As spring rush approaches for Greeks at the University of Colorado, fraternities and sororities are witnessing record-high enrollments.

Membership in the dozen Panhellenic sororities is registering at 1,500, after CU chapters saw their largest-ever recruiting class with 973 young women in the fall, said Gardiner Tucker, vice chancellor for student success at CU.

The fraternities -- which don't have an official affiliation with CU-Boulder -- have 1,225 men in their chapters, which is a 12.5 percent increase since last year, said Marc Stine, a spokesman for the Interfraternity Council.

Spring rush for fraternities begins Friday, and members will accept bids -- or invitations -- to fraternities at a ceremony on Jan. 30.

CU's Panhellenic sororities plan to hold an informal recruitment during the spring semester.

CU fits into a larger national trend of increased sorority involvement.

In the 2008-09 school year, there were 90,704 new members in the Panhellenic sororities across the country, which was a record-high, said Kris Bridges, with the National Panhellenic Conference, an umbrella group for sororities.

She said the leadership and philanthropy opportunities are appealing to this generation of students.

"I think we're doing a good job of telling what a sorority can offer," Bridges said. "It allows students to find a home away from home quicker."

Following the alcohol poisoning death of a CU fraternity pledge in 2004, CU put forward a series of reforms for fraternities and sororities to follow if they wanted to remain affiliated with the school. A major deal breaker for the fraternities was a demand that rush be delayed until the spring semester.

The sororities signed on to the reforms and kept their affiliation with CU. For the first time since the agreement, sororities were allowed to recruit new members in the fall, but were required to hold the rush events later, in October.

"They were doing so well and following through with those standards," Tucker said. "The university decided we could go to a delayed fall recruitment."

Fraternities, as a result of not signing on to the agreement, lost several of the perks that come with being a recognized CU group, including discounted office and meeting space on campus and access to student lists for recruitment.

Stine said that since the fraternities separated with the school there has been a year-to-year growth in enrollment.

"We've also experienced an increase in retention," he said.

Retention of sophomores increased 14 percent over the past year, Stine said.

Chi Psi fraternity, which shut down its Boulder chapter following the death of pledge Gordie Bailey, is expecting to reopen and begin recruiting members this spring.

While the relationship between the fraternities and CU is warming, the fraternities are not seeking to re-affiliate with the school at this time.

"We're doing the best we can to build a relationship, but there's not a formal agreement," Tucker said.

Cody Riefenberg, a CU junior who is president of the Sigma Phi Epsilon, said fraternities are strengthening in numbers because they are improving their image and showing they are part of the CU and Boulder community.

"I also think it's no longer us against the university," he said. "We don't butt heads anymore. We have a more positive relationship."

CU leaders have come to some Greek awards banquets, and the fraternities sometimes get discounts on campus buildings.

Over the past couple of years, fraternities have leveraged technology like Facebook and Twitter to recruit new freshman, Riefenberg said.

Contact Camera Staff Writer Brittany Anas at 303-473-1132 or anasb@dailycamera.com.