COD student Brenton R. received an acceptance email from the Phi Beta Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, with a disclaimer stating, “COD students sometimes receive emails from Honorsociety.org. This honor society is not the same as Phi Theta Kappa and is not affiliated with the College of DuPage.”

Another year of school is wrapping up, high schoolers transitioning to be a freshman have a choice of joining numerous honor societies.

According to an “Investopedia” article by Janet Fowler, “Honor societies are organizations intended to benefit and group together like-minded individuals based on academic excellence, leadership abilities, and other similar interests or abilities. Some of these societies may be known as professional fraternities, depending upon the organization.”

A poll, titled “ ‘Honor Society’ Scam?”,  was given out by the COD Newsletter on March 23:

• 45% shared they have been contacted by a proclaimed honor society that they believe is a scam and is not affiliated to COD.
• Responders expressed “Honor Society Foundation” was the organization that reached out.
• The reason why responders questioned the society’s legitimacy is because many heard from others it’s a scam.

The Honor Society Foundation was founded in 1998 and the CEO is Mike Moradian.

There were many comments about the Honor Society Foundation being a scam, let’s compare them to other honor societies:

• Reddit Claim: “A real honor society wouldn’t charge you. This is a complete and utter scam” (RandomJPG6, July 2014).
  • Honor Society Foundation shares they charge “ $65 for a six-month membership equals just over $10 a month, yet the membership provides members like you with access to valuable benefits, and priceless community and networking opportunities.”
  • Depending on the membership tiers there will be different benefits:

• • Other honor Societies and their fees:
    • Phi Theta Kappa lifetime membership fee of $80
    • Psi Beta lifetime membership fee $50
    • Alpha Mu Gamma full membership $25 and the chapter can collect from each active Full Member whatever local dues the chapter imposes
  • With additional research, it can be seen that other major honor societies even recognized by COD require a fee or an occasional fee.

• Trustpilot Review: “Not Endorsed by ACHS, Low Standards for Acceptance, Tons of Spam” (Kevin, Feb 2021)
• Association of College Honor Societies (ACHS)
  • ACHS Certification search: Honor Society Foundation “0 results”
  • According to ACHS certification:
    • Phi Theta Kappa “0 results”
    • Alpha Mu Gamma “0 results”
    • Lambda Epsilon Chi “0 results”
    • As seen here, the Honor Society Foundation as well as other societies recognized by COD had zero search results according to the ACHS Certification.
• Trustpilot Review: “A zero. I got an F in every single class. So after I got placed on academic probation, I was considerably shocked to receive an invite to an HONOR SOCIETY.” (Laura McCrorey, Jan 2021)
• According to the Honor Society Foundation call representative, Maria explained the foundation contacted this person because McCrorey was recommended by a professional or her school, that’s for all students they invite. Either way to qualify for scholarships the student would have to submit their GPA and go through approval.
• Trustpilot Review: “I contacted them directly and spoke to ‘Ashley’ who refused to tell me where the company got my details from and hung up when I asked her to provide the contact details of their marketing or communications representative.” (Nanite, Sep 2018)
  • According to Honor Society Foundation, the invitation may have been sent to you for one of several reasons:
    • A relationship we have with your school or university (for example, we have chapters at over 30 schools across the nation).
    • A partnership with other educational organizations.
    • In select cases, students are accepted via nomination from professors or faculty.
    • Educational excellence in academic standing or GPA.
    • Awards or special honors you may have received.
    • Leadership position or community-service involvement.

• Other Honor Society Foundation negative reviews report their poor customer service and being unorganized when it comes to giving a refund.

It is unclear why COD does not recognize the Honor Society Foundation.

Program Adviser Christine Jandak shared, “I do not know if Honor Society is a scam. I do know it has been around for a very long time. Whenever a student has questions about this agency I tell them they have to pay to join, and then to look at the website very closely to see if this is really a program they would be interested in.”

Honors Program Director Lisa Higgins shared, “I have been getting increased inquiries from students regarding a company called “Honor Society” and other groups that are not affiliated with COD that email students at their school address. I contacted our IT in 2019, and they said they rely on Microsoft to block junk mail. They don’t want to block the “Honor Society” email because some students might want to legitimately contact them or be trying to communicate with them to pursue a refund or other matters.”

However, an IT professional at COD advises in regards to student’s dupage.edu or cod.edu, “Be cautious of any emails that were not expected, especially those with links or that ask for money.”

Honor Society Foundation (12) admits on their website “As a national organization, we operate independently and separately from universities and other honor societies. We have established chapters at over 50 universities across the US. Honor Society chapters are officially recognized through their university’s student organization department as an on-campus organization”.

For example, the University of the People The Education Revolution (UoPeople) rates Honorsociety.org to be the 2nd best honor society to join. 1st place is Phi Beta Kappa.

Keep in mind, this university is the first non-profit, American-accredited, tuition-free online university.

YouTube beauty enthusiast and member of the Honor Society Heather123  shares besides scholarships the society offers, “another thing I really like about the Honor Society is that they actually have people who will help you find jobs, one of the things that college students struggle…”.

Youtuber SWIFTKARATECHOP real name Matthew Brown also shared, “I’ve joined different honor societies. It’s really cheap in my opinion guys Honor Society org is a legitimate honor society with countless benefits at a very low and reasonable cost I think is worth it”.

There are no claims someone paid these YouTubers to endorse the Honor Society Foundation but both YouTubers have over 100k subscribers.

On the other hand, it’s easier to find information on YouTubers and what they do compared to other Honor Society scholarship winners.

Most of the honor society’s five-star reviews consistently share their smooth transaction purchasing the honors regalia but not a lot of five-star reviews talk about the scholarship winnings and benefits.

With any honor society you joined or consider joining, if you don’t make use of the benefits and scholarship offers they provided, you wasted your money. This includes the Honor Society Foundation.

Evidently, many societies will only invite you if you have a 3.0 GPA or over and an accumulated amount of credit hours, therefore, being very exclusive. Since the Honor Society Foundation is inviting everyone regardless of GPA or even if they are not enrolled in school, it is possible the society is endorsing the idea that a student of any caliber has the opportunity to obtain a scholarship.

On the other hand, when applying for a scholarship at the Honor Society Foundation they do ask for your GPA and why you believe you deserve the scholarship.

Overall, members will receive extra benefits such as discounts on certain restaurants, etc., and simply the look of being part of an honor society when applying for jobs or other colleges.

At the end of it all, it is the choice of the invited to proceed to the Honor Society Foundation Chapter or forgo the possible opportunities offered.

COD Honors Program Office:

[email protected]

Berg Instructional Center (BIC), Room 3418, (630) 942-3318