Wasn't a frat. Just a big house with 7 other guys. And trust me, I was out of place. It was like my year living with the cool kids.

maybe u of mighican students are just so morally superior to everyone else in the country they are willing to expend tons of effort and dollars for no compensation. but ya, all of this plus the inherent risk of getting caught and facing massive fines, are the explicit and implicit costs of throwing big parties. I think people who dont think that people should be charged underestimate these costs, and underestimate how big of a service that is provided by throwing a party. like i mentioned before, as someone who attended other parties, i was happy paying 5 dollars. Thinking about it, id have probably even paid ten, and conversely we could have charged ten and made more money.

w/r/t frats, at least around here, they didnt charge people to attend. At the same time, it wasnt open to everyone. There was a restrictive list, and you had to be good friends of people in the frats in order to get in (or be a hot girl). Luckly, i was cool with a lot of people in frats, and was able to get into almost every party, but its still relevant. Not to discredit them for not charging, but in my mind its a lot different. As people have mentioned, most get togethers where only friends are attending results in people not getting charged, which is what happens with frats around here. Also, every frat threw parties (where everyone from any other frat was invited), so each individual frat splits the cost (or incurs a cost less often) with other frats to party every weekend. basically, frat parties and house parties are a lot different and it makes a lot of sense why people in frats wouldnt charge, but people throwing house parties would.

I finished school in 98- sheesh.

These were UW cops (real cops, but specific to campus) who had been breaking up parties I've been going to for as long as I was in school. They were always pretty cool- mostly they just wanted you to keep the noise down and not piss off the neighbors. I suspect it may have been much different with SPD.

Other amusing party story. Day before one of them, my friend has the deck stolen out his car. Day after, it's back in our mailbox with a note that said "sorry dude". I guess the crew that had been breaking into cars in the neighborhood got invited to the party and realized who they'd stolen from and felt bad.

Who did you quote that went to michigan?

if u can't afford to throw a house party u shouldn't be throwing a house party

roommates and i have asked friends to bring booze or help throw down on kegs, but charging ppl who just randomly come is a thought too absurd to have ever crossed my mind

dye, i was referring to these two posts. Riverman went to michigan right?

no... it's more like applying this concept:

to house parties that allow everyone to attend... that's just a common sense solution

At Michigan, a given house will throw a party 1-2 times a semester. If you're going to enough parties on nights you're not throwing one, you're going to pretty much break even.

lol were talking about college students here. If all parties consisted of the people who could afford to incur the massive costs, then there would almost be no parties.

i dont get this. How is this organized? is there a meeting of houses where its determined whos throwing parties and when? or is it some kind of unwritten rule? id imagine if nobody is being charged that there is a lot of social loafing going on.

Unwritten rule plus its a big campus so there are hardly any dead nights.

Exactly what kind of party are you talking about? If you're throwing a small or moderate sized gathering among friends then sure. We threw a small halloween party with maybe 20-25 people, and me, gf, and 4 friends paid for it. No big deal, it was like $25 for each of us and it was a one-time deal.

I'm talking a ****ing house party man, where you have 100+ people showing up from god knows where to get trashed and you go through multiple kegs and things of jungle juice. And the places that held these parties would hold them nearly every weekend, sometimes both Friday and Saturday.
At a house party where say 100+ people show up by word of mouth, the owners of the house would be lucky to know what, 20 people? I went to a public university, not a mommy-daddy trust fund school. People are broke and aren't gonna buy 6 kegs just so 100 people can have a good time on principle. So yeah, you pay the people at the house $5 for a cup and drink for real cheap. The party gets paid for that way. Just how it works.

And if, as a college student, you can afford to drop a couple hundred bucks just cuz you feel like partying, then congrats. You're either awesome at poker, have rich parents, or have some of the worst money management skills ever.

Schu knows what's up imo.

The first two and the last on that list aren't really exclusive.

Blink-182 even wrote about paying at a party

"I paid my 3 and the girls got in free"

the fact that its a big campus increases the social loafing that goes on there. If nobody charged, then I'm guessing there are a ton of people who just don't throw parties, but go to them all the time. And why wouldn't they when there are hardly any dead nights, and when there is no incentive to throw parties? The costs for partying in this system are highly unequally distributed.

No one use the phrase fr.ee rid.er lest we be overrun by politards

next were going to be talking about moral hazard

I love the arguments about the liability of throwing a huge free party as a reason for charging to serve alcohol unlicensed.

oh boy

The fake outrage over a $5 fee for unlimited beer is lol.

yeah this, seems like you are just asking for things to go from bad to worse if something goes wrong especially for a fraternity.

in a frat, sure, but in a house party, the chance of the cops giving a ****, or even finding out, about you charging five dollars for a SOLO cup seems rather insignificant, especially if you are cooperative

just don't be a dumbass when it comes to the cops, it really is not hard


but i guess a lot of this depends on your ability to avoid idiots coming to your house party.

You know how I know you're white?

judging from every thread i read on this site, it is

$5 for a red solo cup is pretty std (if you're a dude)