<p>the total bill for the next 4 years at ND, with 4.5% increases per year, will be $222,000. Our child was admitted EA last year but we decided to go with the flagship in-state. Even as an alum, we could not see paying the extra $30K over the state school. Too much financial risk, we would have had to borrow $50K and our child would have graduated with $25K in debt. We could not take the risk in taking out a second mortgage and lowering our 401K contribution. If you can afford ND without taking out loans or underfunding your retirement, then that is fine but it is not worth going into significant debt for an ND degree. State schools like UM, UVA, UC Berkley, etc… have just as good science,engineering and business schools. </p>
<p>ND is a great school, nice environment, good reputation and the administration does a great job watching over your child but the issue today is the economy and there are no promises of success just because of where someone went to school.</p>