<p>So how is the aid at notre dame?</p>
<p>They meet 100% of the need demonstrated by FASFA, I believe.</p>
<p>yeah, i live in an upper class suburb... my family is fairly wealthy--i didn't think i would get any money at all and they gave me a 12,000 dollar scholarship a year... aid is so good because there are so many alumni donors...</p>
<p>Our EFC was about 8900 we have to pay about 14000</p>
<p>We're paying about $5000 less than our EFC.. but I found that I got more loans compared to grants from ND than other schools like Colgate. I was an ND scholar by the way, which supposedly means you get less of your aid in loans than you would if you were not named a scholar. So I guess it could be worse.</p>
<p>Yeah, FAFSA was not kind to me. By proxy, neither was ND. They have a reputation for being pretty stingy (though people keep telling me that their packages are so good. I guess there isn't much middle ground).</p>
<p>The rep used to be that ND was very generous, but perhaps with it becoming so much more selective than it was when I applied they are becoming more stingy because they can be? If that is the case it is too bad, they have a huge endowment! I know they are planning on using more of it for scholarships this year? Who knows, it is all case by case. Usually if you have siblings in Catholic schools you do better than others.</p>
<p>yeah i have a sibling in school i think that's the only reason they gave me it... she's a year older, when she graduates i doubt i'll still be getting my "university scholarship"</p>
<p>Our experience has been very good. We honestly could not have afforded ND without significant aid--not a perception or a priority choice, but a genuine reality. We have two kids there now--one is on a ROTC scholarship, the other got very generous aid.</p>
<p>0 financial aid here--but he is an only child and we have saved forever! I have heard that aid is very good--just no pure merit aid. It seems that merit is tied to financial need. I do understand that some alum clubs offer scholarships, just depending on how wealthy your area club is. At any rate, we still think it's worth it--even at full price!</p>
<p>I have a 35, 4.0, 800,800,770 SAT IIs and unbelievable ECs. What are my chances at a merit scholarship? Are the competitive enough where I am just another over-achieving NDer, or are they prevalent enough?</p>
<p>See my post above, unless I am wrong, there is NO pure merit aid. Merit is directly tied to financial need.</p>
<p>I believe the only time merit is tied into financial aid is if you have good enough stats to be a ND Scholar, they give you more scholarship and less loans and work study. Otherwise, I don't think it matters.</p>
<p>If you do not show financial need, it does not matter how good your stats are! Son had similar stats, but had 0 financial need. The only thing that he was offered was a small loan and small work study(which we passed on). He applied only because HS college counselor suggested that he apply, you never know what might be out there. If you go to ND's financial aid webpage, you will see that there must be need first, then amount depends on stats. If you have no financial need, you will not receive any scholarship money, etc. I may be wrong, but this was explained to us last year. Most colleges (esp elite ones) do not offer pure merit scholarships anymore. NEED comes first!</p>
<p>PS-if you have good stats and need, you will likely get grants and "scholarships" versus loans and work study. There will not be any academic scholarships purely for merit!!</p>
<p>Although my oldest had always dreamed of Notre Dame (somewhat covertly, although he'd been exposed to it a lot growing up), we told him that he had two hurdles to meet--one would be getting in, the other paying for it. The second hurdle, we were convinced, would be tougher than the first. We just didn't want him to get all excited if he got in, then we just couldn't swing it. He told us that if there were no way whatsoever we could pay for it, he wouldn't apply, because he didn't want to set himself up for that kind of disappointment. We said "never say never", but wanted him to know that finding financing wasn't a given. </p>
<p>As it happens, he ended up with a Navy ROTC scholarship. He had commitment from the Navy via the Immediate Selection Decision, and had commitment to a full Navy scholarship to any NROTC university before he even had a decision from ND. (Believe me, we went over it ad nauseum that, if he were doing it just for the money, we would rob banks if we needed to, but he shouldn't make that type of a lifetime commitment unless it were something he really wanted to do. He did.) He got in EA. It all worked out.</p>
<p>When our daughter expressed interest, we had a little more faith in the system. She did not want to be military. She said she didn't care if she would end up in debt up to her eyeballs, it was worth it to her--if she could get in. She got in EA, we sent in the FAFSA and the Profile, and crossed our fingers. We came to discover the university really means what it says when they say they will meet need. My daughter will incur $7,500 of subsidized federal loans each year, but that's handleable. </p>
<p>I'd venture a guess we are among the lowest income people on this forum. It's a horrible time to be in the mortgage industry, as my husband is. I love what I do and feel it is very meaningful work, but it doesn't bring in very much money. I've committed a lot of my life to volunteer work in my parish and with the youth of the community, and would like to think I've touched a lot of lives, as has my husband. But our income is almost embarassingly low--we didn't realize how broke we were until we filled out that FAFSA. Trust that we didn't need to fudge anything. </p>
<p>The greatest thing I can say about my fellow class of '84 alumni--most of whom have crossed the threshold of the upper middle class into what can genuinely be called wealthy--is that they understand and respect the path I have chosen. They don't wear their wealth on their sleeve. And they are aghast at the notion of ND becoming so elite that only the wealthy can pay for it--putting their money where their mouth is. People talk about how much money is put into bricks on the campus--and lots of it is. But most of the people I know designate their money for scholarships. </p>
<p>Bottom line is God will provide.</p>
<p>So will Notre Dame, to those who truly need it.</p>
<p>Well put, dd-I've always believed that if it is meant to be, it will happen!</p>