It’s a red herring. The people who object to sororities aren’t going to feel magically better if all of a sudden they were or “full rides” were easily available.
They were free - sorry for missing word
Actually, @Pizzagirl, I would feel magically better if I knew that the sororities were available to all. My daughter was kind of sort of weighing the idea until she attended the info session and heard the bit about the dues and associated costs on top of dues and the lack of FA to those who needed it. I guess @Hanna summed up my daughter’s feelings about it when she wrote “Financial aid is very ingrained in the culture at Harvard. Even people who can afford any price might not join if they felt it wasn’t economically accessible to their classmates.”
To those who say that it’s easy to get a job to fund the dues and associated expenses, my daughter has friends who work to pay for their books.
Would you consider that sorority membership is not an essential part of college experience? If you cannot afford it then tough. Many other people cannot afford many other things.
Or you want Sanders to incorporate free sorority membership into his tuition proposal?
When it starts to dominate the school and affect the life of the school, I think it becomes if not essential, a significant part of the school.
You like sororities? Go for it. I am in no way calling for any school with an active Greek presence to disband their frats or their sororities. I am only expressing one person’s opinion. You do you. I’m not going to change your mind and you aren’t going to change mine, certainly not by saying “if you can’t afford it tough.” Just fyi, mocking my viewpoint doesn’t make me more apt to embrace yours.
I do think a sorority is an extra, especially at some schools where the costs are really steep. If membership is something your child wants, you should consider it when comparing costs of different school. Most of the southern school have much higher cost, especially the first year. It’s not a lot different than considering if the student needs a car, or wants to join the marching band or play a club sport. All part of the college experience, all cost money. If the students are not in a house and want to host a party, it is going to cost money.
At one daughter’s school, the cost is pretty low as she doesn’t live in the house. At the other daughter’s school, the costs after the first year are actually less than living in the dorm, including meals, housing and dues, so any financial aid money might actually cover a sorority (if the students gets room and board financial aid). Her sorority also gives out scholarships, and she has a 50-50 shot at getting one.
Why would a student not interested in sororities would go to a university with campus life dominated by sororities/fraternities?
I am not a sorority enthusiast and consider most of them elitist organizations. I grudgingly paid for the my daughter’s first semester last year. This year she paid herself from her summer earnings. Next year she will live there and should save more money on room/board than she would pay in sorority fees.
However I am mocking this idea that we should just divide everything equally - money, smarts, good looks, friendships, parties invitations and then total Nirvana will be achieved. Those who will not want to share we will chase with a megaphone.
As @twoinanddone says above, the costs of joining a sorority are relatively negligible at my daughter’s (northern) school as well, so the “elitist” associations she came into the process with were not relevant to her experience. After getting to know the people in sororities at her school, she also decided that the stereotypes of “sorority girls” were misleading as well. Her sorority sisters pretty much reflect the general population of her school. For my somewhat shy daughter, having the support of smart, interesting women has been empowering. She is very happy with her own experience of being in a sorority, which is what the original article is about.
I will say that, after talking with her, my opinions about what girls go through getting into a sorority are not quite as positive. The sorority rush process is not for the faint of heart, and was very hurtful experience for a couple of her friends.
“The people who object to sororities aren’t going to feel magically better if all of a sudden they were or “full rides” were easily available.”
It would drastically change my feelings about their role, especially on my own campus. I would still have some mixed feelings based on other issues, but this would be a big one. Harvard does a ton to try and fight the economic segregation that happens naturally in any diverse group. Expensive social clubs undo much of that hard work.
“Why would a student not interested in sororities would go to a university with campus life dominated by sororities/fraternities?”
Because it is the best academic fit? Or in many cases, because it is the flagship public school in their state and by far the best option they can afford?
I think there are more economic barriers than just sorority fees. Eating out, fancy vacations, work study requirements in the way, etc. Even if you are invited to a free mountain chalet vacation you still have to be able to pay for the plane and lift tickets. And know how to ski.
Academic fit should exist in more than a few places. State flagship should be big enough so it would be possible to find like minded people. But I defer to you as a college expert.
But in my own house (many moons ago) we had some extremely wealthy people and then we had me (and many more like me) who didn’t have two dimes to rub together. I worked, I saved, I borrowed clothing for the dance. It was fine. There were lots of things I couldn’t do that the others could, like Semester at Sea or study abroad, but that was okay , i couldnt hAve done them if i didnt belong to the sorority. But the interesting thing was those we thought had money , those who had a car and a lot of clothers and could splurge a little, weren’t the really wealthy ones. One girl had gone to Miss Porter’s School and was an old money debutant (not a new money one, the kind where they list her grad mother’s and aunt and mother as prior debutants). Another girl came from Pittsburgh mining money, not quite Carnegie, but close. No one knew. Or cared. They weren’t jetting off to the beach every weekend, and if we went skiing it was not to Aspen but to Winter Park, which at the time was $10 bucks, a dollar discounted if you carpooled.
Everyone can’t join every club. Sometimes it is money, but often it is just not having the same interests or wanting to do the same activities. I think the sororities are doing so well at the old boy schools because the old boys aren’t letting the women in as equals , they still have their old ways and still control the clubs. Harvard doesn’t recognize the sororities, but it’s clear that the women want them and organize them off campus.
The University club was male only for a long time in my town. They finally let women join but I’m not joining their stinking club now because they are still mean.