costs of sororities at university of alabama

[margretlee]

OK, so we have seen the "average" costs on the UA Panhellenic website. On Panhellenic weekend, some sororities gave out cost sheets. However, not all of them did. We can defintiely afford a sorority, especially one of the "average" cost ones. However, we would prefer to stay in that range, so that she will have plenty of money for clothes, tshirts, etc. Is there anyone here that can tell us which ones are the most expensive ones, or rank them according to approximate cost?

[knight_shadow]

Who is "we"?

[margretlee]

my daughter and me

[perfectinpurple]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but all the sororities should be required to give out a "budget sheet" to the pnms that breaks down all the costs of joining; social fees, house live in fees, etc. I know when I went through recruitment (different school though) we were assured that every sorority would at some point hand one out.

margretlee- I know the cost can be a big issue especially now, but many sororities offer payment plans and even scholarships that the girls can get. I know one of my best friends applies for and recieves a scholarship from our nationals that helps her pay for certain costs.

[Zillini]

Sororities won't share their dues with each other. The accounting firm Greek Resources handles most of the sororities and fraternities on Alabama's campus. They will tell us where we fall in comparison to the other Chapters on campus, but that's about it.

So actually your info is better than ours (the sororities) because you got info sheets directly from the Chapters at Panhellenic Preview Weekend. Those weren't shared with us.

[AnchorAlumna]

Costs are going to run roughly about the same at every sorority. They each have a house, with a paid staff, maintenance, insurance etc. to pay for. The smaller groups may actually be a little more expensive because there are fewer people to spread the cost to. But it won't be THAT much more expensive.

The big difference is the "extras." You do NOT have to buy a T shirt for every event. You do NOT have to buy 6 dozen photos every time they take pictures at an event. You do NOT have to give a huge amount of money to every philanthropy that comes along.

Seems a little late to be worrying about that now??

[margretlee]

The problem is that not all the sororities gave out info sheets. They had little tables set up in a big room, and most of the girls were really nice, well spoken representatives of their organizations. But some did not give out cost sheets. I am afraid that their attitude was "If you have to ask, then you can't afford it." We have money allotted for this, so don't need a payment plan, but would love to stay within a certain range, as we have two other kids coming up right behind her! How can one ask someone to make a committment to join thier organization, but not tell them the cost? Do they wait until you get a bid before telling you what it cost, and then it's too late? She is afraid to ask, because she thinks that will be like an automatic cut.

[Zillini]

Originally Posted by margretlee

The problem is that not all the sororities gave out info sheets. They had little tables set up in a big room, and most of the girls were really nice, well spoken representatives of their organizations. But some did not give out cost sheets. I am afraid that their attitude was "If you have to ask, then you can't afford it." We have money allotted for this, so don't need a payment plan, but would love to stay within a certain range, as we have two other kids coming up right behind her! How can one ask someone to make a committment to join thier organization, but not tell them the cost? Do they wait until you get a bid before telling you what it cost, and then it's too late? She is afraid to ask, because she thinks that will be like an automatic cut.

Handing out the individual Chapter's cost sheets was a new thing this year. It's entirely possible that the reason some did not provide specific line by line breakdowns was because they didn't know others were and instead kept it general. While it's possible that some had an "If you have to ask, you can't afford it" attitude, I think it was more likely that because their Chapter didn't create a specific breakdown they simply didn't know that info to talk about.

Something to keep in mind, the Chapters were allowed to have X of members present at their table. Who was selected was often based on who is well spoken (best recruiters), knowledgeable about a lot of aspects of the sorority and campus life, not to mention who would be available for several hours on that weekend. Those folks aren't necessarily experts on Chapter finances. It's the Treasurer/Finance VP or whatever title a Chapter has for that position who knows this stuff inside and out. She might not have been one of the representatives there.

Let's face it, a lot of members have no clue about finances, even their own personal ones. For many members Mom & Dad pay their bills and they are clueless about how much their sorority dues are. Even if the know the total, they often don't know the breakdown of how much goes towards meals, house dues (aka parlor fees), chapter dues, etc. For some this breakdown sheet might have been news to them too -- even for those who are officers. So it is entirely possible that the attitude you felt was unintentional.

Just so you know, in past years Panhellenic simply provided a general range of the costs and an average for all the Chapters. As AnchorAlumna said, the range difference is not that big. Since this was new we all learned from it and will do a better job next year.

[margretlee]

The "where we fall in comparison to other chapters" would be great. There must be someone somewhere who knows which ones fall into the "high" range quoted on the Panhellenic site?

[margretlee]

AnchorAlumna: thank you for your reply. The Greek.ua webpage lists $6,185 as the high per semester, and $2,490 as the low per semester. That's in-house, and is a difference of $7,350 per year. That may not seem like a lot to you, but I have three girls, and multiply that out over the next decade or so, and it will add up. I realize she will not be in-house the first year, but hopefully within the next few years. The out-of-house difference in the high and low cost is $3,550, as well. That amount would is significant enough to cover tuition or housing for a semester. That may be pocket change to some, but in this economy, everyone seems to be tightening up some.

As for the comment that it's a little late to be worrying about it now, our home has been greatly affected by the economic situation, and the effects of that are more evident now than when she first signed up to rush. I think this is the right time to be wondering about the costs. I sort of assumed that the girls would be given something at convocatioin, but I guess not. Unfortunately, most of our family graduated from a different college, so we do nto know as much about the sororities at Bama.

[AnchorAlumna]

I think the high-low difference is really and truly less than what is listed. What I found as chapter treasurer (albeit that was a LONG time ago) is that the higher ones list more actual costs than the lower ones. Yes, there will be differences, but not by that big of a range. The person who did the high one thought of more costs to include than the person who did the lower one.

I believe AuburnMom may be a little low...I would plan closer to $4,000 for the first semester. The first one is the most expensive, because there are extra pledge fees, house corporation fees, initiation fees, a badge, etc. that will not repeat.

And it bites MORE because they're not living in the house. It's MUCH more reasonable once they're in the house and your not paying high parlor fees along with dorm or apartment rent. You do realize daughter will be charged for ALL meals at the house? So be sure she eats there as often as possible! The university has some kind of arrangement for the dorm meal fees once a girl pledges.

After that first semester, the cost is much closer to the $3,500 that AuburnMom quoted.

Sororities with houses have the highest costs, obviously because they're running a house with a kitchen that has to meet health department standards (yes, they're inspected regularly), a staff, maintenance, etc etc. So for her siblings, encourage them to go to a school where sororities don't have houses! I always thought Auburn's sororities had the best deal: a beautifully decorated chapter room, chapter members in the dorm above, and no mortgage, salaries, and kitchen to pay for! Although their rent has gone up wickedly thanks to the new dorms, so I'd bet that $1,300 figure is no longer accurate.

Why don't the girls communicate the costs ahead of time? Well....they're 19 and 20 years old.

[Zillini]

Originally Posted by margretlee

AnchorAlumna: thank you for your reply. The Greek.ua webpage lists $6,185 as the high per semester, and $2,490 as the low per semester. That's in-house, and is a difference of $7,350 per year. That may not seem like a lot to you, but I have three girls, and multiply that out over the next decade or so, and it will add up. I realize she will not be in-house the first year, but hopefully within the next few years. The out-of-house difference in the high and low cost is $3,550, as well. That amount would is significant enough to cover tuition or housing for a semester. That may be pocket change to some, but in this economy, everyone seems to be tightening up some.

As for the comment that it's a little late to be worrying about it now, our home has been greatly affected by the economic situation, and the effects of that are more evident now than when she first signed up to rush. I think this is the right time to be wondering about the costs. I sort of assumed that the girls would be given something at convocatioin, but I guess not. Unfortunately, most of our family graduated from a different college, so we do nto know as much about the sororities at Bama.

Please provide a link to the site where you are getting the $6,185/semester as I can't find it.

Instead the following is directly quoted from the UA Panhellenic Website frequently asked questions about how much does it cost to belong to a sorority:

Total Average Fees (per semester):
Resident: $2,497.540
Non-Resident: $1,721.82

ETA: The primary reason why it is cheaper to belong to a sorority at Auburn is that they do not have physical houses.

[Titchou]

Originally Posted by margretlee

AnchorAlumna: thank you for your reply.
As for the comment that it's a little late to be worrying about it now, our home has been greatly affected by the economic situation, and the effects of that are more evident now than when she first signed up to rush. I think this is the right time to be wondering about the costs. I sort of assumed that the girls would be given something at convocatioin, but I guess not. Unfortunately, most of our family graduated from a different college, so we do nto know as much about the sororities at Bama.

I think what she meant was that since recruitment has already begun, it's a little late to say "Susie, don't fall in love with the AAAs as they are too expensive." The train, so to speak, has left the station and trying to change direction at this point is more than an impossible situation.

Since it's not possible to get each group to break things down in the same manner (some don't charge things the same way as others,some pay things annually, some monthly, some are one time), it can be troublesome to get a fair assessment. Keep in mind that some groups may have used the live in cost for a 4 girl room and others may have used the cost for a single. And there's no way you'll find that out at this point. And that's just one place where the $ can honestly differ.

[AuburnMom08]

At Alabama I would plan on roughly $3500 per semester for dues and housing, $2500 if she doesn't live in the house. I don't imagine it would vary drastically from highest to lowest. I definitely would not ask about it if I were her.

As far as do they wait until your daughter gets a bid before telling you the dues? Yes. They do. I had no idea what my daughter's dues were until I got the bill for them lol but I wasn't caught off guard, I knew roughly what to expect based on the info they had on the AU greek life website.

[AuburnMom08]

And if I had to guess about Bama, I would say old row probably is on the higher end of the average, but I don't know at all, just guessing here.