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  #76  
Old 08-18-2019, 05:02 PM
psy psy is offline
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Originally Posted by Titchou View Post
you do know that apartments generally cost more than living in? And the meal plans are the same cost as the required campus one? Yes, Greek Life is always more than non participation...but you get a lot for that -formals, mixers, date nights, retreats, etc...
Yes, that's why I specified live-out costs--the live-in costs probably save money or break even, but that's likely only for a year given the size of the chapters. Do I think it's worth it? Yes, obviously. But I could see a lot of families balking at adding ~$15,000 (assuming one year of living in and meal plan savings) to the cost of a college education. Clearly, lots of UA families are willing to pay that, though.
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  #77  
Old 08-18-2019, 05:30 PM
Titchou Titchou is offline
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So what is it you are actually saying? Greek Life is too expensive? Then why are you here? It just ain't at Alabama....
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  #78  
Old 08-18-2019, 05:54 PM
33girl 33girl is offline
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When I think of what housing + meal plan costs now at my teeny alma mater - and on campus housing REQUIRED the first two years - and the amount of students that go home every weekend, therefore not even being in the very expensive housing - honestly, 15k at a school the size of Alabama sounds like a drop in the bucket to assure they get the most out of their college time.
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  #79  
Old 08-18-2019, 06:18 PM
APhi4Ever APhi4Ever is offline
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My rec girl joined Kappa Alpha Theta. She is over the moon!
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  #80  
Old 08-18-2019, 06:29 PM
carnation carnation is offline
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We have another Chi Omega in the family!
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  #81  
Old 08-18-2019, 06:55 PM
psy psy is offline
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So what is it you are actually saying? Greek Life is too expensive? Then why are you here? It just ain't at Alabama...
Do I think its worth it? Yes.

Is it higher than most other Greek systems, especially considering only one year of living in is likely? Yes, often by a substantial margin, even compared to other housed SEC systems.

Do I think it probably prices some women out of the system at UA? Yes.

Does that matter? Yes, IMO. I think Greek life is wonderful and the costs of a system like UA's are what they are. But they basically require that you have parents that can look at an additional $5,000 or more a year on top of everything else, and go "Sure, honey, no problem." Dues that are half that are manageable for a woman to potentially pay on her own. At some price point, that becomes unrealistic and perhaps prices out good members who would benefit our organizations.
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  #82  
Old 08-18-2019, 07:12 PM
Titchou Titchou is offline
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But the women themselves are driving those chapter budgets! If it was too out of line, THEY would self regulate. The budgets are not handed down from their national orgs. Certainly there are national dues, pledge fees, etc.. As a former financial adviser for moe than one chapter,I can tell you that the largest single item outside of the required ones is "social." And getting that under control is like pulling hen's teeth. Alabama is a VERY social school..so their chapter bills are going to be higher as a result. I assure you -the advisers would change that if they could!
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  #83  
Old 08-18-2019, 09:06 PM
clemsongirl clemsongirl is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Titchou View Post
But the women themselves are driving those chapter budgets! If it was too out of line, THEY would self regulate. The budgets are not handed down from their national orgs. Certainly there are national dues, pledge fees, etc.. As a former financial adviser for moe than one chapter,I can tell you that the largest single item outside of the required ones is "social." And getting that under control is like pulling hen's teeth. Alabama is a VERY social school..so their chapter bills are going to be higher as a result. I assure you -the advisers would change that if they could!
But the women who can't afford to join in the first place can't self-regulate, because they're not inside the system. Sure, if a chapter tried to charge each member $50k a year there would be a mutiny, but as long as there's a big population who can afford it the system doesn't take into account the population who can't.

Clemson dues were about $500 a semester, not including t-shirts and other optional swag, and I'm grateful my parents were willing to pay for it for me but other women were easily able to pay their dues through working part-time as RAs or off campus. When you talk about thousands of dollars that becomes a lot less attainable. I truly do not know what all that money goes towards for Alabama sororities because while chapters at Clemson are not as big, the economy of scale for hosting a formal event doesn't curve that sharply that quickly with a chapter twice the size.
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  #84  
Old 08-18-2019, 09:28 PM
APhi4Ever APhi4Ever is offline
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I know my sorority requires all members to purchase a meal plan at the sorority house. A good portion of the semester fees are for meals. I am pretty sure almost all if not all of the sororities do the same. Now whether members are actually eating at the house is another question.
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  #85  
Old 08-18-2019, 09:38 PM
TriDeltaSallie TriDeltaSallie is offline
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Originally Posted by clemsongirl View Post
But the women who can't afford to join in the first place can't self-regulate, because they're not inside the system. Sure, if a chapter tried to charge each member $50k a year there would be a mutiny, but as long as there's a big population who can afford it the system doesn't take into account the population who can't.

Clemson dues were about $500 a semester, not including t-shirts and other optional swag, and I'm grateful my parents were willing to pay for it for me but other women were easily able to pay their dues through working part-time as RAs or off campus. When you talk about thousands of dollars that becomes a lot less attainable. I truly do not know what all that money goes towards for Alabama sororities because while chapters at Clemson are not as big, the economy of scale for hosting a formal event doesn't curve that sharply that quickly with a chapter twice the size.
On the bright side, I guess these prices will keep the riffraff out.

Oh, wait. That would have been me because even adjusting for inflation, there is no way I could have worked to pay for my sorority membership at these kinds of prices (which is what I did).

These kinds of costs will definitely make sorority membership unattainable for many wonderful women who come from average income families.

It's a bit of an apples and oranges comparison, but it makes me wonder if Alabama ends up going the way of Indiana in terms of becoming less attractive. At the height of the frustration with IU recruitment a few years ago when so many PNMs were ending up without bids, parents (including IU alums) were encouraging their daughters to go somewhere other than IU so they had a realistic chance of getting a bid. There was a huge, now-deleted discussion about it on the NPC website.

At what point does Alabama become less attractive to girls from families of more modest means who still want a Greek experience? There are many other places where they can have an excellent Greek experience at a lower price.
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  #86  
Old 08-18-2019, 10:46 PM
QueenD QueenD is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Titchou View Post
But the women themselves are driving those chapter budgets! If it was too out of line, THEY would self regulate. The budgets are not handed down from their national orgs. Certainly there are national dues, pledge fees, etc.. As a former financial adviser for moe than one chapter,I can tell you that the largest single item outside of the required ones is "social." And getting that under control is like pulling hen's teeth. Alabama is a VERY social school..so their chapter bills are going to be higher as a result. I assure you -the advisers would change that if they could!
In many cases, the most expensive costs are driven by the house corporations not the collegiate chapters. I don’t know how other house corporations run, bu5 for Kappa Delta, there are only two voting collegians on the House Corporation. From a practical perspective, it’s incredibly difficult for collegians to influence anything House Corp is responsible for, including out of house / parlor / CAM fees (which is where things like meal plans are covered).
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  #87  
Old 08-18-2019, 11:34 PM
33girl 33girl is offline
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Originally Posted by TriDeltaSallie View Post
On the bright side, I guess these prices will keep the riffraff out.

Oh, wait. That would have been me because even adjusting for inflation, there is no way I could have worked to pay for my sorority membership at these kinds of prices (which is what I did).

These kinds of costs will definitely make sorority membership unattainable for many wonderful women who come from average income families.

It's a bit of an apples and oranges comparison, but it makes me wonder if Alabama ends up going the way of Indiana in terms of becoming less attractive. At the height of the frustration with IU recruitment a few years ago when so many PNMs were ending up without bids, parents (including IU alums) were encouraging their daughters to go somewhere other than IU so they had a realistic chance of getting a bid. There was a huge, now-deleted discussion about it on the NPC website.

At what point does Alabama become less attractive to girls from families of more modest means who still want a Greek experience? There are many other places where they can have an excellent Greek experience at a lower price.
Are Alabama sorority fees appreciably higher than SIMILAR schools like Arkansas, Ole Miss is the question. Yes you can have an excellent Greek experience, but not the same type of excellent Greek experience. I’m pretty sure every single sorority member at Alabama could walk onto any campus in my state and get a bid and pay a fraction of what they pay now in dues. That doesn’t mean it is the kind of experience they want.

There are a lot of schools that even with scholarships are out of the question financially for students who no doubt would flourish there. That seems to be much more of an issue to wring hands about than Alabama sorority costs.

This is a weird discussion to me. “Sorority membership at a very high profile, high octane Greek school with amazing housing is expensive” seems to be along the same lines of astonishment as “water is wet.”
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Last edited by 33girl; 08-18-2019 at 11:52 PM.
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  #88  
Old 08-19-2019, 12:24 AM
psy psy is offline
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Are Alabama sorority fees appreciably higher than SIMILAR schools like Arkansas, Ole Miss is the question.
Yes.

Alabama is around $7000 - $7500 a year for live-outs, with a chapter meal plan. http://www.uapanhellenic.com/cost

Mississippi State costs are around $4000-$4500 per year for live-outs, including a chapter meal plan. https://www.union.msstate.edu/sites/...tal%202019.pdf

Arkansas is around $3000 a year for live-outs, including a partial meal plan. https://uagreeks.uark.edu/panhelleni...sororities.php

Georgia is around $3000 a year without a meal plan but full live in costs are ~$8000 per year, rounding up. https://greeklife.uga.edu/content_pa...e-content-page

So, yes, UA does appear appreciably more expensive than other similar schools. With 2200 PNMs per year, it seems like the market will bear it, but I do imagine it would shut some qualified women out.

Last edited by psy; 08-19-2019 at 12:38 AM.
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  #89  
Old 08-19-2019, 01:06 AM
navane navane is offline
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Originally Posted by QueenD View Post
In many cases, the most expensive costs are driven by the house corporations not the collegiate chapters. I don’t know how other house corporations run, bu5 for Kappa Delta, there are only two voting collegians on the House Corporation. From a practical perspective, it’s incredibly difficult for collegians to influence anything House Corp is responsible for, including out of house / parlor / CAM fees (which is where things like meal plans are covered).

Having been a member of a house corporation board for 13 years, I can't imagine that any board worth it's sisterhood is trying to sucker it's members out of money when setting the room and board fees. Running even a modest size house is an expensive ordeal! The monthly utility and deferred maintenance costs are quite high. That didn't even account for unexpected mishaps like the heater going out or the roof leak we got over winter. There has to be money in the house corp account for that.

Also, members sometimes forget that money doesn't grow on trees. For example, we've had situations where the members were flushing paper towels and personal products down the toilets in spite of our pleadings that they not do that. One year we spent thousands of dollars on emergency plumbing calls for the backed up toilets. After about the 4th time, we told them they would have to start paying the plumber for any future issues that turned out to be personal products or paper towels. It happened again a couple times and they had to pay out of their social budget. All of a sudden, they stopped clogging the toilets.

Another year, the members asked for 24/7 coffee, juice and snack (granola bars, chips, cookies) availability. Ok....we are happy to provide those comforts to our women; but, that does cost money. That year, they plowed through the food and drinks like it was going out of style and the live-outs and non-member guests were also helping themselves. We couldn't afford the expense of paying triple the amount of the original budget without raising prices. We left the coffee, but took away the juice and snacks.

Those Alabama houses are HUGE mansions and y'all are like, "I don't understand why house corp board can't lower the fees".


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  #90  
Old 08-19-2019, 01:33 AM
psy psy is offline
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AL.com reports that 2,007 received bids out of 2,238 PNMs who attended Open Houses/IWTs (90% placement). The number up bids is up 50 from last year.

https://www.al.com/life-and-culture/...ororities.html
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