MTSU and UT-Knoxville officials see limited impact, if any, from Tennessee Promise on the schools’ fraternities and sororities.

New sorority houses that opened this fall on UT-Knoxville’s campus were funded through donations and each chapter’s semester rental agreements with members. UT-Knoxville invested about $2 million to partially fund land improvements and village infrastructure, according to university officials.

Since it doesn’t expect much impact on enrollment, UT-Knoxville doesn’t foresee any effect on fraternities and sororities.

MTSU’s Greek Row has gone through some changes since houses went up on the east side of campus in 2000 at a cost of at least $1 million.

In fact, only three fraternities remain in the eight houses, though one being vacated by Kappa Alpha isn’t empty because the lease agreement hasn’t officially terminated.

Four houses are occupied by sororities, and one is used by a Global Learning Community of international students and those studying foreign languages and international studies.

Bad behavior, inability to pay the rent or a combination led to changes in housing arrangements, according to Dan Kelley, MTSU assistant vice president for student affairs.

The Tennessee Promise and the possibility it could cut into student numbers is on “their radar,” Kelley says.

“The Greeks are probably going to have to step it up and be more aggressive in recruiting members,” he notes.

At the same time, though, he doesn’t really believe it will have an impact on fraternity and sorority numbers.

Mitch Denning, who heads fraternity membership for the MTSU’s Interfraternity Council, says an enrollment decrease won’t cause Greek life to go down.

“Right now at MTSU we have many students that are non-traditional students, as well as students that commute. We have one of the largest student enrollments in Tennessee,” Denning says.

“The reason we may not have the biggest Greek life is the amount of students who actually live on campus or around Murfreesboro.”