It seems like every other day we see a story of a fraternity or sorority getting an awesome new house. I guess it can be expected, considering the monumental growth Greek Life has been experiencing recently. Frequently, it’s individual chapters getting completely new houses or some awesome renovations thanks to alumni support. Every now and then, I come across cases of the schools themselves dropping money on new houses, which is awesome. They’re recognizing the potential. In all, it’s a great investment for the schools that decide to do it.
One such school is Arkansas State University. ASU just built a new sorority row, and it looks pretty damn good. Each of the five new houses at the Jonesboro campus have two stories and 8,050 square feet of the classic Southern look. The five sororities that will be living in the new houses — Alpha Gamma Delta, Alpha Omicron Pi, Chi Omega, Delta Zeta, and Zeta Tau Alpha — all have lease agreements with the school, which will assist in paying back some of ASU’s bonds used for construction.
The new houses, which will each sleep 20, cost a grand total of $9.4 million, which when you think about it, isn’t a bad deal considering you’re getting five good looking houses.
Despite the cost, the school is pretty happy with the decision. Rick Stripling, the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, definitely sees that the pros outweigh any cons here.
ASU agreed to build the homes because it sees “the value and benefit of living, learning communities,” Stripling said.
Pretty much, Stripling and the administration have made an investment here. They dropped some money, some of which will be paid back, in the hopes that the donations from alumni will start coming in. He didn’t explicitly say that, but you knows it’s true. Plus, having the sororities in school-owned housing might give the administration a little bit more control over the girls, which is every administrators dream.
The girls living there will have to pay the same room and board they would if they lived in any other on-campus housing, but considering the quarters, I’d say they’re getting way more bang for their buck. Would you rather live in a brand new house or a 50-year-old dorm with poor ventilation and numerous code violations?
The grand opening of the new sorority houses will be on October 12th, and people on campus are pretty excited about it. Five brand new houses? That’s a pretty big deal, considering it’ll be the first time these sororities have had houses on campus.
[via Arkansas Business]
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BlutarskyTFM (@BlutarskyTFM) is a contributing writer for Total Frat Move.
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