cost

The majority of sorority girls at bama have money or are working part time jobs to pay their dues. Obviously, greek life isn't for everyone but if you're planning onrushing your family should be well aware of the financial aspects of joining.

food is a big part of the cost

Kids here are rich. The southern girls come from old money and the oos kids come from rich families that can pay oos tuition. simple as that

It's obviously worth it. You get food which is probably half the cost. And we also have way more social events st much nicer places than sororities at other schools have. If you don't like the price and don't think it's worth it.. idk maybe just.. don't rush??????

If you haven’t noticed a lot of girls are only apart of sororities freshman sophomore year because of costs. I’m sure as an upperclassman you also get busier with your major, clinical, interns etc and that’s another reason girls drop. but if you really want the greek life feel just do it freshman year and then drop. a ton of girls who can’t afford all 4 years do it. But agreed, so expensive and other schools I know who still particiapate in similar functions around 2-3k a year not a semester.

Out of curiosity I looked at dues for UGA, ole miss, and Arkansas, pretty comparable greek systems. UGA’s dues are about 1,500, but it’s important to know that only girls who live in get to eat at their houses. At ole miss dues are about 3,300, similar to our average. At Arkansas they are about 2,000, but I believe they only get lunch and one dinner a week. So looking at similar schools we are pretty on par. Food makes a big difference.

Everyone is being SO dramatic. Posting essays on this site isnt going to change dues. I suggest if you have such a huge problem with it that you go to exec and ask where every penny is going. I'm not rich or snobby but we ALL knew what the price would be going into recruitment and if we felt like it was a waste of money we wouldn't have rushed. Also, if you lower dues, everyone and their mother at alabama would be going through rush it would be insane

It just hurts retention. By junior year it’s considered weird to go to a fraternity party. You go to bars. Not sure how that even started but it makes it even worse. I think the bad part is that it just causes a lot of drops after freshman or sophomore year. At least this year the dues were actually right in your face because before. It was more of a high low and it just didn’t seem real. Panhellenic did do a great. Job this year stressing the actual cost of each one with an emails sent to parents that they had t sign

You really have to think about things that add up

-food
-power, gas, water (super expensive)
-paying the kitchen staff
-paying the housekeepers
-paying the security guard
-paying the landscapers
-paying the house mom
-paying back the loan to the school for the house
-paying 5-7k per date party, more if you’re renting busses (a HUGE expense), and more for a good band
-sisterhood retreat for 400 girls, plus busses
-new member retreat
-mandatory fees per member to nationals
-paying for insurance (another huge expense)

And a ton more. Keep in mind though that a lot of these (food, busses, insurance, retreats, water) increase with the number of members, so smaller pledge classes won’t mean dues go up. Five years ago total was like 300 and dues weren’t any higher.

Become me the treasurer. You'll see where the money goes and get invaluable experience managing a $1.0 million plus annnual budget.

Agree with the above....step back and look how you are living.....$15m+ houses; parties; flowers; food; security; staff; videos; etc

Compare that to the living expenses of kids in school in "major metro areas". They spend that for small spaces and bugs.