Frequently Asked Questions

The lifetime national membership fee is $35.00. Each new member receives a membership certificate. A lapel pin may be added for $1.00. Individual chapters often collect additional money from each initiate to use for their own chapter programs. The initiation fee is the only payment members ever make to the national office of the honor society; there are no annual dues.

 The national office requires that the initiation fees for the whole group of new chapter members be sent in the form of one single check or money order, never multiple individual checks. The single check may be drawn on a university account, a chapter account, or the Chapter Advisor’s personal account. A money order is far preferable to this last option. It sometimes happens that a student decides to accept membership in a chapter too late to be included on the original list sent to the national office, or his/her name was inadvertently left off the original list. The national office will of course accommodate these latecomers. Their names must still be sent in on a Membership Certificate Request Form signed by the chapter advisor, and their membership fees paid by money order, university or chapter check, or chapter advisor check.

Around two to three weeks after the submission of the Merchandise Order Form, which can be found in the Forms page under Membership in the menu.

The National Office sends one welcoming email to each new member whose email address is on file.This message includes information about Pi Sigma Alpha and the programs and awards the member is now eligible to apply for, and information on how to access Pi Sigma Alpha member discounts to GEICO and Princeton Review products. This email is meant toserve as a ready reference for important information about the honor society and to relieve chapter advisors of some of the responsibility for answering members’ questions about benefits The email addresses are never shared or sold, and the National Office does NOT send multiple emails to members.

 A membership form should be emailed to the national office at office@pisigmaalpha.org. The national office will not put a request in the processing queue until it is complete, and that means complete with payment of fees.

Yes, the national office does accept credit cards.

 The national office prints and mails the certificates as fast as possible and always in the order in which the requests are received. The only stage of the process which can be expedited is the shipping. Chapters may send their forms to the national office by any fast delivery service they choose and, if necessary, may enclose prepaid self-addressed FedEx labels for the certificates’ return journey. Please don’t do this unless you really feel it’s necessary, however, and remember that enclosing a FedEx return label has no bearing on your request’s place in the printing queue.

Forms to order Pi Sigma Alpha jewelry (gold pins, keys, tie tacks, necklaces), and coffee mugs may all be found on the Forms Page under Membership. Graduation medallions, honor cords, banners, and extra enamel lapel pins must be ordered by the chapters on the Membership/Merchandise Order Form; along with memberships. Be sure to fill out the form completely. Jewelry and mug orders are forwarded by the national office to the manufacturers who then ship the merchandise directly to you. Jewelry orders take 4-6 weeks to fill; mugs about 10 days. The national office fills orders for banners, medallions, honor cords, and enamel lapel pins directly from its stock, and shipping is fairly prompt.

NOTE:The National Office cannot accept individual members’ orders for medallions and honor cords. These items MUST be ordered by the Chapter Advisor, on the same form as memberships. Individual members may still order jewelry — gold pins, keys, tie tacks and necklaces — after they have been duly initiated into their chapters and their names have been entered in the national membership data base at the national office.

We prefer to handle as few checks as possible. The order form makes it easy to figure out what the check is meant to cover (10 memberships @ $35 + 10 medallions @ $17 + one banner @ $45 = $545 for instance), and the national office is glad to have combination payments.

Even though the national office typically ships medallions and cords within a week of receiving the prepaid order, we urge Chapter Advisors to plan ahead so students may be sure to have these thing in time for graduation.

Chapter Advisors, please consider ordering a few extra medallions and/or honor cords from the national office in advance, and retailing them to your members as needed

Membership in the honor society is possible only for students currently enrolled in political science programs in departments where chapters are located, who meet the specific academic eligibility criteria. Their eligibility must be verified by the chapter advisor, and their names sent to the national office on an official form. Individuals cannot join on their own.

No worries.If your certificate was lost or damaged, or if your chapter misspelled your name on the form when they sent it in, the national office will gladly issue your a corrected and/or reprinted certificate.The charge is $15, payable by check or money order to Pi Sigma Alpha. When you mail in your request, be sure to include the name of the school where you became a member, and your mailing address.

Then by all means please e-mail the national office at office@pisigmaalpha.org with your questions. Be sure to indicate the name of your chapter in your email, and provide a mailing address if something needs to be sent to you. We’ll answer as quickly as possible!