While sororities provide need and merit-based aid, some students still opted out of the rush process due to financial concerns.
Sophia Stone
Staff Reporter
Rachel Mak, Staff Photographer
Last week, students rushing Yale’s Panhellenic sororities — Kappa Kappa Gamma, Kappa Alpha Theta and Alpha Phi — received bids to join. As they settled into their new memberships, the News talked to sororities about their financial aid offerings.
This spring, 239 first years and sophomores rushed Yale Panhellenic sororities. Of those, 119 received bids from Panhellenic sororities. The Panhellenic sororities declined to disclose their dues, citing their national organizations’ policies, but the News previously reported that the dues associated with the sororities ranged from $350 and $750 per semester in 2018.
“We know that joining a sorority is a financial commitment, and work with each of our members to offer personalized payment plans alongside the scholarships mentioned above to make Kappa as accessible as possible,” Emma Neville ’27, vice president of finance for Kappa Kappa Gamma, wrote to the News. “We are committed to fostering an inclusive and accessible environment for all members, regardless of their financial background.”
Neville wrote that Kappa offers various need-based, merit-based and graduate school scholarships for members and a $500 scholarship for one new member in each sorority provided by Yale Panhellenic.
She added that Kappa’s current membership reflects a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds.
Alexa Drovetsky ’27, vice president of finance for Kappa Alpha Theta, wrote that the Theta Foundation provides more than $800,000 in academic scholarships to Theta members annually, with a minimum scholarship award of $1,000, more than triple the amount of semester dues.
While all Panhellenic sororities offer some financial aid, some students told the News that they were uncertain whether they would receive enough to accept potential bids.
“When I started the rush process, I went in with the mindset that I wasn’t going to accept a bid if I got one because I wasn’t going to be able to afford the dues,” Valentina Lara ’28 told the News. “I had an experience when someone who was rushing with me asked why I wasn’t rushing Panhellenic, and when I explained that the dues were prohibitive, they seemed surprised.”
Sophie Mo ’28, who also dropped out of the rush process due to costs, said that she was “shocked” to see the dollar value of sorority dues as she was unfamiliar with the process. Beatrix King ’28 also shared that she didn’t consider rushing Panhellenic sororities due to higher dues, knowing she would be paying out of pocket from a student job.
King and Laura both agreed that transparency surrounding financial aid was important to them in deciding whether to rush.
Students who rushed Aeris — which separated from the Panhellenic sororities last year — also received bids last week. Aeris charges $425 in dues for the first semester, $375 for subsequent semesters, and $250 a semester for seniors.
Jaylynn Cortes ’27, vice president of finance for Aeris, said that in addition to guaranteed aid for all students on Yale financial aid, the group also offers special circumstances requests for pledges paying their own dues without parental support, payment plans and extensions.
“I’m first-generation low-income and pay my own dues myself, so this is definitely something that is personal to me,” Cortes told the News. “I have a job on campus, and the financial aid and payment plan was my savior last semester. $375 is a lot for a college student paying on their own.”
Cortes added that providing greater amounts of financial aid was a primary reason for Aeris’ disaffiliation from the Pi Beta Phi in January 2024. Aeris now reserves nearly 10 percent of their budget for financial aid.
Kappa Alpha Theta is the oldest national sorority and the first at Yale.
