<p>My daughter will be a senior this year - I have a son who is a sophomore in college. We made lots of mistakes in with our son - mostly being unrealistic about the scholarship money he would receive. So, before we send our daughter down an admissions path for a school we cannot afford, I would like to know if ND offers merit scholarhips and if so, how generouse are they.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I believe that there are only 25 academic merit scholarships through the Hesburgh-Yusko honors program. They’re worth about half-tuition for four years. However, I don’t know what you’re daughter is like, but considering that I was one of the top students at my school and didn’t even get in, I can’t imagine what it would take to recieve one of those scholarships (probably perfect scores or near perfect on one of the standardized tests). All other merit scholarships are for varsity athletes. However, ND does have what seems to be a very good financial aid system that is need-based. They claim to meet 100% of need (which generally means nothing since each individual college gets to determine the meanings of “need”, “meet”, and “100%”). However, if you look through the various posts regarding financial aid, you’ll probably find 4 or 5 people who are happy with their need-based aid for every unhappy person. There are a few who chose not to attend because of the aid, but these are a small band. (You may want to talk to current students, as I did not get in and therefore never recieved aid. I did get into Boston College where those happy with aid were a minority and a lot of people couldn’t attend as a result. I was one. Since Notre Dame has far fewer of these complaints on their threads, and ND is not known to cater to as wealthy a crowd as BC, I’d say the aid is just fine. Just get in first. Haha)</p>
<p>As Toast stated, the only fully-academic-merit-based scholarships currently offered are the 25 half-tuition Hesburgh-Yusko scholarships. However, there are scholarships wholly need based and scholarships with both need and merit components. While you may not qualify for need-based aid elsewhere, it may be different with Notre Dame, as they tend to be far more generous and accurate in their detailed assessments (going so far as to consider monthly budgets).</p>
<p>My daughter will be a freshman at ND this fall. She was also accepted to BC and the difference in financial aid awards was substantial. The best way I can describe ND’s award is generous.</p>
<p>Our experience with Notre Dame is that FA is very generous.</p>
<p>I will be a freshman this fall at ND. The financial aid reward I received made attending ND less expensive than attending my state university. So ND has very generous financial aid, and you should definitely allow your daughter to apply :)</p>
<p>I’m transferring to ND as a sophomore, and as a transfer I thought I’d probably get the short end of the stick when it comes to aid. Needless to say, I was incredibly please with the amount of aid that I received. And most of it scholarship too! They’re fantastic with it. I’m sure you’ll be pleased.</p>
<p>Notre Dame’s financial aid made it around 10k less expensive than my state school. I have a write a letter every year thanking the alumni for their generous contributions.</p>