<p>I was waitlisted by Notre Dame and for now have committed to Santa Clara. The reason I chose Santa Clara was because Boston College told my parents they would have to borrow against our house and my dad's business in order to pay. Given this (or really any) economy, that was too much to ask of my parents. If I am so lucky to get in, will the Financial Aid at Notre Dame be better? I know they have similar systems (no merit based aid except for a tiny fraction), but I have not heard nearly as many complaints about the financial aid here. I love Notre Dame, and both my parents and I would be willing to make sacrifices to that end, but can I expect something a bit more reasonable than having the university expect me to pay $26,000 beyond my EFC by taking out mortgages and such?</p>
<p>My package from Notre Dame was extremely generous, much more so than any other school. With a combination of FAFSA, CSS PROFILE, and IDOC, they calculate their own EFC, so don’t just rely on the FAFSA one. They had a much lower EFC for me and met it without loans because of my family’s specific circumstances.</p>
<p>Toast, my D is attending ND and she was also accepted at BC. The difference in financial aid packages was substantial. I spoke with a financial aid person at BC and he told me the same thing they told your parents. The ND package was very generous; it included scholarships, subsidized loans and work-study. I believe that while both schools are similar in that they both have limited merit money to award, their philosophies with regard to how much debt a family is required to take on are worlds apart. Good luck getting off the wait list. If you do, I am sure you will find ND’s financial aid package much more generous than BC’s.</p>
<p>If you get taken off ND’s waitlist, you’ll most DEFINITELY get a more generous Financial aid package. No doubt.</p>