Rush/pledge as an online student
 

Can you attend one college and rush at another? I’m asking because my son just got accepted into a state college with his degree being online. He doesn’t have the ability to be physically on his campus because of distance, but still wants to become Greek and “expierence the expierence” of greek life

His college is four hours away. The local he did not get into has a Kappa Sigma and FIJI chapter and from what he has read and researched he identifies with them both.

Unfortunately, job and other commitments keep him from participating fiur hours away, but locally doesn’t . Times are changing and everything is online.

Any input or advice is greatly appriciated.

He cannot "experience the experience" of Greek Life if he's not on campus.

The answer is "maybe". University of Toronto is one example where the school has multiple campuses within the metropolitan area. Some students only come close to the chapter house when it is time for chapter.
It does present some problems with Greek Life since it is hard for the students who attend classes 15 miles away to become officers. I think 4 hours away is pushing it, though.

I"m not sure how he would participate that far away...pledge meetings, etc....it's not a virtual chapter but a real one. One piece of advice, maybe HE should be researching this.Just a thought...

No, it’s really not.

I would see if his school has any kind of support group/fellowship group for online students.

If you’re asking if he could participate in fraternities at a college near you that he isn’t enrolled in, the answer is absolutely not. A group that would let non-students pledge is full of so many potential disasters I can’t even list them all.

And yes, HE should be the one researching this.

Well, never say never on this one...I know some (if not all?) of the fraternities at UT Austin will take boys who are enrolled at Austin Community College. But that (in my mind, anyway) is a different situation than this one - they're actually trying to get into UT. Not some college 4 hours away.

Not sure if Texas A&M does the same with kids at Blinn, but I doubt UT is the only one out there.

The dual programs at Austin Community College/ UT and T A&M/ Blinn are very different from the situation presented. The Texas colleges are cooperative programs in the same town, not 4 hours away.

I almost said something about the Austin/UT/Blinn/A&M situation. The difference, at least as I understand it, is that with the Blinn/A&M relationship, you can only rush if you are Team Blinn—which is a special dual enrollment situation.

It all boils down to one thing. For a university to be able to have authority over a student organization, its membership has to be students of that university. From a liability standpoint, they would need to be students of that university. Now, there are a lot of situations where fraternities are not recognized as student organizations and frankly, I would never allow any child of mine to be in a situations like that.

IF, there was a non-recognized fraternity at the university in your town and they did allow your son to go through recruitment, it may be a bad thing right from the start. He might be perceived as second rate from the beginning (as is seen sometimes in the Blinn/A&M relationship and that may create more negatives than you could ever imagine.

Wasn't talking about the PACE (ACC) UT/Blinn A&M dual programs - those people are actual admitted UT/A&M students, just taking some of their classes elsewhere.

I'm talking about someone trying to get into UT, but taking ALL their classes at ACC, they are not admitted UT students and they are pledging UT fraternities. The women that are straight-up ACC students are not allowed to go through recruitment, but the men have been able to.

And yes, I acknowledged that it's a different situation with the 4 hour difference.