Tuition announcement

Today, the University announced that tuition for the 2010-2011 academic year will increase 3.8% to $39,919. The 3.8% is the University's smallest percentage increase in 50 years.

The full Unviersity press release is found here.

Also, a letter to students' parents from Father Jenkins, in which he discusses the circumstances of the increase and Notre Dame's general approach to finances, can be found here.

Notre Dame remains dedicated to reading its applications in a need blind fashion (for US citizens and Permanent Residents) and to meeting 100% of those students' demonstrated financial need.

Financial problems at Dartmouth

From yesterday's The Chronicle of Higher Education:

As part of a broad-reaching plan to close a projected budget gap of $100-million, Dartmouth College announced on Monday the layoffs of 76 people and a return to including loans as part of the financial-aid mix for some students. No faculty members will lose their jobs, officials said, and all of the layoffs will come from the ranks of managers and hourly workers...

Here is a .pdf copy of the full article from The Chronicle.

Hesburgh-Yusko Scholars Program

Yesterday, the University announced the third-largest gift in Notre Dame's history, a $35 million donation from Mr. and Mrs. Mark and Stacey Yusko of Chapel Hill, N.C.

The gift will be used to create the Hesburgh-Yusko Scholars Program, "a comprehensive merit scholarship and enrichment initiative that will seek to attract talented undergraduate students to the University".

Each year, twenty Hesburgh-Yusko Scholars will be selected by an advisory committee; the committee will take nominations from high school guidance counselors and University's Office of Undergraduate Admissions. "The students will be chosen based on distinguished academic accomplishments, exemplary integrity and moral character, demonstrated leadership abilities, and a commitment to a life of service embracing the values of Catholic social tradition."

The twenty HY Scholars will receive $25,000 of merit-based financial aid annually, in addition to summer "enrichment" experiences.

As an ASC, the main point to take away from this is that, when asked about merit-based financial aid, we can now answer that yes, there is merit money available at Notre Dame. To be fair, I think it is important to stress that the money is very limited and competitive, but there are funds available.

The full University press release can be found here.

Government plans to simplify FAFSA

Yesterday, the Education Department released a plan to simply the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or the FAFSA. The new FAFSA will eliminate redundant or unnecessary questions, and may even "sync" with IRS data to make it easier and faster for families to complete the form.

I find it a tad bit ironic that the FAFSA is receiving a makeover because of its complicated nature when I would consider it the simpler of the two financial aid forms we require. Remember, for a student to completely submit an application for financial aid, he or she must submit the FAFSA, the CSS Profile (available through the College Board) and all of the most recent and relevant tax forms. Details on the necessary documents can be found here.

Two weeks of posts in one

After being out of town for two weeks, I came back to an inbox full of e-mails. Instead of posting each of these separately, I've decided to condense everything into one post:

• An interesting article from The Chronicle of Higher Education about honorary degrees, our commencement this year, and Fr. Hesburgh.
• An article from USA Today about nation-wide graduation rates. It's scary to think that only 53% of students starting college will graduate in six years! We are very fortunate to be in a position where 95% of our students will graduate in four years.
• A survey that shows what we expected: this year, students were more likely to choose a school based on affordability rather than choosing their "dream school."

Sorry to bunch the links together, but there is some good-albeit diverse-reading here!

Some sobering news

This video pretty much tells us what everyone already knows, but some of the stats are still somehwat "chilling":

FASFA

I know how much everyone loves the financial aid process, and The New York Times recently had an article summarizing some of the forms' better--or worse--qualities.  

We require the College Board's CSS Profile in addition to the FASFA because of the federal form's many inadequacies.  Using the two forms, we're able to get a good idea of a family's financial picture, though nothing, as you know, is perfect.

We are quickly approaching the time when admitted students will receive their financial aid packages, and while we try to help everyone as much as possible, you know as well as I do that we can't make everyone happy.  Should the Office of Financial Aid seem to make a gross oversight in a financial aid package, please encourage students or families to contact their office for direction and assistance.

Financial Aid information

I'm sure you will encounter quite a few financial aid questions this year.  While I believe the Office of Financial Aid has contacted you with this information already, I wanted to bring the following to your attention.  This link will take you to a Financial Aid website with some basic information on their process, including the new Institutional Documentation Service (IDOC).  

IDOC allows students to submit one packet of financial aid information to the College Board, which then distributes it to the relevant schools.  It is very similar to the Common Application for admissions, except this is for financial aid.  

Please review the information and direct students to the financial aid office or website for further information.

Message from Father Jenkins

Today, Father Jenkins sent a message to all Notre Dame staff to discuss the University's standing during these difficult economic times.  Some of the things Notre Dame remains committed to are:

·         Financial Aid. Offering an affordable education for talented and committed students is a key priority.  We continually monitor tuition and other costs, and remain committed to maintaining our need-blind admission policy while also meeting the full demonstrated financial need of all our students, even as family circumstances change. Our goal is to accomplish this without increasing the overall debt burden for our students.

·         Research.  We will continue to focus on and fund our research projects. This is critical to our future success and a key component of our long-term vision for the University.  We will proceed with the next round of investment in research efforts through the Strategic Academic Planning Committee.

·         Graduate Students.  We will continue to strive to make graduate student stipends more competitive and improve health-care support for our graduate students.

·         Library.  The library is fundamental to our core mission of promoting scholarship and providing excellent undergraduate and graduate education for our students.  We will continue to make funding our library a priority.

·      Construction Projects.  Current construction projects will be completed.  Our conservative capital funding policy requires 100 percent of funding be pledged and 75 percent of funds be in hand before construction begins.  Because of strict compliance with this policy over the past five years, we can continue all current projects without incurring additional debt.  These projects will provide the infrastructure and equipment to continue advancement in research and teaching.  As has been our practice, future projects will begin only after the construction funding policy is fully met.

Interestingly enough, I don't see anything about "Head Football Coach" on there...

Even with economy, students still OK with loans

Even as the economy has taken a turn for the worst in the past few months, Notre Dame is still able to offer loans to most of our undergraduate students (when necessary), and those students are more than able to repay those loans on time.  

As this article explains, it is still Notre Dame's policy to make the University as affordable as possible for anyone who is accepted.  And, because of our high retention and on-time graduation rates, student are able to receive and pay back their loans with little complications.

College loan rates go down today

The interest rates on federal loans for college students decreases to 6 percent today, down from the previous 6.8. According to a post on a Chicago Tribune blog, this fall's freshmen will save about $2,600 because of the change in rates.

The full piece is available here.

Students paying their way

According to this article from the Chicago Tribune, more and more students are paying their way through college without the assistance of their parents.

This poses an interesting scenario, especially for a school, like Notre Dame, where all financial aid is need-based. The Office of Financial Aid requires financial information from a student's parents before a package is created, and usually, the parents are expected to reasonably contribute to their child's education.

But what about the students who "fall through the cracks"; that is, students who are told by their parents that they are "on their own"? As the article mentions, there are only a very small number of students in such a situation at this time, but what happens if the trend continues to grow?

Financial Aid and FastWeb

Financial Aid is on everyone's mind as students apply to colleges and receive their acceptance letters. At Notre Dame, we encourage students to apply for outside scholarships as these funds will be used to lower a family's contribution to the total payment, not the school's contribution to the family. FastWeb is a popular source for many of these scholarships, but as this Newsweek article explains, it is not necessarily the best source.

Free Ride to College?

Over the past year, a number of colleges and universities have made public their financial aid plans for certain demographics of their students. While, at Notre Dame, we continue to stand by our need-blinds admissions process and guarantee to meet 100% of each and every student's demonstrated financial need, this article takes on a different approach to the financial aid "saga": the benefit of a college education to society as a whole.

Free Ride to College?