<p>There's no way on earth we can afford ND for our daughter without significant aid. Absolutely no way. We're fortunate our oldest is in Navy ROTC, which is paying his ND tuition. Quite frankly, with him, I was outright pushing the state schools, because I knew they start with a lower base price and give out oodles of merit money. At one point, he asked us if there was no chance we could afford it, because if that was the case, he wasn't going to set himself up for the disappointment of getting in to ND, only for us to say we couldn't do it. We told him to go ahead and apply, and we'd cross the bridge when we get to it. The ROTC thing came up shortly thereafter.</p>
<p>Our daughter will not go the military route (fine with us!). Given her great desire to go to ND, and the tremendous experience our son has had there so far (as well as my own many years ago), we are committed to finding a way. You only live once! If we sensed it didn't matter that much to her, or that the university was no better fit for her than a number of others, it might be a different story. She wants it, though, and it will be a great fit.</p>
<p>Our hope is that one day, when we are old and living in refrigerator boxes because we spent all our retirement money on tuition, at least one of our kids will be prosperous enough to take us in... :)</p>