The most important thread you will ever read!
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From the "Dad" perspective, I really appreciated the financial obligation form my daughter received before she joined her sorority. It gave a complete break-down of all the expenses and my daughter and I were able to have an adult conversation about the "investment" she was about to make and how much she was willing to contribute to her lifelong commitment. The university she attends provided a pretty broad range of what students and parents can expect. After she accepted her bid, she received the 8-page legal contract again outlining her financial obligation and level of commitment. I made her read it and ask questions before I signed it. So glad the chapter included the parents as part of the awareness.
This is a challenge for the fraternity I advise at a much smaller campus (annual dues less than $1,000 for active members, around $1,200 for pledge year), but guys still pay late or not at all before suspended or they flunk out. We ask the men to share the info with their parents, but many don't for fear of parents not letting them join....different conversation for a different day. This fall, the chapter finally instituted a contract to help with the collections problem. |
The difference between how fraternities and sororities collect dues boggles me, honestly. My friends in IFC fraternities routinely complain about brothers not paying dues or being behind and then not having funds to do things, but in ADPi you've got 30 days to pay or your membership is revoked. No dodging the treasurer with us.
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We had the option of paying monthly or quarterly, but even if you paid quarterly there was no discount - not that there should be, but I always paid quarterly to get it out of the way and I wouldn't have minded a little incentive. |
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Does your fraternity utilize an online billing and payment system? GreekBill and BillHighway are two popular ones. We use Greek Bill and it automatically generates the Honor Board paperwork when someone goes one minute past due. It takes the vp:finance out of of the line of sight because our members also pay directly to GreekBill. You might ask around your campus for options.
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Greek Bill is Awful
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I know that it streamlines the process of collecting dues and hounds those with emails that haven't paid. But, I would think that each NPC could develop their own version at a far less cost and alleviate some of the financial burden on each member. Also, when I opted to pay my daughter's dues by semester, I got monthly reminders. When I questioned Greek Bill why I got an Oct notice for a bill that wasn't due until January, they said that is the way their system worked. I can't imagine if other organizations harassed you for payment before the due date. (Imagine getting a reminder about your mortgage every week until it was due--even though only due once a month!) For those not using Greek Bill, be happy you are not! |
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I wish there would have been GreekBill around when I was a collegian! My BFF and roommate was Chapter Treasurer. It was tough on her. She had to hound sisters and call them to Standards when they didn't pay their bills. The billing companies take the sisterhood part out of being in a sorority for sure. However, they help with the "Business" side since so many parts of a sorority/fraternity are run and handled like a business. I can't imagine what the fees are like for a chapter at Ole Miss where some average 500 members! But in the long run, it's probably worth it. It also means the financial adviser doesn't have to spend as much time writing reports and the like.
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Slight lane swerve, but not.... one of our chapters did a presentation last year about how much money they would have in the budget for fun things if everyone in the chapter did electronic funds transfer rather than credit card payments in OmegaFi... and then they rewarded their members last year with a "free" formal if they made the switch at any point during the year.
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Groups using Greek Bill should be more creative and consider how this is perceived to those who are already shelling out thousands of dollars for membership. |
My daughter's sorority uses billhighway and it is okay but not great. I have to say I really like that her sorority fee is all inclusive. It literally covers everything and we have not paid one dime more for anything other than specific clothing for events. All t-shirts, sisterhoods, crafting supplies, mixers, formals including date's ticket, gas to specific functions, etc... some of her friends in other sororities complain that their tshirt order or events get canceled because girls don't have the extra money at the time. At least this way they can budget as an organization and parents have a clear financial cost.
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