Shopping Sheet
The Shopping Sheet is a college cost comparison tool developed by the federal government. It provides a simplified overview of your financial aid, and should be considered supplemental information to your Notre Dame financial aid award letter. It is intended to help you compare aid offers from different schools based on your Estimated Net Cost after grants/scholarships. It also presents your financial aid data and estimated costs in a standardized format.
- The Shopping Sheet is optional for both students and schools.
- If you choose to use it, please carefully follow these instructions.
- Note that N/A or $0 means you were not awarded that particular type of aid.
Common Misunderstandings - Shopping Sheet Cost Data
- The Shopping Sheet is not a bill.
- All Notre Dame cost data is estimated.
- The Shopping Sheet Net Cost is not an estimate of your total school charges after aid.
- At every school, your Shopping Sheet Net Cost will always be much higher than your estimated school charges because it is based on an estimate of your total educational costs that includes estimated direct costs from your school and allowances for indirect costs that are usually not paid to your school, such as transportation expenses and other (personal) educational costs.
- Because the allowances for these indirect costs can vary widely between schools, they can distort valid comparisons of each school’s direct costs.
Many financial aid professionals believe that families can more accurately compare the relative costs of their potential schools by comparing their estimated Net Direct Costs instead of the (Total) Net Cost (direct and indirect) that is listed on the federal Shopping Sheet.