re: Another pointless hazing death, in today's issue of "Greek life is stupid."

quote:

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When I was in college, fraternity fees/meal plan/housing was within a few hundred bucks or so of living in the dorms with a meal plan. Is it that much more expensive now?

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I actually SAVED money by joining a frat. My parents told me in advance they would pay for tuition and books but everything else was on me so I had to work and save for college.

Room & Board (we had a full time cook who made 3 meals a day) at my fraternity house was $880 a semester and dues were I think $600 a year, plus maybe some other fees. I lived in the fraternity house during the summer too and summer rent was $750 for the whole summer, but had to buy my own food during the summer. So all of my living expenses and entertainment for the entire year were only $4000.

Apartments were I went to college were expensive - $1200 for a 2br (so $600 a month with a roommate plus another $100 for split utilities), plus I would have paid $200 for groceries and probably another $200 for alcohol and social life that wasn't at my doorstep. And dorm rooms and the college meal plan were a lot more expensive than living off campus.

So that's $13,000 a year living off campus or $18,000 a year living in the dorm versus $4000 for joining a fraternity. That's a HUGE saving for someone paying their own way or taking out student loans. Of course you're living in a shithole mansion with 30 drunken rednecks, so that opens up a whole 'nother can of worms.