These colleges were organized along the same lines as the municipal towns of the empire. Their officers were elected, usually for a year, or in the case of honorary distinctions, for life. As in a municipal town, they held titles such as "quinquennales, curatores," and "praefecti." Quaestors superintended the finances of the association. Their place of meeting, if they were rich enough to have one, was called "schola" and was like a clubhouse. The site or the building was often given them by some rich patron, who was pleased to see his name engraved over its doorway.