Recruitment Registration Fee

[bamagirl09]

Just wondering what different schools charge to participate in recruitment. How many schools charge a fee? How much is it? Is the cost warranted for what the PNM receives? Does your school have an increasing fee according to the date a girl registers ($xx before August 1, $xxx August 1 or after)?

[violetpretty]

When I went through in Spring 2004 (formal recruitment for my campus), we did not have a fee to go through (although we didn't get any goodies). The next spring (2005), a fee of $10 or $15 was instituted to help with retention and to help cover the fees that chapters need to pay Panhellenic for their new members. The fee last spring (2007) was $15. The PNMs get a t-shirt, a cute pen, stress ball, compact mirror, and some other stuff that I can't remember.

I'm not really sure why some Panhellenic Associations feel the need to charge $90 to register for recruitment when everyone is already on campus (Ole Miss I'm talking to you!). Of course, if you can't afford the registration fee, you can't afford to be in a sorority. However, if a girl is cut from all chapters, having wasted $90 is adding insult to injury. Do they refund your money if you are released from recruitment? Because they should.

[AOE2AlphaPhi]

My school doesn't charge anything, which is good because it seems like MOST of our PNMs go in thinking they won't join a chapter. If we charged, practically no one would go through.

[seraphimsprite]

We didn't have a fee to rush at my school, although we did debate instituting one when I was on Panhellenic but the fear was that it would drive away potential rushees. It was a fairly decent sized state school but not a competitive rush - the school was mostly filled with anti-establishment, anti-greek life types to begin with (Oregon). They may have started charging now though, I'm not sure. And the school where I used to be an advisor had a $25 fee.

[trojangal]

I remember my college charging $60-65 for fees. There wasn't any sort of refund for girls who dropped out, or were released.

[APhi Sailorgirl]

When I was in college the fee hovered btwn $10-15. We wanted to keep it low to have the most PNMs come through, but we did need to cover their shirt, refreshments, etc.

[AlphaFrog]

When I rushed at WIU, it was $5 (maybe $10, but I think it was $5)...that coved the bus rental, but we weren't given t-shirts, etc, and any "goodies" came from our individual RhoChis. This fall, it was $25, but the PNMs got t-shirts.

[aopirose]

LSU –

A registration fee of $125.00—living off campus OR $230—living on campus must be received July 23, 2007 at 4:30 PM. Between July 24 and 30, 2007 an additional $100.00 late fee will be assessed. NO applications will be accepted after July 30, 2007 at 4:30 PM.

Refund Policy:
1. Full Refund of $230 or $125: If PNM withdraws before July 30, 2007--late fee will not be refunded.
2. Partial Refund of 50% of original registration payment: If PNM withdraws on July 30, 2007 through August 6, 2007 (so she can be removed from res life spreadsheet)
3. NO REFUND for withdrawals after August 6, 2007 (unless authorized by the VP of Rec.)
4. Registration Refund of $125: If PNM has a death in family, severe illness, or other extenuating circumstances reviewed by VP of Recruitment AT ANY TIME. (ends on Sat. morning, August 25, 2007)

The housing portion is added because recruitment takes place before the dorms officially open. PNMS also get a T-shirt. I assume that the higher registration costs are partially associated with renting a processing center nearer the sorority houses. Panhellenic used to rent air-conditioned buses to shuttle PNMs from the Student Union to the row plus tents and fans.

I can understand why people would want a refund if they didn’t get a bid. However, the PNM still utilized the services provided by the fee: administration costs associated with recruitment, bus service, if applicable, Greek Life handbooks and so on. It costs money to conduct recruitment from whatever the source.


Southeastern Louisiana University used to charge a $45 registration fee. They reduced it this year to a non-refundable $15 processing fee.

[SthrnZeta]

Wow - $125!!! But I can see why they'd need to charge that if so many women were going through and they had things like buses and tents. I think when I went through I paid $30 and that was mostly for the supplies our rho chi's had for us in their bags (breath mints, hand sanitizer, kleenex, hair spray, etc.) and for refreshments since the individual groups weren't supposed to provide much (they had limitations and no one could leave the room with anything as it might have been construed as a gift) and just for administration fees for all the paperwork, etc. We didn't get shirts but got bid day shirts once we got into our chapters.

[KSUViolet06]

This year, KSU's registration fee was $30 (there isn't an extra fee for late registration). That fee covers the cost of bus transportation to the sorority houses for House Tours & Pref rounds. It also covers the supplies or snacks that Rho Chi's bought for their groups. I think each of the girls gets a little Go Greek water bottle or something.

Ours is also non refundable, so you don't get it back if you drop out or are released.

[twinkle555]

USF charges $65 to register..but if a PNM registers after Aug.1, the fee goes up to $75. They get a t-shirt, a water bottle, a bag, a pen and a notebook. Also, lunch from nice places everyday.

They also get goodies from their Pi Chi's but Im not sure if the Pi Chi's pay for that stuff out of pocket or if they have a budget from PanHel

[OleMissGlitter]

Ole Miss
$75.00 registration fee before the deadline.
$90.00 registration fee after the deadline.

[AOII Angel]

My university did charge a fee for rushing. Now, that was 14 years ago, so I don't remember the exact dollar amount, not that it would matter anyway! All rushees (I'm using that word because it was the appropriate terminology of the time) were required to stay in one of the dorms used by Panhellenic for the week. Rush occurred a week prior to the beginning of school. We were not fed, but we had to pay for the use of the room for a week.

[ISUKappa]

There is a significant fee (more than $100) to go through recruitment at Iowa State. The majority of this fee goes to the school to compensate for housing and meals as recruitment is held the week before school starts and PNMs are allowed to move in early and eat in their respective residence halls. I think there is a price break if you register before a certain date, but don't think it's more than $10-20.

[SthrnZeta]

That sounds really neat to stay on campus for the week prior to school starting for the sole purpose of FR! Staying with all those girls going through it together at the same time - I like that! And then when you move in - they can decorate your new dorm door! How exciting!