Sorority recruitment fee stays the same despite no early housing costs

| News Editor

Despite the Office of Residential Life keeping housing options open over winter break, the $100-$125 fee for women to go through the sorority recruitment process, part of which takes place during the latter stages of the break, will not be reduced as the Women’s Panhellenic Association was not informed of the changes to Residential Life policy until mid-November.

Women who choose to go through the process of recruitment—of which there are an estimated 500 this year—are required to pay a one-time fee to the Women’s Panhellenic Association, who organize the process as a whole. This fee was $100 for those who paid before November 1 and $125 for those who paid after.

Historically, a stated part of this payment has been put toward participants’ early move in costs, which Residential Life would waive. This year, however, Residential Life chose to leave housing open over winter break, leading some to believe recruitment fees might be reduced.

According to Women’s Panhellenic Vice President of Recruitment and senior Erica Achepohl, however, these fees will not be reduced, as the timing of Residential Life’s decision made doing so a logistical impossibility.

“We found out about [there being no early move in fee] about halfway through November,” Achepohl said. “We had already put our fees into place, sadly, it just so happened that ResLife didn’t reach out to us until halfway through the November process, and at that point we had already bumped up to our second fee and we had already set forth the fees because we opened registration September 1, which is very early.”

Despite the fee staying the same, Achepohl noted that the number of women participating remained high.

“We have around 500 women signed up to participate. Last year we were more around the 470 range and the year before that we had a very large year so we were around like 500-510, so we are kind of right between the past 2 years. Not any big surprise there, but it’s great to see an increase in women participating,” she said.

Despite this, freshman and rush participant Abby Rubin believes more could be done to assist women with recruitment fees.

“I think there should be at least financial aid provided for girls interested in rushing,” she said. “If sororities want to be inclusive to everyone and based on strong moral values like they say, then I think they need to bear in mind the financial limits that many girls face.”

Nonetheless, Rubin is excited to start her own recruitment process.

“I think it’s important to be surrounded by people who can lift you up and help you feel like a valuable member of a group,” she said. “To me that’s what sorority life is.”

Editor’s note: Editor-in-chief Noa Yadidi and Senior News Editor Ella Chochrek are both members of sororities and were not involved in the writing or editing of this story.

Sign up for the email edition

Stay up to date with everything happening at Washington University and beyond.

Subscribe