ALPHA CHI
Convention News
2009
Indy Wednesday with Alpha Chi |
Lowering your cost of attendace is EASY! Convention attendance doesn't have to wipe out your chapter's budget. Though many chapter sponsors assume the national convention is out of the question, with some planning, your chapter can be represented, students experience presenting their work in front of their peers, and your chapter can get a powerful booster shot of Alpha Chi energy! Go with me as we follow the encouraging story of Sponsor Duncan at Eager College... The Eager College chapter of Alpha Chi wants to send one sponsor and two students to the convention. They haven't been to a convention since 1999 and see right away they'll get reimbursed for two registration fees at $30 each from national (The "Come Back" subsidy). They also plan to bring a poster about their chapter's Academic Integrity Panel to display at the Chapter Workshop, so they'll qualify for another $100 rebate. To cut his housing costs, Sponsor Duncan would be willing to share a room with another male sponsor. So he emailed Lara Noah in the national office to get on the sponsor room share list and was matched up with a sponsor from Portland--thus cutting his room cost in half ($162 instead of $323) for the two nights. (Hotel rooms this year are $139 plus tax.) Now his students' rooms pose the problem. Mary and Bob can't share a room, so how can he save money there? He decides to ask them if they wouldn't mind sharing a room with students from other chapters. They're young and up for an adventure, so they agree. Sponsor Duncan registers online, signs them up for Guaranteed Quad housing, and prepays their 1/4 room rate to the national office. National assigns them to rooms of four with students from other chapters. So instead of paying $648 to house two students for two nights, he'll only pay $160. And then there's the Housing Subsidy from national of $30 per night for one sponsor (Duncan), one student delegate (Mary), and one student presenter (Bob). That will be another $180 toward housing. What a bargain! He finds great deals online for plane tickets at $250 each. The chapter account can cover some of that cost but not all of it. So Sponsor Duncan convinces EC's provost to provide the front money for the rest of the plane fare until Region II can rebate the $1,000 it gives to defray travel and other costs for chapters in its region.* Wow! As for meals, the convention registration fee covers one dinner and two breakfasts for each of them. So with the expense of just a few other meals, food costs should be easy to handle. Sponsor Duncan suggests they bring around $50 each to spend on food. As he jots down the numbers, he sees expenses of $1,072 and post-convention rebates of $1,280. They will actually have a $200 credit for food and airport shuttles. You can't beat that kind of help! Sponsor Duncan, Mary, and Bob meet next week to pick up a few books for the Literacy 500 service project (which will qualify them for their free t-shirt) and to talk about their presentations and the discounted NBA Indiana Pacers tickets they ordered from the National Office ($22). They can't wait to get to Indy! *************************** *For the exact details of all the national subsidies and rebates for chapters in your region, look at THIS. I hope you enjoyed my little story and found it helpful as you decide whether or not your chapter can afford to join us in Indianapolis. If you have any questions, please get in touch. Lara Noah |