Kappa Delta sorority’s total anticipated expenses for 2006-2007 are $42,403.50. What do the Greeks spend all that money on?

Of that money, $3,500 is spent on formal expenses alone, which according to

Kappa Delta treasurer Kelly McMahon include buses that pick the girls up for

retreats, plates and decorations.

“Buses themselves cost about $700,” McMahon said.

Other expenses on the Kappa Delta budget include $2,000 appropriated toward

office supplies, $2,880 for photography expenses, and $1,190 for badge

expenses.

Megan Dolan, president of Kappa Delta, said they have a new copy printer

that figures heavily into their office supply expense. Adding in the cost of

paper, ink, calendars, and recruitment brings the total to the $2,000.

Recruiting alones costs the sorority $2,500 this year, which McMahon

attributed mostly to the cost of the retreat taken at the beginning of the

year.

“[We give out] bid day bags, fill ours with flip flops, pens, a sticker for

the back of the car, and then we all go on a retreat so we can all get to

know each other,” she said.

As far as the badges expense, the badges are pins that cost $30 for each new

member. There are 38 new members at the sorority, and 101 members in total.

Photography costs consist of getting a composite photo of each new member.

Each photo costs $18.95.

Though the sorority’s expenses may seem high, Kappa Delta has a $3,131.50

anticipated surplus with $45,535 in anticipated income. McMahon said that

they do go for “the cheaper stuff” on the expenses list as well.

“Our chapter has one of the lowest dues on campus; at the end of the year

it’s not just a bunch of money adding up,” she said. “We’re usually

basically in the budget, usually around that [$3,000].”

Following creation of budget, a Greek House will submit its finances to its

national organization.

National Kappa Delta, based out of Memphis, reviews the budget after

Eastern’s chapter.

“Once it gets to me, it’s pretty much okay,” said Cheryl Thornton, director

of finance for National Kappa Delta. “We usually just review it and if it

looks like it’s within range, we just okay it.”

Thornton said there really haven’t been any cases where the national

sorority has had to reject a budget, and since Kappa Delta is a non-profit

organization, they like to see that they have some excess money to start the

next year.

Vice President of Recruitment of Interfraternity Council Joe Zoubek said

they give incentives at Delta Sigma Phi for getting money taken off a

member’s dues.

“If you have a 3.5 [grade point average] or higher you get $58 taken off

each semester; if you have a 3.0 or higher, you get $25 taken off. Also, if

all your dues are paid by September 13, you get $50 taken off.”

Zoubek said that they have never really had any problems getting their

members to pay their dues and that the majority of their money is raised

from fundraisers. One of these fundraisers consisted of a Family Weekend pig

roast where the fraternity sold t-shirts and raised more than $1,000.

Although official numbers weren’t released for Zoubek’s frat house, he said

they did not spend a lot of money on office supplies.

“We’re very specific with our money,” he said. “The president and the

treasurer need to sign every check, so we’re very strict to our by-laws of

what we can and can’t do.”

McMahon agrees in a similar notion.

“We keep track of all the checks we write; we’re not allowed to go over,”she said.