Membership in the Purdue fraternity, sorority and cooperative life community pays dividends not just with GPA, but also with community service.
The fall 2019 statistics released recently by the Dean of Students indicate that the 6,407 members of that community earned a 3.13 semester GPA (3.20 cumulative) compared to an all-undergraduate 3.10 GPA (3.19 cumulative). It was the 13th consecutive semester that members’ GPA in Fraternity, Sorority and Cooperative Life (FSCL) exceeded that of the all-campus average.
Membership in those groups represent 19.0 percent of the undergraduate population.
Collectively, the community volunteered 43,868 hours, or 6.85 hours per member in the fall semester, and raised more than $500,000 for philanthropic purposes, or $90 per member.
Of the 6,400+ members in the community, the largest group is from Interfraternity Council members with 3,165, or 16.6 percent of the undergraduate males. The next largest membership is from Panhellenic Association groups with 2,704 involved, or 18.6 percent of the undergraduate females.
The other groups that comprise the fraternity, sorority and cooperative life (FSCL) community include 358 men and women of the Purdue Cooperative Council groups, 136 from Multicultural Greek Council and 44 from the National Pan-Hellenic Council.
Panhellenic groups average 129 members while IFC averages 75.
The most recent statistics indicate a four-year graduation rate of 70 percent for FSCL members, compared to 61 percent for Purdue undergraduates. The five year-graduation rate is 86 percent compared to 79 percent for the general undergraduates and the six-year rates are 88 and 82 percent.
There were 90 FSCL organizations listed the fall statistics.
There is a stark contrast between the houses costs of fraternities and sororities compared to cooperatives, too. Fraternities cost an average of $9,528 per academic year while Panhellenic sororities cost $10,084. Men’s and women’s cooperatives’ in-house costs average $3,188 per year.
Marwood Cooperative had the highest average GPA with a 3.55 fall semester from 28 total members. Ann Tweedale Cooperative and Kappa Alpha Theta tied for second with a 3.46 GPA from 43 and 163 members respectively.
Sigma Alpha Epsilon was the largest organization in the fall with 167 members. Pi Kappa Phi was second in size (166 members) followed by Kappa Alpha Theta (163). Chi Omega, Phi Mu and Delta Tau Delta all tied for fourth largest at 146 members.
In terms of philanthropic dollars raised, Pi Kappa Phi was No. 1 at $75,563, nearly double its closest competitor, Sigma Tau Gamma with $40,708. Third highest was Zeta Tau Alpha raising $37,372 and Alpha Tau Omega at $27,244.
Sigma Kappa was the organization with the most service hours reported for the fall with 2,997, followed by Pi Kappa Phi (2,430 service hours) and Alpha Omicron Pi (2,402).
Within the 11 groups that comprise the Purdue Cooperative Council, Circle Pines was the largest with 57 men. It was also No. 1 in service hours with 427. The top fund-raising cooperative was Ann Tweedale with $8,867.
Delta Sigma Theta was the largest of the National Pan-Hellenic Council groups with 11 members. It also had the most service hours with 391 and raised the most money for philanthropies with $130.
Among Multicultural Greek Council members, alpha Kappa Delta Phi had the most members with 33 and raised the most money for charity at $1,790. Sigma Lambda Gamma had the most service hours with 394.
