Do Notre Dame and Boston University offer merit aid to undergraduates?

Yes, but Boston University is the place where merit aid is a more realistic part of the undergraduate cost picture, while Notre Dame offers it much more sparingly. BU has several named merit scholarships for first-year applicants, including highly competitive full-tuition awards, and it also gives some partial merit awards. Notre Dame does have merit scholarships for undergraduates, but they are limited and not something most admitted students should expect.

At Boston University, merit aid is an established part of the admissions landscape. Scholarships like the Trustee Scholarship and Presidential Scholarship are well known, and students are considered through the regular application process, though the biggest awards are extremely competitive.

At Notre Dame, merit scholarships exist through programs such as the Hesburgh-Yusko Scholars Program and a few other named awards, but they are far less common than need-based aid. Notre Dame is much more identified with meeting demonstrated financial need than with broad merit discounting. For most applicants, merit there should be treated as a long-shot bonus rather than a planning assumption.

So if you are comparing the two specifically on whether merit aid is available and realistic to factor into your cost planning, BU is the one where it makes more sense to pay attention to merit scholarship opportunities. At Notre Dame, it is better to focus primarily on the need-based financial aid estimate rather than expecting merit money.