Chapter 64
Fees for the Degrees
REG. 64-1 MINIMUM INITIATION FEE.
No lodge in this state shall confer any of the Symbolic degrees in Masonry for less than fifty dollars. [5-2.1; 49-10.1].
1. A lodge may charge more but not less than the prescribed minimum fee.
2. Each lodge shall state in its by-laws the amount to be charged by it as a fee for the degrees.
3. The fee for the degrees shall not be prorated in any manner.
4. A lodge shall collect the same fee for the degrees from each petitioner without discrimination.
5. It shall not dispense with, waive, or refund the same or any part thereof by any plan or device whatever, except when the petition is rejected or no degree is conferred. [49-10.1; 64-4.1; 64-4; 64-3; 64-4.5; 66-2; 67-6; 69-2; 73-3.3; 75-18].
REG. 64-2 Obsolete. (This regulation amended, effective 7/31/2000)
REG. 64-3 FEE MUST ACCOMPANY PETITION.
No lodge shall receive any petition for the degrees unless the prescribed fee shall have been actually paid in full, in money, to the proper officer. No written or verbal promise to pay the same be received in lieu thereof.
The fee for initiation less the charge by the Grand Lodge for the criminal background check shall be promptly returned:
when a petition is withdrawn,
the Master refuses to entertain a petition,
a lodge has no jurisdiction to entertain a petition,
the petitioner is not eligible or qualified to receive the degrees,
a petitioner is rejected,
a petitioner elected to receive the degrees becomes mentally, physically, or otherwise disqualified before initiation, or
if a petitioner elected to receive the degrees dies before initiation
1. Where a lodge has legally received the fee for the degrees and the petitioner is elected, the lodge shall refund the fee in full if by action of the lodge it has not conferred the first degree on the petitioner within one year of his election.
2. Should an elected petitioner fail to appear for the degrees within one year of his election, his election shall be void and he shall forfeit the fee paid. The lodge may, in its discretion, return the fee. [64-4.1].
3. If a candidate has moved from the jurisdiction of a lodge after he has been elected to receive the degrees and before he is initiated, he shall not be entitled to the return of the fee paid, but the lodge may return the fee. [42-10; 42-13; 64-4.1].
4. If the lodge has conferred the first degree on the petitioner no part of the fee shall be returned at any time even if the brother is rejected for advancement. [64-4.2; 64-4.3; 69-2].
5. In no case shall the lodge use any part of the fee until the petitioner has been initiated. [64-4.1; 64-4.2; 64-4.3; 69-2].(This regulation amended, efective 1/1/2011)
Where one lodge confers a degree for another, the lodge that does the work can collect only such fee from the candidate as the lodge for which the work is done may direct. The compensation, if any, to the lodge conferring the degree shall be agreed upon in advance. [71-10.4].
REG. 64-6 CHANGE IN FEE. The increase or reduction by a lodge of the fee for the degrees shall not apply to one whose petition has been received and action is pending thereon nor to one on whom any degree has been conferred.