Your Financial Aid Budget and Award Letter are not the same as your bill.

Award Letter & Budget

Each recipient of financial aid receives an award letter which outlines a financial aid budget. This budget is our estimate of your total educational and living expenses for the academic year. All financial aid budgets are listed on our cost of attendance page.

A student’s financial aid can never exceed the financial aid budget.

Notre Dame Bill

Your Notre Dame bill reflects all charges payable to the University for tuition, fees, room, and board (for students that live on-campus). This is different from the financial aid budget described above because it does not include additional educational and living expenses such as books.

Room & Board

Billed charges for room and board reflect the student’s housing and meal plan choices.

Financial Aid

All institutional aid, state aid, federal aid and outside scholarship awards included on your award letter are credited to your bill (subtracted from the amount due). In addition, if the student or the parent has activated a loan, that amount will also be subtracted from the student’s outstanding balance. Visit the Business Office for semester due dates.

Federal Work Study

Federal Work Study awards are paid through the payroll system and any money earned is issued to the student in the form of a paycheck. This paycheck can be used to help pay incidental expenses and living expenses. It can also be used to pay outstanding balances on your bill. No paycheck is ever credited directly to your Notre Dame’s bill.

Billing Questions

The Business Office is responsible for billing each student for the appropriate charges as well as crediting grants, loans, and payments to the student’s bill. When you receive your bill, please review both the charges and the payments being credited to insure the amount due is correct. If you have questions about your bill, please contact the business office directly.