-- Posted by spiderwebs at 9:53 pm on June 14, 2007 Can someone give me an estimate? -- Posted by gief at 9:55 pm on June 14, 2007 too much, dont try and buy your friends. you may get laid and have the biggest parties, wait then again yeah join a fraternity damn the costs and blows to your reputation -- Posted by spiderwebs at 9:57 pm on June 14, 2007 seriously from someone who isn't anti-greek. jeez, i hate when people do that. its like non-potsmokers saying "pot makes you stupid. pot makes you unmotivated. pot gives you lung cancer." ... -- Posted by VertHorizon at 7:33 am on June 15, 2007 Gief, great way to exploit Greek stereotypes. Anyways, as a non-Greek I can only give you rough estimates. The main difference in costs will be whether that fraternity/sorority has a house. If you're interested in a professional fraternity/sorority, they usually don't have a house and it'll cost anywhere between $200-$500 per semester.  For social fraternity/sorority with a house it will be between $1000-$2000+ per semester. -- Posted by gprime at 2:11 pm on Aug. 14, 2007 Quote: from grief at 9:55 pm on June 14, 2007 too much, dont try and buy your friends. you may get laid and have the biggest parties, wait then again yeah join a fraternity damn the costs and blows to your reputation Buying friends? That is utterly absurd. You are mainly paying for liability insurance, housing, and other normal organizational expenses. I suppose by that logic, joining a high school sports team is also buying friends, since you pay a nominal fee to cover uniforms and transportation. As for cost, VertHorizon outlined them fairly accurately, though obviously it varies quite a bit by the frat and the school. At some, such as at SEC schools, the cost can, from what I've read, be quite a bit higher. But at alot of schools, the aforementioned estimates are pretty accurate. I can honestly say that at my school, frats are cheaper than standard housing and food plans. So, just in terms of financial considerations, it is sounder in some cases. As for the reputation issue, you must be the type of person who cannot separate reality from film. Animal House may represent the state of fratdom at some large public universities. But go to private universities with reputations for solid academics like Case Western, and you'll see that frats are a part of campus life, and not something that damages a person's reputation. In  fact, it is helpful to it. Consider the fact that networking is one of the primary advantages to it. Look at the facts: * 71% of those listed in "Who's Who in America" belong to a fraternity. * Of the nation's 50 largest corporations, 43 are headed by fraternity men. * 40 of 47 U.S. Supreme Court Justices since 1910 were fraternity men. * 76% of all Congressmen and Senators belong to a fraternity. * 63% of the U.S. President's Cabinet members since 1900 have been Greek. * All but two presidents since 1825 have been Greek. -- Posted by dreamweaver at 12:51 pm on Aug. 15, 2007 I also heard it depends on the greek you join and such. -- Posted by smartlake at 10:37 pm on Nov. 21, 2007 The greek system is only slightly more than the dorms.  But you meet way more people and it is just overall a better college experience.  And you'll be with like normal people at college...people who play with multi-sided dice, nerds, pot-heads, punks, etc etc usually don't take part in greek things, so that is a plus.  Everyone who is a house wants to be there, that is something you definetely don't see in the dorms.  Go for it, the greek system is just simply awesome.  If your college has appartment style houses, go for those, they are way better.