Financial Aid at Notre Dame, the middle class squeeze?

<p>I believe my son has strong chance to get accepted at ND next year (legacy, outstanding grades and scores, good EC's and varsity sports)...but the $50K /year is steep. My wife and I both work so we make good money, but how many kids at ND are paying the full ticket? Is there an typical income level where no aid is given? I want to keep to the rule of having my son graduate with no more debt than what he would make his first year (rule of thumb from financial advisors). Any comments?</p>

<p>S was accepted to ND in EA, strictly on his own merit. No legacy, no minority, no sports. 2 parents working, assets, much debt. We received minimal Stafford/Perkin loan $, some of which was recinded due to local scholarships S received. </p>

<p>With two working parents with decent jobs, you are pretty much on your own. This seems to be the general consensus I've found. Can't give you a definite income level. </p>

<p>We bit the bullet and are going for it. Stomach still churns when I think of the cost. Most everyone says it will be worth it. </p>

<p>So far a great experience, Freshman/Parent Orientation was fabulous. Great campus, great people, at great expense! :) </p>

<p>Good Luck! Go Irish!</p>

<p>My daughter is the oldest of four siblings. We receive no aid and am doing all that we can to curtail our lifestyle so we do not go into debt to pay for her education. It is a cost that I think about on a daily basis. She could have attended other schools at a fraction of the cost.</p>

<p>She is thriving there, but I can't help but think she would be loving the college life no matter where she ended up! It is indeed a special place, but I do question if it is worth the price we are paying. I have an obligation to her other siblings as well, to fund an equivalent education. The thought that I will most likely be paying, with inflation, close to a million dollars for their education makes me cringe!</p>

<p>Son is now a Junior and we are also curtailing luxury lifestyle to pay the $50,000 tuition bill each year. Is it worth it? Without a doubt, we think it will be worth it. He could have attended state flag uni on a full tuition ride, room and board, books, a laptop and stipend each summer, but turned it down (and this was offered to him w/o applying!). He started this fall by telling us that after having visited friends at this flagship uni (they started back before ND) that he now knows that he would not have been happy there-even tho these are some of his best friends! We have been very pleased so far--he had a fabulous internship summer after his freshman year in which the owner of the company wanted to know if he knew of any other ND grads that he could hire! He was accepted almost immediately for a summer REU at our local uni in which I believe the ND name must have meant something. So, right now he is batting 100% with regards to having a ND education. Of course, ask us after next summer when he will be digging into an internship (hopefully!) in his field of study. Yes, we think it is worth it even with the harsh winters and the fact that he is over 11 hours away. We did not qualify for fin aid outside of work/study for our student, which we decided not to push considering the major. We are extremly grateful that we can do this for him and think in the end, it will be money well spent!! BUT, every family situation is different, and financial obligations should never be ignored when making the final decision.</p>

<p>But is ND worth $50K compared to U of Michigan at $23K? It just seems that ND has changed since I went there, we had a lot of middle class kids back then, i went through on an rotc scholarship and did 4 years in military as payback, Reading the alumni magazine, seems like a much more rich environment and I hear a lot of kids aren't opting for the harder majors, since they have the $ anyway.</p>

<p>Yes I have heard that Notre Dame students are more and more coming from rich families, and that the middle class is getting less and less. Being a student, and not knowing what type of family everybody comes from, I cannot justify or discredit that answer, however I would say Notre Dame gives a reasonable opportunity to attend. I myself am very poor, and so ND gives me enough to allow my to attend, and so do many others I know. Everyone I know here is somewhat careful about money, because we are college students, and most of us are broke. I know they are many who can spend on everything and probably buy the rights to name a building, but Notre Dame is expensive to most of us, and at least in my opinion being on the same page as most other students here is helpful because I do not feel out of place or looked upon as inferior.</p>

<p>The ND website reports that 45% of students receive some form of gift aid, so there are plenty of students coming from families with modest incomes. Many of those who do not receive grants are not from "rich" families (ask their parents), and are taking out loans. You can run your income/asset numbers through one of the online financial aid calculators to find your expected family contribution, and go from there.
I think that the university has made a deliberate decision to require some element of sacrifice from families. One thing that makes ND such a special place is the sense among so many students that this was their first choice. They really WANT to be here, which was obvious to us on our son's first day last week.
But every family needs to decide what level of financial sacrifice is appropriate. One of our son's friends is doing ROTC, which is always an option for a debt-free education.</p>

<p>MiPerson80</p>

<p>My Dad went to Notre Dame on the GI bill and graduated with an engineering degree. He feels the same way you do when he reads the alumni magazine. Could he get in today? Could he afford it? But we do love ND!</p>

<p>Spouse is a grad of Penn--He says all the time that he doubts he would be admitted today given the stats of most students; not to mention the cost of tuition. All private institutions are going to have more than their share of full payers as well as above average stats. They are attending a private school and not public. There is a difference and it is primarily cost. Private institutions offer almost 0 in terms of pure merit aid as well-it is all tied to financial need. Most public institutions can afford to offer merit aid w/o finanical consideration. I am not knocking public institutions. This is just fact~The whole tone of a college education has changed over the last 30 years--it is much more costly, many more students are vying for spots to obtain that college education, and fortunately there is much more aid available whether one chooses to attend a private college or public.</p>

<p>It is reassuring knowing that others are making sacrifices to send their S/D to ND. S is just an incoming Freshman so the ND experience is new to us. We asked many people if it was really worth the $50K. They all said yes! A good education with the name Notre Dame attached to it will open many doors. The ND network is huge. </p>

<p>Freshman orientation was fabulous! Haven't talked to any other parents who had an experience like we did at ND. They made us feel so welcome and we're pretty confident that we are doing the right thing.</p>

<p>If your child is accepted to ND I think you have to at least give them a shot at it. It's only money! Ha!</p>

<p>Be careful gauging the amount of financial aid you will be offered from a need based aid school solely by the on line calculator. According to FAFSA we qualified for a great deal of aid; according to the CSS calculator we qualified for very little because of the equity in our home. He was accepted to ND and we assumed they'd use the same calculations and we wouldn't be able to send our son there. They actually offered enough that he is attending, now in his sophomore year. Apparently ND, although it requires the CSS form, actually does its calculations more in line with the FAFSA. Other private schools seem to go purely with the CSS despite the real ability of the parents to afford the amount of EFC that results.</p>

<p>I'm middle-upper mid class, with one sibling already in college, and received no financial aid outside of loans from them....which definitely played a part in my decision to go elsewhere (getting waitlisted originally didn't help either lol). It may be worth the 50k to some, but for me personally, it wasn't worth the 25k difference per year that I would be paying to attend ND over other, equally prestigious universities.</p>

<p>Good luck, I hope they're a bit more generous with you, bc ND is a great school to have the opportunity to attend!</p>

<p>We may be low middle class family; fortunately, ND generously offers my D financial aids so she can attend there. She is very happy at ND and loves it so much. I think even though without any financial aids, we still would like to try our best and send her to ND, such as sale our house and move to apartment, loan more money from bank, cut our spending...do what ever we could do, because it is worthy.</p>

<p>I believe the middle class is in a squeeze on college costs, but ND surprised us this spring. With FAFSA EFC of 39K, the aid package was in total about half the cost of attendance, of which 15k was a university scholarship. Took us unawares, and we spent an agonizing week, but in the end S was not comfortable with estimated debt of 35-60K, so we did not make the leap of faith. ND is wonderfully unique, and I would be thrilled if he were there, but it was the sensible choice- for us. I do recommend that you look at student loan debt very, very carefully. Search for posts by atana in financial aid forum to learn more about the pitfalls.</p>

<p>I can identify with momtofour's reply. Our oldest is a 2nd year at ND. We have a high income (compared to the national avg) but live in the most expensive state-median housing cost in our county is around $700k. Our EFC was $27k. We received nothing from ND the first year but work study and nothing the second year. We wrote a letter of appeal this year with all of our costs (we really do live simply-it's just crazy expensive here) and we were again denied. We are finding a way to make it work.</p>

<p>Is it worth it? We think so. His first summer home, he applied to and got two jobs. Both people commented on ND and how they had a relative/friend there. Our S is happy, challenged and getting an incredible opportunity. He is borrowing minimally to contribute and is truly appreciative of what we are all doing together. It is our decision and at times I question if it was the smartest move...But I see many kids who return home after 1-2 semsters at schools they are not happy with and I know that is not a problem we'll have.</p>

<p>It's a very personal choice and I can completely understand saying it's just too much money.</p>