<p>Weenie, you can't really go by the finaid site calculator, because I believe that only takes into account the fafsa. ND also asks for the CSS profile, which can help a lot. I know it greatly increased financial aid in our case.</p>
<p>I have a friend in VA who thought her daughter would have to go to JMU instead of a private school in Pennsylvania. Turns out it was cheaper to go to the private school which uses the profile than to go to JMU instate because of their award. You just can't judge this until you have all the information. </p>
<p>I don't think you can decide until you have gotten your financial aid letter and amounts back from ND. There's just no way to guess what they'll do. They do examine each case individually.</p>
<p>Let me also add, as the parent of an ND senior, and also as a parent who only has two, count 'em, TWO Notre Dame payments left to go (yee ha!), I will tell you that after my son was accepted I laid awake night after night worrying about this. I prayed that we find a way to do it, and God help us, somehow we did. Looking back on how quickly these four years have passed, my past worries now seem not only ungrounded but also fruitless. </p>
<p>So my advice is to wait for the financial aid information and pray for some guidance on what to do. And keep several options open at this point.</p>