[LAblondeGPhi]

For the past couple of days I've been trying to mull over my experiences at UCLA and Georgetown to gain some meaningful insights into this topic. I've mostly failed ;P

I did feel more aware of wealth at Georgetown than I did at UCLA, so I think I can understand the author's concern with class discrimination, real or perceived. And I think there is a significant difference between chapters that have houses and chapters that do not. At UCLA, live-out dues were more than $2,000 a year - and this was ten years ago. But, living in the house was much more cost-effective than living in an apartment or dorms, so if someone wanted to be in a sorority, they could easily make the finances work in their favor.

That said, many big universities now have chapters several times larger than what their physical houses can hold, so there can be real concern that a new member would never get the opportunity to live in her house and reap the benefits of the reduced costs. And of course, schools without facilities never offer the financial benefits of living in at all.

All that said, I think it boils down to this:
The author, and prospective members, shouldn't look at the $500-700 as an additional expense in their college budget; they should approach the figure as pre-paying for social activities they would otherwise spend money on. No, of course it won't be totally equal - there are national dues and badge fees and whatnot - but the majority of dues at unhoused chapters tend to go into programming. Every decision has an opportunity cost: almost any activity you join means that you have less time and less money to devote to other activities.

Sen - I can't speak for undergrad financial need, but my understanding is that Georgetown has a much smaller endowment than peer institutions. I know at the business school, we gave out far less money in merit scholarships to prospective students than other comparably-ranked schools did, and we lost a lot of potential students because of it.