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Q. Apparently, we now have a chapter for the National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NSCS) on our campus (in Fla.) run by students. Has anyone had any dealings with this organization? They have a very impressive Honorary Board of Regents. Is it beneficial to students who pay the $60 fee to join?

A. yep...particularly if the students themselves take the lead in programming, etc...

A. We also have a chapter here at our U and although it looked promising at first, not much has happened with it. However, I think they have (or used to) a leadership conference in the summer that sounded worthwhile.

A. Didn't the Chronicle do a piece in the fall on the dubious merits of some for-profit honor societies? One of the issues I always raise with students is whether the society that has invited them is a member of the society of honor societies - which does not allow for-profits I believe. I do not recall NSCS status exactly but would check.

A. NSCS does not belong to the Association of College Honor Societies. "Dishonor Society," the article in the Chronicle, appeared on March 22, 2002. NSCS is discussed on page A40.

A. I didn't see that article but our experience with Golden Key is that it is absolutely not worth joining especially for the $60 they ask. One student though took great offense to this opinion because apparently her friend is the VP of our chapter! Our campus actually had a pretty active chapter, though, in previous years, and so although I tend to advise students to stay away, I wonder if this still can be a good outlet for students who don't have other leadership opportunities readily available to them.

A. From my perspective, the integrity, value and "honor" of these outfits vary from chapter to chapter and from campus to campus. I tend to hold Golden Key and NSCS in low regard. (When it comes to the latter, I have a problem with an organization that recognizes scholastic excellence based on just one year in college). However, on our campus GK and NSCS are actually more active programmatically than Phi Kappa Phi. The organization I would counsel all to avoid is the US Achievement Academy and its All-American Scholar Awards program.

A. At the University of Florida, we are being bombarded with the questions from students (and their parents) about whether they should join any societies. Apparently the NSCS mailed something to the parents encouraging them to have their students join and their price of $60 was higher then Phi Beta Sigma and Alpha Lambda Delta at $40 so now all the parents are calling with the question "Is this worth it?" We had a question about the Buckley amendment, is it ok for an honor society to send a letter to parents? What do you think? Isn't that releasing educational information? On the other hand, I am the secretary-treasurer for UF's Phi Kappa Phi, and our acceptance rate is about 15% of offers for what I consider to be a legitimate and relatively prestigious organization. I think the overselling of honor societies has made our students jaded and uninterested.

A. Syracuse has both Golden Key and NCHS - both are led by faculty advisors and both have active campus chapters. While I think that membership in the Association of College Honor Societies might be a good thing - it is no guarantee that your local honor society chapter is anything more than a way for the national society to obtain access to mailing lists. For instance, Golden Key at SU offers student members many leadership and service opportunities. Student members elect the executive board each year. That board along with their faculty advisor determines a schedule of monthly service projects. All members are invited to participate and MOST do participate in 1 or more of the projects. They also have social events, sponsor members to attend leadership conferences/workshops - both thru Golden Key and other venues, and offer some scholarships (Golden Key national sponsored and local chapter sponsored). NCHS is similar but they are much "newer" on this campus - they were defunct for quite a while and re-organized about 3 years ago. They also offer some scholarships and sponsor students to attend leadership conferences / workshops. They are trying to increase their presence on campus by sponsoring academically focused speaker series. Currently they sponsor 1 lecture or panel discussion per semester. SU has several other "national honor societies" like these that are not linked to a specific academic discipline, as well as many, many discipline-specific honor societies. I think the bottom line is that we and our students need to look at what each honor society is like on our own campus. It is quite conceivable that a Golden Key or NCHS on my campus is a legitimate organization while on another campus is it just a channel for some "out of town" association to pocket the membership fee. There is also the likelihood that, no matter how active or good or legitimate your campus chapter of an honor society is, some students will pay their membership fee and have another line on the resume, and they want nothing more from the experience! And, of course, these groups change character over time. A local chapter that is very active and useful now may simply wither away 5 years from now. I think the bottom line for all of us is "buyer beware"