“I’d love to have every student interested to do it, but there’s not money out there. There has to be costs associated with membership and these are nonprofit organizations.”

Seiler added that living in a sorority house can often be cheaper than paying for room and board in the residence halls. She said the average cost for room and board in a Panhel sorority house is $7,344, which includes 19 meals per week. The average cost for room and board for a double room in a residence hall, including the 150 block meal plan, is $8,590, according to University Housing’s website.

“Room and board in a sorority is generally lower than it is in a residence hall, and it’s an eight-month contract,” Seiler said. “Living in a sorority house is a bargain.”

While Seiler said that students who do not have the financial means are at a disadvantage when it comes to joining in Greek life, IFC President Ari Parritz said the cost of chapter dues is usually not something that hinders students’ ability to join the Greek community. The cost of dues for IFC chapters are not released to the public.

“Any student, from any socioeconomic background, is equally considered during recruitment,” Parritz said in an e-mail interview. “Most individual chapters, as well as their national organizations, offer extremely generous need-based scholarships. As such, cost is most often not a prohibitive measure in a student's decision to go Greek.”

Most IFC chapters have need-based scholarships available specifically for the chapters’ members at the University, which are funded by their alumni. The IFC does not currently offer scholarships to men in the Greek community, but it does have plans to do so in the future, Parritz said.

“Earlier this year my board discussed if the current state of the economy would affect our winter recruitment numbers,” Parritz said. “Not entirely sure what would happen, we were obviously ecstatic when we saw our numbers soar this winter.”

Some IFC chapters, including Sigma Phi Epsilon, even offer scholarships to students before they arrive on campus, Seiler said.

“A couple of IFC fraternities, in an effort to get interest in Greek life and in their fraternity will offer scholarships to incoming students and there’s no obligation to join,” Seiler said.