I know some girls in my chapter don't have badges. I think some other orgs include the price of badges in their dues.
Most of my class got badges because we were the charter class! We actually got smaller temporary badges because we were charter members and those were replaced when our real badges came in the mail. This is only done for installations, though.
Mine has pearls and the Eta Mu guard as well as the ritual dangle. I took off the guard one time when I was wearing a dress and never put it back on.