can really be a hot mess for small chapters. Plus for some majors, senior year isn't the toughest one and therefore the academic angle really isn't an excuse. It should definitely be a school-by-school basis.

I completely agree. We had "Senior Status" for a few years. It was a disaster. Practically every Senior would request status for their last semester. The budget tanked and chapters complained. We no longer have Senior Status.

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

I completely agree. We had "Senior Status" for a few years. It was a disaster. Practically every Senior would request status for their last semester. The budget tanked and chapters complained. We no longer have Senior Status.

Right, and this is my point about "early alum" status -- your chapter still needs you!

I think that individual chapters can get creative, but budgets and attendance requirements vary so much that I don't see how an org-wide "senior status" can work. I think you could get creative with the money, but it's tough. Maybe you pay a live-out fee that includes meals at the house (we did!) and you could pay less by opting out of meals your final semester. Maybe your chapter's philanthropy happens in April, and you don't have to buy this year's t-shirt. These things are chipping away at very small dollars, though.

[OPhiAGinger]

Obviously, we're not an NPC organization but OPA has both a "Leave of Absence" status and an early alumna status. The early alum status is automatically granted when requested in the member's final academic semester. LOA status is only given one semester at a time, and the member must petition the chapter standards board to get it. It's routinely given for semesters when you are still an enrolled student but away from campus, like a study abroad or internship. Or it might be granted in unusually stressful circumstances like the member is recovering from a serious illness and making up a great deal of missed classwork in a short time. It depends.

We don't have a flood of people who opt for the early alum status, but it's a welcome option when people are frantically finishing up graduation requirements, interviewing for a job, applying for grad schools, and just figuring out their future life plans. And since our chapters don't have the financial obligations that many NPC groups do (read: no chapter house) the implications to the chapter are really just about missing those sisters' company a little earlier than we would have otherwise.